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The enigma of black ice and how it endangers us all
“Perceptions,” by Gerry Warner
Last week my column was about the horrific accident my wife and I experienced when I lost control of my vehicle on black ice across from the Moyie Cemetery and spun out of control and rolled over the bank and landed on the roof of our former SUV about 20 feet from the railway tracks.
I guess Sandy and I have lived pretty decent lives because we really should be dead. Thank God we aren’t.
For the record, we’re both recovering quite well. Sandy spent five days in hospital with hairline fractures to her two top vertebrae’s and her sternum which is very painful, but the fractures will heal on their own and she should be back to work inside a month. I experienced a severe case of whiplash, which I’m still feeling, but I wasn’t hospitalized overnight and I’m getting around, albeit a little more slowly and more curmudgeonly than before.
I would also like to thank the many of you who have called, emailed, Facebooked and otherwise delivered get-well messages and even food to us, which was very heartwarming as we recover.
I’m also pleased to say thank you to ICBC, Mainroad Contracting and Kootenay East MLA Tom Shypitka’s office for the help and information they have provided us about black ice and its dangers, which will probably haunt us the rest of our lives. I’m still processing that information and in my next column I will share what I’ve learned with you readers. I strongly advise taking a look at it because it could save your life. However, I’d also like to share with you now some preliminary thoughts of my own about that terrible December day.
When we left Cranbrook around 12:15 p.m. Dec. 30 the driving conditions on Highway 3 weren’t that bad. It was thawing and bright sun was alternating with dark low clouds, but it wasn’t precipitating at all. The only driving problem was lots of slush on the road, which kept my wipers and window washing fluid going full blast.
The 2000 Ford Explorer I was driving had 415,000 km on it and had never let me down and in 16 years of driving it I can’t even recall it getting stuck in the snow. I know that sounds incredible, but it’s true. So, as we headed towards Creston that day, I was confident I was driving a safe vehicle equipped with snow tires all-round and heavy sand bags over the rear wheels for better traction.
Other than the slush, we experienced no problems until the crash and I compensated for the slush by slowing down to the 85 to 95 km/h range and I slowed down once or twice to let other motorists pass that wanted to go faster.
I also held well back from the vehicles in front of me to avoid slush being thrown on my windshield. To me, the road looked unplowed and un-treated for black ice while I was driving and the conditions didn’t appear dangerous as long as you slowed down a bit which we did.
After the accident, I heard a sanding truck may have been on the way towards us from the south but got delayed by an accident near Yahk just before our mishap near Moyie. At this point, I’ve not been able to confirm this information one way or the other, but I hope to do that soon by the next column in this series.
Anyway, this nearly tragic story boils down to something simple – black ice can kill you! And has killed many and will probably kill more.
I spent part of today watching black ice video accidents on the ‘net. It almost made my eyes bleed as I thought about our sickening episode. More on this in the next part of this series.
– Gerry Warner is a retired Cranbrook journalist lucky to still be alive.
