Bad weather busy time for tow drivers, body shops
CBC News
Posted: Feb 1, 2013 7:48 AM ET
Last Updated: Feb 1, 2013 1:15 PM ET
Windsor Police said there have been over 30 accidents within city limits Thursday. (CBC)
Icy conditions, snow-covered roads and high winds led to dozens of accidents across the city Thursday, which created a lucrative day for many who help clean up the mess.
Marc Marier owns Marcel's Collision on the city's east end and calls the snow "white gold" because it can be very good for business when bad weather strikes, leaving behind many damaged vehicles.
"Weather is a major factor in our business, right from rain, to snow, people need to slow down when the weather's bad," said Marier. "It's just everybody's in a hurry in this city."
Marier said while he likes the boost in business, he never wants to see anyone hurt and urges drivers to slow down when conditions are bad.
The weather also kept tow truck drivers extremely busy with wait times up to three hours in some cases.
Windsor tow driver Richard Perrault said many of the calls could have been avoided.
"The winter time is definitely when we pick up and usually it's just because it goes down to maintenance. Maintenance maintenance, maintenance," said Perrault.
"Drivers need to start bringing the vehicles in, have those batteries checked, take a look at the alternators, all these systems are going to have a lot of issues during this weather and you need to have that looked at," he said.
Over 30 accidents in Windsor Thursday
The snow squalls took many motorists in Windsor-Essex by surprise leading to dozens of collisions.
Windsor Police said there had been over 30 accidents within city limits Thursday.
In the county, OPP Const. Stephanie Moniz said Essex County roads were also hazardous, especially Thursday morning.
"They all seem to centre around Essex on Highway 3, right between the Arner and County Road 8. They were all very minor in nature, but there were several cars that ended up in the ditch," said Moniz.
Thursday's poor driving conditions contributed to the death of two Windsor children and one Michigan adult during a massive pileup along Interstate 75.
The children were seven and nine years old and their mother remains in critical condition at Detroit Receiving Hospital.
"We had some reports from witnesses of white-out conditions," said Lt. Michael Shaw with the Michigan State Police. "Where a snow squall came across the freeway bringing the visibility down to practically zero after that we believe some of the crashes were caused by following to closely to the vehicle in front of them or driving to fast for road conditions," he added.
The freeway was closed for most of the day Thursday, but has since reopened.
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