Each and every year, new drivers take over the busy network of roads in the Minneapolis area. Over holiday break, freezing rain sparsely fell over the most commonly traveled roads for almost two days straight. This drizzle then created a thin layer of black ice over the gravel roads, and resulting in extremely unsafe driving conditions.
“The roads were icy and I was going the speed limit, but I should have been going slower,” said senior Maddy Schlinz who was in a car accident on Dec. 3.
According to the Star Tribune, State Department of Transportation officials advised motorists stay off the roads in western, north-central, northeastern and central Minnesota.
“You just have to drive slower and be more aware of your surroundings so that it doesn’t become too dangerous,” senior Madeline Carlson said.
As the roads appeared to be wet, they were deceiving to the eye. Several OHS students got into an accident over the two week break, and these students were relatively experienced drivers. Although feeling experienced on the roads may result in more confident driving, the precautions one may need to take while driving should be more prevalent in all age groups to maintain one’s safety.
“There was a curve in the road, so when I turned my steering wheel, my car just kept going straight, off the road, into a {boulder},” said Schlinz.
According to Nichole Morris, a principal researcher at the HumanFIRST Laboratory at the University of Minnesota, the “most dangerous two years of your life are between 16 and 17, and the reason for that is driving.”
Confidence in driving does not necessarily mean a specific driver is a cautious or mindful driver in unsafe conditions. Therefore, more accidents result in the large age group of teenagers as they view themselves as more confident and experienced drivers.
“A few weeks ago I was driving to school with my sister and we were going by leaf street and it was snowing and I just had no idea how to drive in the snow. We were going around a curve and the back end of my car spun out and we hit the guardrail and probably would have gone in the ditch if that was not there,” Junior Lauren Hansen said when sharing her winter driving experience.
From 10 p.m. on Dec. 8, 2016 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 9, 2016, the Minnesota State Patrol responded to 447 crashes, including 52 with injuries and three fatals, according to The Star Tribune review of the Minnesota road accidents. Not only were these accidents due to the ice, they were due to the snow as well.
“I tried to slow down behind the car in front of me as well but I couldn’t, so I t-boned him and bounced off him and hit the truck, and the driver I hit slammed into the car in the ditch,” senior Crosbie Francis said after her four-way accident over winter break.
AAA predicted record holiday travel this holiday season, with around 103 million Americans traveling on Dec. 23, 2016 through Jan. 2, up 1.5 percent from last year. The Pioneer Press found that nearly 94 million of those travelers would be driving.