Snowy roads keep State Patrol busy

An Iowa State Highway Patrol spokesperson says in today’s winter conditions, drivers should maintain an eight-second distance between their vehicle and the vehicle in front of them. Sergeant Genie Clemens.says, “Our troopers are very busy throughout the state and the roads are anywhere from mostly to completely covered (with snow).” The snow started coming down yesterday, and was likely a factor in a serious accident along Interstate-80 in Jasper County. “A car was eastbound. The driver lost control on the icy bridge and struck both sides of the bridge. The vehicle came to rest broadside in the eastbound lane and the car was them struck by a semi,” Clemens says. There were two people in the car; both were taken to a Grinnell hospital. She isn’t sure of their conditions. Early this morning, chocolate chips spilled out of a semi that wrecked on I-80 near Waukee. “The semi lost control on the slick roads and it turned over and actually ended up splitting open — the trailer part of it,” she says. A D-O-T snow plow was dispatched to push the chips off the highway. The driver of the semi was taken to a Des Moines hospital. Once the storm’s over, the trucking company will send a crew out to clear away the chips.