Okay folks, here’s a gigantic safety tip that should hopefully be a no-brainer to everyone. Whether the roads slippery or completely bone dry, please pay attention to your surroundings. That’s especially true when you see the flashing lights of emergency vehicles, and monumentally true when snow and ice are involved. Fortunately, nobody was hurt in this melee, but it came extremely close to being worse. Much worse.
The crash happened yesterday morning in southeast Michigan where highways M-39 and I-96 meet, not far from Ford Motor Company’s world headquarters in Dearborn. Gerald Marshall was the driver of the errant car, who said in an interview with WXYZ-TV in Detroit that he hit black ice on the entrance ramp. He apparently hit his brakes, but that sent the car into a skid. We can clearly see what happened from there.
The incident was captured by the dash cam of a Michigan State Police car, which was already on the scene for another crash. The tow truck driver told WXYZ-TV that he saw the car start to lose control and stepped back, but once things went bonkers, he ran for his life. If he hadn’t noticed the skidding car early on, this likely would not have ended well.
The ramp was apparently quite slippery, as the officer at the scene was waiting for additional patrol cars to take position on the on-ramp to help prevent this exact thing from happening. Marshall was ticketed for going too fast for conditions, though in the on-camera interview he claims there was nothing he could do.
Black ice can certainly be tricky and virtually impossible to spot, hence the name. That doesn’t mean drivers shouldn’t at least be prepared for it in certain situations, especially on bridges, overpasses, and yes, elevated entrance/exit ramps that can easily ice up long before highways on terra firma do. We’re just glad everyone came through this crazy crash unharmed.
Source: AP, WXYZ-TV, MSP Metro Detroit via Twitter