Record snow, recent ice add to already chaotic towing season

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Throughout Minnesota, more than 200 cars crashed and another 200 spun out between Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon.

Josh Peterson had a front row seat to a handful of those incidents, all while adding to the tally himself. 

"This morning has been a mess," said Peterson, a tow truck operator for Tyson's Towing in St. Paul.  "I was in the ditch a little bit myself trying to help someone get out of a ditch."

Peterson was responding to a call near St. Paul where a school bus lost control attempting to climb a hill. Shortly after, a responding plow truck also went into a ditch. 

"It's been pretty hectic. We've got a lot of cars in the ditch. Ice-covered roads, black ice like crazy," Peterson said.  

Wednesday's ice came just one week after a two-day snowfall, and three weeks after blizzard conditions created whiteouts across the state.

"This is probably the worst year that Minnesota has seen, I'd say in the last five years," Peterson said. 

"You've got a lot of calls coming in from all over the place," said Derek Schindler of Budget Towing. "People are in the ditch, they're in medians. They hit somebody. It's just a variation, but the phone doesn't stop ringing."

Both Schindler and Peterson say the advice to avoiding the ditch is simple – use common sense. 

"Stay home if you can. If not, drive slow," Peterson said. "Put your cell phone down and just allow yourself extra travel time."