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Cold roads

Spotting bad drivers is a lot easier in frigid cold temperatures, says a local traffic sergeant. “If you’re going too quickly and you’re not driving according to the conditions, away you go.
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Police are asking motorists to slow down during extreme cold temperatures as the roads are often slippery. (Jodi Lundmark, tbnewswatch.com)

Spotting bad drivers is a lot easier in frigid cold temperatures, says a local traffic sergeant.

“If you’re going too quickly and you’re not driving according to the conditions, away you go. You’re off into the ditch or into the back of the car ahead of you,” said Sgt. Glenn Porter of the Thunder Bay Police Service.

With temperatures colder than -20C, not including the wind chill, right after a substantial snowfall, many of the city’s roads are slick and police are asking area residents to slow down.

While Porter didn’t know exact numbers, he said they’ve been dealing with an increased number of collisions since the weekend.

“We’ve had a busy weekend,” he said. “Drivers have to remember salt really isn’t effective during this cold weather.”

Drivers need to drive slow down sufficiently so they can maintain control and stop when necessary, Porter added.

“It is every driver’s responsibility to be able to drive carefully and safely at all times.”

All of the city’s roads should be cleared by the end of Monday, said Irene Dahl, budgets and operational planning coordinator for the City of Thunder Bay.

All that’s left to do is spot treatments for sand.

“We’re doing our best getting gravel onto the roads, but with the cold weather, it’s very difficult to have everything melting right now,” Dahl said.

Cold temperatures like Monday’s are expected to last throughout the week and Dahl said the cold is harder to deal with than a large snowfall when it comes to maintaining city roads.

“Once that ice is down, it takes a lot to be breaking the ice down. Snow is generally just removing it and we’re done,” she said.

The city’s roads department receives weather reports five times a day and also have the weather channel on 24 hours. Residents can also call the detachment with any concerns they have.

The Thunder Bay detachment of OPP also had a busy weekend.

They responded to 43 motor vehicle collisions, most of which included driving off the road or into the back of another vehicle.

On Saturday alone, they responded to 16 tractor trailer vehicles that either collided with another vehicle or slid off of the roadway on Highway 17.

The highway was closed for about nine hours so the vehicles could be cleared from the road.





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