Morning snowfall causes traffic accidents in Reno, Carson City
Nevada Highway Patrol is reporting that the agency responded to a total of 27 crashes this morning due to the slick conditions. Two of those incidents were in the Carson City area, including one that resulted in a minor injury.
The injury accident happened at 5:34 a.m. near the junction of South Carson Street and Highway 50 West.
Here is the release sent out by NHP's Chuck Allen:
The four-hour time frame between 5:00 am and 9:00 am this morning resulted in numerous service calls for our agency primarily in the greater Reno-Sparks area due to the regional falling snow. A total of 27 crashes were reported with 19 being property damage and the remaining 8 having some sort of medical attention needed or requested. Of the total number of crashes this morning, only two happened in the Carson City area; one was a property damage crash and the other had minor injuries. None of the calls involved serious or life-threatening injuries. The rest of NHP-Northern Command West region remained crash-free.
Additionally, troopers were either dispatched to or observed 11 vehicles that were mechanically disabled and 14 others which had spun out of control. The large amount of calls for service resulted in longer than usual wait times for the tow truck operators throughout the area as well.
The largest problem area this morning included both directions of the 6-mile section of US 395 between the Glendale Ave and Golden Valley interchanges. On the northbound section of the highway this morning around 6:15 am, several vehicles could not obtain traction on the icy roads near the N. McCarran interchange resulting in large commercial vehicles to lose forward momentum thus stalling all traffic for a period of time.
Meanwhile, on the southbound section of the freeway near the Parr Blvd interchange around 6:25 am, a tractor-trailer rig jack-knifed and was blocking both lanes. No other vehicles were struck in that incident.
As snow continues to fall in our area throughout today, it is difficult to predict the driving conditions for the afternoon commute. Motorists should allow more time for their travel and create a greater and safer following distance with other vehicles.