Four people were hurt after a 10-vehicle pileup happened along I-94 early Tuesday morning.
A preliminary investigation determined that a three semi truck collision started a chain reaction, which caused seven crashes and five slide-offs on the highway between mile marker 46 and 56, according to Michigan State Police (MSP).
“Any time there is whiteout conditions, icy roads, if people would just slow down, the likelihood of the crash would go way down,” MSP First Lieutenant Rusty Ernstes said.
According to Ernstes, it was a chaotic scene when first responders arrived as they tried to quickly help get people out of the bitter cold.
“I actually want to give a kudos to one of my sergeants, she actually transported some of the more serious injured people to the hospital in her patrol car because the ambulance couldn’t get to them,” Ernstes said.
Altogether, four people had minor injuries, the most serious being a broken bone, according to state police.
The injuries could have been much worse if drivers weren’t wearing their seatbelts, and Ernstes is thankful they were.
“You will see it is very significant damage to the cars and had these individuals not been wearing their seatbelts, they wouldn’t be with us, I am positive of that,” Ernstes said. “There were kids involved in one car and they were appropriately seated in their car seats and they are actually doing just fine.”
Due to white out conditions caused by blowing snow, troopers advised drivers to avoid the corridor for the time being, and asked drivers to slow down.