3 killed in Houston wrecks on icy roads
Friday February 4, 2011: At least 3 people were killed in and around Houston in car accident caused by icy conditions on the roads. The number of car wrecks increased tremendously as drivers ran into unfamiliar conditions on their commute. The three people who were killed died in two separate wrecks within 10 minutes of each other. One wreck was in Houston, the other was in Montgomery County.
Two men were killed in Cut and Shoot when their pickup slid across the center line and into oncoming traffic on Texas 105 and was hit by an approaching truck. The accident on Texas 105 East at Willis-Waukegan Road was blamed on icy conditions. The men who died are Giovanni Gomes (age 31) and Jose Gomes (age 56), according to DPS. Giovanni was driving westbound in a 1993 Toyota Tacoma pickup when the vehicle slid into eastbound traffic colliding with a 2003 Chevrolet 3500 pickup truck, the driver of which was Richard Warren (age 38) from Conroe, Texas. Warren suffered cuts and bruises but fortunately is reported as being in good condition; the Gomes’ were declared dead at the scene.
Only 10-minutes after the Cut and Shoot wreck, at 6:55am, a 30-year old driver was killed in East Houston when he was pinned between his car and a concrete guardrail after he exited his car and another vehicle collided with his Nissan. The man (who has not been identified) was driving west on the East Freeway when he lost control of his Nissan 300zx sports car due to ice on the freeway overpass. He got out of his car after the crash and sat on the guardrail waiting for help. The driver of a dark pickup then also lost control on the overpass, struck another pickup, and that pickup spun into the Nissan. The driver of the first pickup then fled the scene, according to police.
Driver waiting next to his disabled Nissan 300ZX was killed by pickup that lost control on the ice
HPD reports the driver who hit this pickup into the Nissan fled the scene
Houston Police Department officials are asking stranded motorists to wait in their cars if they have an accident, instead of stepping out to wait. HPD dealt with a large number of chain reaction style car accidents on Friday due to bad weather conditions. During a 13-hour period beginning 10:00pm Thursday and ending 11:00am Friday, Houston police responded to 750 car accidents, a 340% increase in the number of car accidents Houston police usually work on in a typical 24-hour period. Houston police normally respond to 170 car accidents during a normal 24-hour period (which averages out to 7 car accidents per hour).
Even police cars weren’t immune from the weather related car crashes. At 7:50am Friday two Houston police officers were investigating an accident in the 4700 block of Watonga in northwest Houston a tow truck slid on an icy bridge and crashed into the officers HPD patrol car, which set off a chain reaction collision resulting in a Ford pickup truck striking a pedestrian standing outside the cars. The pedestrian suffered minor injuries and the police officers were not hurt.
A pickup truck falls victim to an accident in Houston's icy road conditions