Snow in St. Louis Causes ‘Hundreds’ of Accidents, Two Deaths
On behalf of Brown & Crouppen, P.C. posted in Motor Vehicle Accident on Tuesday, February 14, 2012
After what has so far been a dry winter in St. Louis, Missouri, a snowstorm that may have dropped as much as four inches on the area led to “hundreds” of car accidents on Feb. 13, the Missouri Highway Patrol said. Though most of the accidents in the St. Louis area were minor, several involved injuries to motorists, and two people were fatally injured.
The snow, which began falling quietly but steadily the morning of Feb. 13, covered an area from St. Louis to Farmington and as far east as Vandalia, Illinois. The first fatal car accident took place on Interstate 64 in St. Charles County. Around 7:35 a.m., a car attempting to merge in the westbound lanes crashed into a pickup truck driven by a 57-year-old man. The truck collided with a guard rail and a bridge pillar. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Around half an hour later, an SUV driving on Highway 79 in Lincoln County skidded over the center divider line and crashed into a car being driven by a 44-year-old Clarksville woman. The woman was fatally injured in the accident.
Conditions were snowy in both incidents, making it very possible that the weather played a factor. However, that does not necessarily remove the possibility that negligence on the part of the other drivers played a role. For example, it is possible that the vehicles that initiated both accidents were going too fast for the conditions.
Fortunately, most of the other accidents reported to the highway patrol did not involve any injuries.
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Snowstorm snarls commute, two motorists in wrecks,” Tim O’Neil, Feb. 14, 2012