This week ended up to be a snowy one. It seems like between clean up crews getting back into winter work and icy roads the combination of speed and no seat belts has killed and injured too many Minnesotans.
The State Patrol says there were almost 600 crashes from five this morning until seven Friday night in the Metro area, with 72 of them resulting in injury. On top of that, 125 vehicles spun out.
The State Patrol also reported the state wide numbers as 682 crashes, 85 with injuries.
Around 9 am, a semi jackknifed on Interstate 94 at County Road 81, between Osseo and Rogers. The twisted semi blocked all three lanes of traffic on the interstate.
Around 8 am, a school bus carrying 50 students rear-ended a car on westbound Highway 30 near Ellendale, Minn. The students were loaded onto another bus and taken to school in the New Richland-Ellendale-Heartland-Geneva district.
Five vehicles (including two semis, a van and two cars) were involved in a crash that blocked eastbound Highway 14 at the Minnesota River bridge near Mankato.
There was a two vehicle accident before noon in the 1200 block of Highway 15 in Sauk Rapids. A 2 year-old was taken to the hospital.
A Minnesota man was killed in a single-vehicle accident around 2:28 p.m. Friday on Interstate 35 south of Clear Lake. According to the State Patrol, the semi driver was northbound on Interstate 35 in a semitrailer when he went off the roadway to the left crossing the median and southbound lanes.
A multi vehicle crash on the Interstate 694 bridge over the Mississippi River caused a major backup of traffic in the westbound lanes. The Minnesota State Patrol reported as many as six separate crashes involving several vehicles — from 12 to 25 — clogged up traffic between East River Road in Fridley and Hwy. 252 in Brooklyn Center.
Our sympathies go out to all of those involve who were injured or lost. As with any death in a Minnesota motor vehicle collision, there are a number of issues that will need to be reviewed. My partner, Joe Crumley, addressed this topic in a article for the Minnesota Lawyers Trial magazine. I was interviewed on the same topic.
