Monday, September 14, 2009

A bad morning for motorists,, Loose Trailer


A bad morning for motorists

By Steve Lyttle
slyttle@charlotteobserver.com


Maybe we forgot how to drive on wet streets.

Many motorists found their way to school or work blocked by wrecked cars, police and tow trucks Thursday morning.

The road problems included a school bus that landed in a ditch in Matthews, a girl struck by a car in east Charlotte, and a trailer that broke loose from a truck on Interstate 77 at the Carolinas border.

There were no fatalities, but the girl who was hit by the car needed hospitalization.

The school bus wreck happened about 8:15 a.m. on Sam Newell Road, between Williams Road and Rice Road, a short distance north of East Independence Boulevard. No students were aboard Bus 1000 when it went off the narrow two-lane road and into a ditch. The driver was not hurt, but Sam Newell Road was closed for about a half-hour, until the bus could be pulled free.

On I-77, southbound traffic headed from the Charlotte area toward Rock Hill was snarled for a while after a trailer came loose from the truck pulling it. The incident happened about 2 a.m., and police say the trailer rolled for several hundred yards across several southbound lanes before coming to a stop. No injuries were reported.

There were a number of other wrecks Thursday morning, as motorists dealt with rain-slickened streets. Little rain has fallen in the past month in the Charlotte area.

At least three collisions were reported on Independence Boulevard, and there also were wrecks on Interstate 485 near University City Boulevard, on Sharon Lane, and on North Church Street.

And if all that wasn't bad enough, the traffic signals stopped working about 7:30 a.m. at one of the city's busiest intersections – Independence Boulevard at Sharon Amity Road. Police were called to direct traffic through the morning commute, but the problem caused backups for inbound motorists.

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