By Micah RobertsIn the last few weeks, the Grant County area has experienced some warm days followed by extreme cold ones where the streets were covered in ice and snow.
“As a police officer, you always have to adapt your driving to the weather conditions and the skills that we learn from our condition driving,” said a Grant County Deputy. “We noticed that it’s hard for the public to do that; we’ve seen a lot more accidents because of that.”
He said that most accidents occur during the first snowfall or ice storm of the year, which is common given that people have to adapt quickly to the conditions.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, “more than 116,800 people are injured in vehicle crashes on snowy, slushy, or icy pavement annually.”
Many residents in the grant county area live in neighborhoods that go unattended by the maintenance crew due to limited road access, so they rely heavily on neighbors or local companies.
“I’ve shoveled and plowed this road since I moved here,” Jim Reiger said. “I want to make the place we live a safer and easier for elderly people like myself”
Reiger said, Grant County needs more people in the area to care about where they live and help out the community the best they can, even if that means putting salt down on the back roads or shoveling your doorsteps and sidewalk.
“I feel like they definitely take care of the main roads, like, pretty well,” Cameron Lain said, a resident of Marion. “I’ve noticed at least in the neighborhood where I live, the roads are pretty bad, usually the entire time.”
Lain said it is difficult for him to navigate through the back roads and wishes the people of Marion would create a safer environment.
“Slow down! Reaction times are increased; your vehicle isn’t going to react in time due to the cold weather” a Grant County Deputy said.
In high-risk weather drivers should watch for other drivers and stay at least 300 feet behind plow trucks.
Emily Bontrager 
Izzy Lucas