Authorities say that, even as weather clears a bit this later week, the dangers of winter driving remain.
And both Carson Sheriff Ken Furlong and NHP Trooper Charles Caster say the colder weather will return through the end of the week, creating black ice and many drivers won’t see before they hit it.
Furlong warned that, as temperatures fall in the evening and overnight, expect black ice, “especially in areas of overpasses.”
Caster agreed. He pointed especially to the I-580 overpass north of Washoe Valley — the Galena Creek Bridge.
“That one gets pretty icy even with the deicing system they have,” he said.
Caster said Tuesday he saw a lot of clearing of the roadways including I-580 through Washoe Valley which reopened after nearly three days.
He said crews are trying to get Interstate 80 flowing again despite much deeper snowfalls including more than three feet in some parts of the Sierra.
Furlong said the few drivers are the problem.
“The vast majority, 99 percent, are just taking it easy and going slow,” he said.
“But you always have somebody that’s just not paying attention.”
One problem is people parking where they shouldn’t, such as in snow routes. Snow routes are clearly marked in Carson City, and he said there’s no excuse for parking there: “If you want those roads cleared, don’t park there.”
Caster said NHP has the same problem on the highways with people parking along the roadway to chain up and commercial drivers parking outside the areas set aside for them to chain up.
Caster said he has even seen people parking in the roadway on Mount Rose Highway so they and their kids could go sledding, making things difficult for other drivers.
He said there also have been commercial vehicles, whose drivers know better, parked in traffic lanes on highways to chain up, effectively keeping other drivers from getting anywhere.
Another problem, he said, is people coming down the hill from Incline or South Tahoe with a huge mound of snow on the roof of their vehicle — a pile he said that can slide off forward and block the driver’s view of the road of slide off the back and blind the driver behind them.
They also said too many people are driving on summer tires or bald tires, trying to navigate their way through the snow. Not a good idea.
As for how many accidents there have been, they don’t know because they haven’t had time to sort it all out.
But both said there have been numerous mostly minor crashes. “Nothing horrible,” said Furlong, just bent metal.
As for how much bent metal, how many crashes, both said that will take time to sort out. Right now, they’re just trying to keep up and keep traffic moving.
“Slow down, maintain distance from the car in front of you,” said Caster.
Check NVRoads.com for latest road conditions.
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