Sunday, January 08, 2006

horrifying

So it's a cold, 32*, snowy day here in the Black Hills, and I'm driving home from work, down the sometimes treacherous Highway 85. I come around the second to last corner of the highway as it begins to open up into flat land again. And there ahead of me is about a quarter mile of stopped cars in my lane. I slow down and stop behind the last vehicle, a work truck from Wyoming. Ahead of me, where the traffic was stopped, was around eight emergency vehicles; highway patrolmen, ambulances, and policemen. Then come a few fire trucks. Then some more ambulances. The traffic heading opposite us, to Deadwood, is driving past us slowly, in a single file line, while we wait for the policemen to stop that line of cars and let us go through. Slowly, our line starts moving, after sitting still for about five minutes, and as I get closer to the now 15-strong emergency vehicle task force, and I see bits of plastic and metal strewn all over the highway. Closer now, and I can see the vehicles that were in the wreck.

This is what I think happened: the Van was going to Deadwood, the Truck to Spearfish. It's been snowing/raining since 7am today, so the roads were probably slick. The Van was probably going too fast for conditions, and couldn't make it around the bend in the road that curved right. The Truck was probably just going along, down the hill, and couldn't get out of the way of the Van, which then plowed right into the side of the truck (that's the only way I can explain why the Truck was hit broad-side).

The cab of the Truck was on the Deadwood-bound side of the road, on the shoulder, the Van and bed of the truck were on the Spearfish-bound side of the road, in the road.

I don't know if there were any fatalities, but I'm assuming there were, or people were very badly injured, because I don't see why there would be two or three ambulances, two firetrucks, and several highway patrol cars and police cars there if something very serious hadn't happened. I'll check the papers online and look for any incidents, and let you all know what happened and if anyone was hurt.

Puts a somber mood on the rest of your day, eh?

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