ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 4, 1996 TAG: 9601040053
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
A Bedford County woman was seriously injured Wednesday morning in one of a series of accidents caused by icy roads across the region.
Virginia Crawford, 44, of Thaxton, lost control of her vehicle and struck a tree after her car slid on a patch of black ice about 7:30 a.m. on Virginia 682 near Kelso, according to state police.
Crawford, a loan officer at Bedford Federal Savings Bank, was listed in critical condition in Roanoke Memorial Hospital's neurotrauma intensive care unit Wednesday night.
"Black ice," or frozen pavement where the ice is virtually invisible to drivers, was a factor in five wrecks in Bedford County in less than a hour Wednesday morning, according to state police Sgt. David Martin.
None of the other drivers was injured.
"The ice pretty well sneaked up on us," Martin said. "The temperature dropped 2 degrees this morning, and a lot of wind came down off the mountains and iced up the roads in cold pockets and shady spots."
In separate accidents, two drivers overturned their cars about 7:45 a.m. after hitting black ice on rural mountain roads in Montvale, he said. Two other single-car wrecks also were caused by ice, Martin said, including one in the Hardy area in which a car skidded off Virginia 619 and landed in a creek.
Other ice-related accidents were reported in Botetourt County, where sheriff's dispatchers said deputies responded to several minor crashes in the early morning. There were no injuries.
According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in Bedford and Botetourt counties averaged in the low 40s Wednesday morning, although weather service employees said light rain that fell Tuesday night probably kept roads at freezing temperatures in higher elevations and in rural areas.
Landmark News Service contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Short : 41 linesby CNB