(WWJ) – While many Metro Detroiters embarked on a treacherous afternoon and evening commute on Thursday, there were plenty of reported crashes, slide-offs and backups in the area.
Preceded by warm temperatures and rain in the morning, the snow began falling Thursday afternoon, making for icy and snowy roadways.
While there were numerous issues on area freeways, Michigan State Police First Lt. Mike Shaw said it could be worse, as of 5:30 p.m.
“All things considered, the roads aren’t that bad, if you do what you’re supposed to do,” Shaw said in a video posted to Twitter.
"What you're supposed to do," Shaw says, includes:
• Driving much slower than usual.
• Leaving earlier and allowing yourself more time to reach your destination.
• Increasing following distance between cars.
• Making sure your headlights are on.
• Not passing other drivers unnecessarily – “especially for you four-wheel drive folks,” Shaw noted.
• Wearing a seat belt.
Many Metro Detroiters, however, reported conditions were quite poor, with long drive times, cars making their own lanes in the snow and low visibility in some areas.
Shaw noted that some sidewalks and side streets had a coating of ice under the snow, which hadn’t yet happened on the freeways.
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That could happen as things get colder throughout the night. AccuWeather is calling for 6-12 inches of snow accumulation when all is said and done by Friday morning, when roads are expected to be much icier.
There are plenty of people who get nervous about driving in the snow, especially in Thursday’s conditions, and Shaw says that’s fine.
“If this isn’t your thing – there’s a lot of people that can’t drive in the snow, don’t like to drive in the snow – don’t be embarrassed about it, just stay home,” he said.
Conversely, he warned drivers on the other end of that spectrum to take it easy.
“If you think you’re a great driver in the snow, slow down, because you’re really not that great as you think you are,” Shaw said. “A lot of times we overestimate our driving ability in the winter time because we think ‘we’re from Michigan and we’ve done this before.’”
In the 5:30 update, Shaw noted there were seven crashes on Metro Detroit freeways at last check, though several more incidents and slowdowns had been reported to the WWJ Traffic Center.
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