Highway accidents increase as more begin to travel

Though earlier in the day, the Missouri State Highway Patrol received more calls alerting them to fallen power lines and vehicles stuck in the snow, a dispatcher at the patrol's Troop E headquarters in Poplar Bluff said around 1 p.m. traffic accidents were starting to occur within the last hour.

No injury-accidents havd been reported at that time, the dispatcher said.

Road officers warn that road conditions are still hazardous and slick, but haven't necessarily worsened.

More people may be venturing out of their homes as the day wears on, leading to a slight increase in collisions, the dispatcher said.

In the Cape Girardeau city limits, only seven to 10 accidents were reported by early afternoon, according to Sgt. Jason Selzer, spokesman for the Cape Girardeau Police deaprtment.

All main roads had been cleared in Cape Girardeau and crews were in the midst of clearing the secondary streets. Traffic operation manager Robert Kutak said about 200 tons of rock salt had been used so far.

When the forecast changed from snow to freezing rain and ice, crews removed rubber blades from their snow plows and instead used metal blades on the pavement which Kutak believed removed ice from city roads much better. All main roads were clear by 11 a.m.

"I noticed a lot of people were not going to work and school this morning, which created a less volume of traffic and made our job easier," Kutak said.

Kutak expected all roads to be completely cleared by rush hour on Wednesday.