A truck hauling vehicles blocks the southbound lanes of Interstate 41 in southern Fond du Lac County Feb. 16, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
FOX VALLEY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — More than 150 crashes were reported in Outagamie County as a result from the snow Thursday evening.
The total number came to 166, according to Lt. Nathan Borman with the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department.
“The majority of those crashes were around rush hour and simply put, the roads just became icy very quickly,” said Borman.
He says the total number may be big, but there were no fatalities and the number of injuries was low.
“As of this point, I only see three injury accidents from yesterday,” said Borman.
Chuck Anderson, owner of Nolte’s Towing, says his team was busy all night.
“From about 3 o’clock on until about 9 o’clock, we responded to about 30 accidents in the Fox Valley area,” said Anderson. “The snow happening at 3 o’clock kind of froze a little bit at first, and then it actually hit at rush hour which is probably the worst time of day to hit.”
In our area, the most snow was reported in Fond du Lac.
The 4.5 inches there caused a truck to spin out, which blocked the southbound lanes of Interstate 41 between Fond du Lac and Lomira.
But Anderson says his team mostly responded to calls in Outagamie and Winnebago counties.
“Everything seemed to be north of Neenah, and it was very busy north and west of Neenah,” said Anderson.
A tow ban was issued for Interstate 41 and highway 4-41 in Outagamie County. It was lifted around midnight.
“Tow bans are very good for us to keep our guys safe, and to keep the customers safe and the department safe of sitting on the side of the road with other people driving around,” said Anderson. “So we appreciate the tow ban very much.”
Anderson says as of Friday morning, they’re all caught up.
“It looks pretty good out now, parking lots are getting cleaned up, so everything is back to normal,” said Anderson.
When driving in snowy conditions, both Borman and Anderson offer up some advice.
“You keep those gaps between you and other drivers, give yourself some reaction time and ultimately, if you don’t need to go out, don’t go out,” said Borman.
“Especially in slippery weather, everybody drives way too fast, so just slow down and take care of yourself,” said Anderson.
Comments