Whiteout Conditions Blamed For Fatal Crash Near Ann Arbor
ANN ARBOR (WWJ) - Whiteout conditions were factor, according to police, in a crash Thursday morning near Ann Arbor that killed one person.
Washtenaw County Sheriff spokesman Derrick Jackson said it happened on M-52 in Sharon Township when a semi rear-ended a pickup truck, killing the driver of the pickup truck.
Jackson said a number of other vehicles were involved in the accident as well.
"Clearly, the visibility was very, very minimal, 20 feet in front of you was what some people were reporting. So just the inability to see far ahead was definitely a contributing factor in this particular accident," Jackson said.
No one else was hurt.
Jackson said it's been a harsh winter on Michigan's roads.
"Anytime there's major weather, traffic accidents always increase and so just with the amount of snow and the icy conditions and how cold it's been, there have been more opportunities for those kinds of crashes and incidents," Jackson said. "So we've definitely seen an increase in the number of them just because of the weather."
Winds and blowing snow caused problems for motorists across the state, on Thursday; including in the Detroit, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Flint and Kalamazoo areas. In the Upper Peninsula, M-28 between Marquette and Munising was shut down due to the weather.
For the latest from on local freeways, keep it tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for traffic and weather, every 10 minutes on the 8s, 24 hours-a-day. To check on current road conditions now, visit our traffic page.