1 Critically Injured in Huge Rush-Hour Crash after Ice Storm
On behalf of Brown & Crouppen, P.C. posted in Motor Vehicle Accident on Thursday, February 24, 2011
A sudden downpour of freezing rain just before rush hour led to a 31-vehicle accident in St. Louis on February 23. The chain-reaction crash injured 21 people, with one person suffering critical injuries, according to the Belleville News Democrat.
The freezing rain began around 4 a.m. and fell for about an hour and a half, leaving around 0.10 inches of icy precipitation on the roads around St. Louis. There were patches of ice on eastbound Interstate 64 near downtown, the site of the 31-vehicle accident that began around 5 a.m.
One of the people involved in the wreck, a 40-year-old man from Creve Coeur, Missouri, said that as he drove on I-64 he saw a truck slide down the hill in front of him. The man tried to slow down but slid on the ice. His vehicle hit the guard wall and, as he tried to regain control, another vehicle hit him from behind. The man, who was not seriously injured, got out of his vehicle and ran up the hill, waving at motorists to try and warn them about the icy conditions. But nobody could slow down in time, he said.
By the time it was over, 31 vehicles had gotten into the wreckage, including three tractor-trailers and three ambulances and two fire department vehicles sent to the scene to help. A police spokeswoman said that there were 21 people injured in the accident, all minor except for one person who suffered critical injuries. More details about the person with the serious injuries were not available on February 24.
The 31-vehicle pileup was one of several large accidents caused by the freezing rain. Another accident on I-64 involved nine vehicles, and 12 vehicles crashed on Interstate 55. No injuries were reported in either of those accidents.
Source: Bellville New Democrat, “Icy roads cause 31-car pileup on Highway 40/64,” February 23, 2011