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Investigators: Deicer not the cause of December wreck, it was speed

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by KREM.com

Posted on January 29, 2010 at 12:17 PM

Updated Saturday, Jan 30 at 12:57 AM

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SPOKANE -- Spokane County Sheriff's Office investigators have determined that deicer did not contribute to a December crash that injured two teens. 

They blocked off part of Wellesley near the Trent intersection Friday morning around 8:00 a.m. as they investigated a wreck that happened back on December 29th.  They say speed was the contributing factor.  It was determined the driver was going about 88 m.p.h.

You may remember, a teen driver with a teen passenger lost control of a Chevy Trailblazer and hit a large, metal power pole on December 29th. Some deicer had been laid down about a half hour before the wreck that morning, and reconstructionists want to determine if it made the road more slick.

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rrandall said on January 29, 2010 at 10:04 AM

Yes, when the temperature and humidity is just right the de-icer will cause icy conditions when first applied for a short period. I have personnely experienced this more than once when trying to stop in the early morning after de-icer has recently been applied. I drive to work early usually leaving around 5:30 am, this scenario does not happen every time however. To accurately determine if the de-icer contributed to the accident one would have to take into account multiple items such as speed, weight of the vehicle,tires, type of brakes and steering, weather temperature,humidity, visibility,average temperature and conditions during the last several hours before the accident, any previous de-icing schedule, type of roadway, conditions of the roadway at the time of accident, and probably many others. As one would understand it would be almost impossible to have all the knowledge and same conditions recreated for an accurate scenario.

bsutphin said on January 29, 2010 at 11:30 AM

I have to agree with rrandall,I have slid on that stuff to.

spoklahomarox said on January 29, 2010 at 11:46 AM

When de-icer is fresh, it can be very slick. I thought everyone knew that.

graham said on January 29, 2010 at 11:48 AM

I bet she was also going a little to fast

turbo1 said on January 29, 2010 at 12:18 PM

Several businesses in the area have de-icer put on their parking lots throughout the winter. Recently the weather report has been for "freezing temperatures and a possibility of rain". These are the conditions that trigger the de-icer company to apply it to parking lots. The problem is, we haven't had the rain mixed with freezing temperatures. If you have noticed at these sites, the parking lot may be slick because the de-icer hasn't had anything to de-ice. Tracking that de-icer into the stores creates slick floors as well. My suggestion: Don't apply the de-icer unless you are sure there is going to be icy conditions. A forecast (recently) isn't always correct.

whatsyurbeef said on January 29, 2010 at 7:01 PM

If the weather keeps going like it's been in jan. we'll have spring next month and maybe the road crews will be able to start the road washing and get rid of all the muck on the roads. I got to get my 64 cheby out with the wrinkle walls and the pink and purple tuck and roll.. got to have some fun.

webmusic said on February 10, 2010 at 1:33 PM

just another excuse for the city to avoid lawsuit.... De-icer is slick! You dont need major investigation....