Crash claims three lives in Killington

Rutland Herald

By Dan Colton
and ANDY CLARK
Staff Writers | December 30,2015

 

Dan Colton / Staff Photo A tractor-trailer blocks all traffic lanes of Route 4 in Killington after a crash that killed three people Tuesday.

KILLINGTON — Vermont State Police said three people died Tuesday when a tractor-trailer and sport utility vehicle crashed on Route 4 in Killington.
Police have not identified the victims of the crash as of press time, but said seven occupants were involved. The cause of the crash has not been reported, but roads were slick with slush from the first major snowstorm of the winter.
The crash occurred around 2 p.m. Tuesday, at the bottom of the hill just east of Sherburne Pass. Route 4 was closed between Sherburne Pass and Killington Road well into Tuesday evening.
Police turned away a reporter at the scene and declined to answer questions.
Hundreds of motorists idled for hours, while others pulled out of the line and turned around. Some drivers exited their vehicles to smoke or investigate on foot. As of press time, the road was still closed.
The tractor-trailer appeared to be traveling east on the east side of Sherburne Pass when the crash occurred. The trailer blocked traffic in both directions. Its cab hung suspended over the opposite ditch and a large State Police presence illuminated the slick roadway with flashing lights.
A mixture of frozen rain and snow fell and threw a white haze across the scene.
“This investigation is still ongoing and the roadway will be closed for quite a few hours, late into the evening and potentially early into the morning hours,” Lt. Chuck Cacciatore said around 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Elsewhere, on Route 7 near the Rutland-Pittsford town line, three vehicles were involved in another crash blamed on slippery roads, though firefighters said there were no life-threatening injuries in that incident.
“They all got up and walked away, but they went to the hospital,” said Capt. Chris Clark of the Rutland Town Fire Department.
He said two cars — a Subaru Outback and a Chevrolet Malibu — slid into each other at around 6 p.m., colliding on their drivers’ sides. Those two vehicles were total losses, Clark said, and the third, a Toyota Prius, sustained minor damage.
“It just happened to be in the way,” he said. “It had a little scrape on it.”
The drivers of the Outback and Malibu had to be extricated from their cars — one by the Pittsford Fire Department and one by Clark’s crew. Route 7 was closed to traffic north of Pinnacle Ridge Road for about an hour and a half.
Roads throughout Vermont were rated as “difficult” Tuesday. While accidents mounted later in the day, police said motorists generally drove appropriately to the conditions for the morning commute, and highway crews were out early. Few accidents or vehicles off the road were reported in the morning.
“It also helped traffic levels to have this happen while kids were out of school,” Cacciatore said. “Those who did drive this morning were doing so safely and slowly.”
Lt. Kevin Geno, of Rutland City Police, agreed about the morning commute. “Our DPW was out fairly early and by 6 a.m. they had the roads in decent shape for commuters. The outcome was really good. People paid attention to the conditions and everyone was prepared for the severity of the storm. It was the perfect time for such a storm to arrive.”
Byron Hathaway, road commissioner for Rutland Town, said: “We were out salting early. It was bad when it turned to sleet, but the salt began to loosen up the accumulation and made roads drivable.”
Road conditions, however, deteriorated later in the day in some areas, especially higher elevations.
For purposes of rating road conditions, “difficult” is defined by the state Agency of Transportation: “Roadway is completely covered with precipitation. Accumulation is to the point that roadway markings are completely obscured making it difficult to differentiate between the roadway and its surrroundings. Surfaces are slippery and driver speeds should be reduced significantly.”
Green Mountain Power crews went to work early Tuesday restoring power to customers as snow and ice brought down trees and branches, causing power outages.
As of 11:30 a.m., power had been restored to more than 250 customers. Most of the outages occurred in Killington and Sunderland, GMP said. No outages remained in the region by Tuesday evening.