As a driver came around a curve on Douglas Highway on Tuesday evening, he saw the flashing lights of a school bus and tried to slow down. The layer of ice on the road wouldn’t let him.
The driver’s bright yellow Chevy truck slid across the ice, hitting a fire hydrant before rolling over once and landing in a ditch beside the road, as Juneau Police Department Officer Thomas McGrann said later. The driver and his passenger were both in stable condition, McGrann said.
McGrann said it was hard to keep up with how many cars were sliding off the road Tuesday, with another car sliding into a light pole near Safeway just a little earlier.
“It just creeps up on you,” McGrann said of the icy conditions, “because all of a sudden the roads start getting slick and people forget to slow down.”
About an hour before the crash on Douglas Highway, a driver and her car ended up tumbling down a hill near Twin Lakes.
At around 3 p.m. Tuesday, a woman lost control of her black Chevrolet SUV as she rounded a corner on Glacier Highway near Blackerby Street by Twin Lakes, Capital City Fire/Rescue Assistant Chief Ed Quinto said at the scene. The car hit the curb, then a light pole, and then rolled down a short hill and landed on its side on a sidewalk next to the frozen-over lake.
The driver did not appear to have any major injuries, Quinto said, as responders walked her back up the hill and into an ambulance to go to Bartlett Regional Hospital.
According to CCFR’s daily dispatch, emergency personnel responded to two crashes Monday as well. No injuries were reported in either crash Monday, but Quinto warned drivers to be extra aware of the driving conditions this week.
“When the temperature goes up and down drastically like this and precipitation comes down, roads become really slick because of the icy, cold road,” Quinto said. “(Drivers have) just got to slow down and be aware of the conditions.”
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
A car sits in a ditch after sliding on the ice and rolling over on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. The driver and his passenger did not suffer major injuries. (Alex McCarthy | Juneau Empire)
