GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – The Green Bay Police Department has started the process of reviewing a thirty-car wreck on the Leo Frigo Bridge and is expected to have their report done in a few days.
The massive accident took place Tuesday and forced multiple agencies to respond to the scene.
According to the department, the wreck started around 7:45 a.m. and it closed all lanes of I-43 on the bridge for the entire morning and into the afternoon.
With just over 24-hours of perspective, the process of gaining information and insight into the accident is early, but officers have already developed a few takeaways.
They say having the luxury of traffic video, which has been released by the state Department of Transportation, has given them keen insight already.
Also, they’re learning more from interviewing individual motorists that were caught in the pile-up.
“As far as causative factors, the sun rising in the east was mentioned by a number of drivers as being blinding,” explains Lieutenant Brad Strouf, with the Green Bay Police Department.
He says drivers have also mentioned that conditions on the bridge were slick that morning.
Nonetheless, according to him, what should have been a minor accident escalated into a massive wreck because of unsafe driving habits.
“The drivers were not giving themselves enough room to travel safely,” he says. “When you travel, whether it’s at twenty-miles-an-hour or seventy-miles-an-hour, you have to have enough space in front of you to stop.”
In terms of what’s next, it’ll be a focus on talking to more drivers and reviewing video more before a report can be finalized.
“I’m hopeful that we have the reporting part of this wrapped up in the next day or two,” explains Lieutenant Strouf. “Certainly by early next week at the very latest.”
And with that timeline in mind, it could mean that citations are issued to some drivers as early as next week.
Lieutenant Strouf explains what’s in play.
“It could be things like too fast for conditions, which is a statutory violation,” he says. “Or auto following too closely.”
