Several accidents were reported Tuesday morning.
By Jerry Hume
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 5:11 p.m.
Read more: Local, Weather
MARQUETTE COUNTY -- Roads Tuesday night are in much better shape than Tuesday morning, when crash after crash occurred across Upper Michigan. In Marquette County alone, police responded to a dozen accidents.
The first morning commute with icy and snow covered roads for the season proved to be treacherous for motorists. There were accidents ranging from a one car crash just before 6 a.m. on County Road 492, to a head-on crash north of Marquette Mountain on CR 553, and a two car collision on US-41 in Skandia Township.
Speed along with slushy and icy roads are believed to be behind the crashes.
For some motorists, the icy road conditions were an October surprise.
"The drive, it was bad,” said commuter Cindy Rourk. “I wasn't expecting that; I was shocked. I came in on 480 and I've done that all summer and this morning it was very slippery."
Even when the snow stopped and the sun finally came out Tuesday morning, it didn't mean the end to accidents on the roads.
An Ely Township crash on US-41 at the CR 478 intersection was blamed not on the slippery roads, but on sunny skies. Police believe the sun got into the driver's eyes and he didn't see a westbound truck.
In all four of these crashes there were no deaths, but some did receive injuries.
"Sadly, very customary that we get a lot of accidents,” said Deputy Dean Rushford with the Marquette County Sheriff’s Department. “People are not used to the conditions this morning and the roads were very, very icy."
