Slick roads to blame for two early morning accidents

Tuesday, January 6, 2009
By Anna Rochelle, Staff Writer

TUESDAY MORNING ICE: An ice-covered roadway caused one truck traveling on SR 58, near the Bloomington Crane Gate, to slide off the road and hit a tree head-on before ending up at the bottom of a steep embankment. The driver was not injured. Submitted photo. [Click to enlarge]

One man told an officer he was glad the guardrails did their job after his truck bounced off guardrails five or six times at the bridge over White River on State Road 157 east of Worthington.

Another man took a rough ride as his truck hit a tree on its way down a steep embankment on State Road 58 near the Crane gate.

Both men were involved in one-vehicle accidents caused by slick roadways early Tuesday morning.

Greene County Sheriff's Lt. Bryan K. Woodall responded to the first accident at the bridge around 5:40 a.m.

Oscar Strieby, 26, Loogootee, was northbound on SR 157 in a 1999 Ford Ranger pickup truck when he hit a bump in the road as he was coming off the bridge. The truck started sliding on the ice-covered road and the driver was not able to control it.

Streiby told Woodall he bounced off the guardrail five or six times before the truck came to a rest. He said both he and a passenger were wearing theirseatbelts and were not injured.

Woodall said the airbags did deploy.

Around 6:15 a.m., Woodall responded to the second accident on SR 58 east of the Bloomington Crane Gate.

SLICK ROADS: State Road 58 east of the Bloomington Crane Gate was the scene of an early morning slide-off. Submitted photo.
[Click to enlarge]
Robin Cromwell, Jr., 32, Orleans, was driving a 1999 Dodge 1500 pickup truck when came around a small curve inn the highway and his truck started to slide.

Cromwell was not able to control the truck on the ice-covered road and it went off the south side of the highway and down a steep embankment.

On its way down, it hit a tree head on which caused the truck to spin around then continue on down to the bottom where it came to rest in a ditch.

Woodall reported the vehicle is still in the ditch and will not be removed until around noon. The owner called a towing service to remove the vehicle but they said they had to wait for the highway to get better before they attempted to get the truck.

Cromwell was not reported to have been injured.

Comments

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Get off your phones and slow down. There is NO reason for accidents. I drive down these same roads with some SENSE, and we're going on 15 years and I've NEVER had an accident.

-- Posted by rant on Tue, Jan 6, 2009, at 6:05 PM

No where in this article was being on a cell phone the cause of the accidents. One hit a bump in the road and the other was coming around a curve. Pair those with slick roads and they become problems. Maybe they weren't driving with any sense, but that isn't said either. Keep your comments to yourself if you're going to make assumptions.

-- Posted by lhsgraduate on Wed, Jan 7, 2009, at 1:30 AM

rant did you read the same story as everyone else?

-- Posted by am1982 on Wed, Jan 7, 2009, at 7:51 AM