Community Corner

Sudden Ice Storm Leads to Handful of Accidents in West Deptford

Police Chief Samuel DiSimone said that the early-morning freezeover brought problems for commuters but were resolved by mid-day.

"My wife left for work about 10 after 6 and everything was fine," said West Deptford Police Chief Samuel DiSimone. "At 7:00, it had started to rain, and still it was fine. 

"I walked out of my house at 8:00, and I fell on my steps," he said. 

"It came out of nowhere."

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That about sums up the suddenness with which the region was gripped by a quick freeze on Friday morning, with accidents reported throughout South Jersey, including a fatal collision in nearby Pine Hill.

DiSimone said the township rolled out trucks to salt intersections as quickly as possible, but that a handful of accidents happened nonetheless, mostly as a result of drivers being unable to brake on the icy roads.

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"We had a couple one-vehicle accidents that were really just sliding into a tree or a post; a two-car accident that was a little fender-bender that they handled themselves," DiSimone said.

One motorist was even doubly unlucky, DiSimone recalled, as her parked car was sideswiped by another driver after she'd gotten out of it to talk to the first driver with whom she'd just been in a minor accident.

The worse incident occurred on Friars Boulevard, the chief said, in which a car slid out into the intersection and was t-boned. 

The saving grace in that instance, he said, was that the impact occurred on the unoccupied passenger's side of the vehicle.

"I think we got away very good," he said.


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