Icy roads cause accidents, stop school buses
Jan. 5—Icy conditions this morning caused a number of crashes on area roads, and led some school officials to have bus drivers pull over during their runs to avoid accidents.
Starting around 7 a.m., state police recorded six accidents in East Hartford alone, and another on Interstate 91 in Windsor, a spokesman said. No details were available. Interstate 84 eastbound was shut down between exits 67 and 68.
In Manchester, some middle school students had to wait on buses that pulled to the side of the road.
A message sent to school families by Superintendent Matthew Geary said road conditions had become unexpectedly icy, and buses were told to pull over until road conditions improved.
Middle schools started on time, but it was expected that students on the stopped buses would be late, according to spokesman Jim Farrell.
Elementary schools had a two-hour delay because of the ice.
In Windsor, Superintendent Terrell Hill took a similar approach, stopping some buses carrying high schoolers mid-run.
"Buses will move again when it is safe to do so," Terrell said in a message.
Elementary school students were the ones stopped on buses in Vernon.
"Conditions are dangerous. School buses are waiting for road conditions to change, and roads to be treated. There have been no accidents so far," said Superintendent Joseph Macary.
The stoppages were caused by what the National Weather said this morning was a combination of light rain and sub-freezing temperatures.
"The rest of this morning we're encouraging people to take it slow and give yourself extra time," meteorologist Bryce Williams said.
Williams said temperatures will reach a high of 42 degrees today and that the rain should subside between noon and 2 p.m.
Staff writers Austin Mirmina and Deidre Montague contributed to this report.
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