Northwest Indiana- The Indiana State Police Lowell Post and Regional Dispatch Center were nonstop yesterday on I-65 and I-80/94 during the Lake Effect Winter Storms. Between the overnight storm, and then the storm that hit the region just before noon, troopers responded to hundreds of calls for assistance consisting of crashes, slide-offs, flat tires, vehicles out of gas, dead batteries, and trucks that were just stuck and unable to gain traction on the ice-covered roads. Semis had a particularly rough go of it as dozens of trucks throughout the storms became disabled in the middle of the interstate when their trucks couldn’t make the climb up some of the inclines, specifically near Ridge Rd on I-65 northbound and then both east and west bound I-80 at the ramps that lead to I-65 north and southbound lanes. Those exits were blocked for several hours throughout the day.
Below is a summary of the calls that were responded to:
- Property Damage Crashes- 88
- Injury Crashes- 5
- Slide-Offs (no report taken)- 81
- Assists to Motorists- 121 (this number includes the dozens of calls of semis stuck in the roadway unable to move)
One of our troopers was struck while sitting in his vehicle on the right shoulder of I-65 just north of I-80. The trooper was sitting there with lights activated in an attempt to slow down traffic as there was a crash on the other side of the hill. A driver was driving too fast for the conditions and lost control of their vehicle and struck the trooper’s police SUV. The driver was cited for unsafe lane movement causing injury and unsafe speed. Both the driver as well as the trooper were transported to local hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries.
The number of calls for service during this event is concerning, especially when injuries and property damage occur due to negligence. Please heed warnings that the road conditions are treacherous when those alerts go out. Check www.511.in.org , your media outlets (radio and TV), or the Indiana State Police Lowell Post social media pages for road/weather information. If travel is discouraged, we ask everyone to seriously reconsider the need for you to drive on the roads. Also, we appreciate the communication that was being sent to the Lowell Post by the National Weather Service- Chicago as they were very helpful during the event.