Drivers this week have had to face chaos as temperatures dropped below zero and roads have frozen over. Therefore, many car accidents caused this week on South Devon’s busiest roads were mainly due to icy patches. Police and the Highway Agency were forced to close parts of Telegraph Hill which is situated towards Newton Abbot, because four car crashes took place there which fell victim to the ice. The measures were taken after the road surface temperature dipped to a frosty minus five.
As a result of the collision a Newton Abbot man suffered minor personal injuries to the head in a four-vehicle crash on the A38 at Haldon which led to vehicles being caught up in a four-mile jam.
Due to the cold weather, police had given previous warnings to motorists to be extra-vigilant after forecasters said that Jack Frost was set to maintain his wintry grip on the region.
Across the force area, police warned drivers to delay their journeys after seven accidents occurred. Police, fire and ambulance services were called to the scene on the A38 Exeter- bound carriageway at Harcombe Bends early in the morning. Police stated that it appeared to be two collisions in quick succession.
The first accident involved a pick up and a car, whereas the second immediately afterwards involved a heavy goods vehicle and a Vectra. The Newton Abbot driver of the Vectra was placed on a spinal board and taken to Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.
Bovey Tracy station commander Roy Willis commented on the accidents: “Traffic had started queuing after the first incident. The car driver was not physically trapped by his vehicle but was complaining of neck pain and so he had to be removed carefully from the car and placed on to a spinal board.
“We had to remove the roof of the car to do that and worked with the ambulance service to make sure he was extracted without risk of further injury.One lane of the carriageway was open and traffic was flowing virtually continuously but as time went by traffic built up.”
Willis furthered: “It is very rare that we see those levels of traffic delays. When we left it was getting on towards 8.30am and the rush hour and traffic was queued back towards Drumbridges roundabout.”
The Winter Worry The cold weather continued its reign over the traffic, with police spending seven hours focusing on incidents relating to the icy road.
Further accidents lead to the traffic police closing several roads after two lanes were completely iced over. Drivers were told to avoid the area.
Motor patrol constable Ian Harvey said that drivers are not taking the weather into account: “People have been driving too fast for the weather conditions and road surfaces. We were seeing motorists who had not even allowed their windscreens time to defrost. Some had completely disregarded the conditions and it appears to have caught them out. Pre-driving checks should always be carried out.”
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