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'Winter debris' causing accidents, State Patrol urging drivers to clean cars

Flying debris, ice, snow, even windshield wipers, causing accidents on Minnesota roads.

ST PAUL, Minn. — Winter driving, as we all know, can be challenging and sometimes it's more than just the road conditions.

This winter drivers have dealt with all kinds of flying debris.

"One thing to keep in mind is your wipers," Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Gordon Shank says.

“I myself have seen it, windshield wipers fly off and it causes people behind them to react and they end up either in the ditch or crashing because they don't know what's flying off the vehicle."

Things flying off vehicles has certainly been the theme this winter, from ice houses falling off trailers on busy highways, to snow flying off semis.

“If you’re not clearing the snow off your vehicle, or the ice, those things can cause you and other drivers to lose visibility and they can swerve off the road or get in a crash,” Shank says.

The biggest problem though has been ice chunks, the kind that are probably on your wheel wells right now.

“You’re going to want to clean those off before you start driving,” Shank says.

"Ice can be kicked up into the air and it can cause a distraction, or it can cause a crash in itself."

That's what happened to an ambulance in Pennsylvania this week, when an ice chunk smashed through the front windshield.

 The same thing happened to an SUV in Dunn County Wisconsin and another in Massachusetts, injuring a 6-year-old girl in the passenger seat.

“You can be cited for that, because you are causing things to happen that wouldn’t have happened if you cleared your vehicle out before you left,” Shank says.

Troopers have also seen people hit on the side of the road, including drivers who stepped out to look at their damage, tow truck drivers who stopped to help them out, even state troopers, with a dozen squads in Minnesota hit this month alone.

"They're called secondary crashes. They happen after the original crash, and those are things that we do see and we do respond to.”

Shank says nearly every one of them could have been prevented by drivers just paying attention, driving slower and allowing more space between the car ahead of them.

"If you're too close in this weather there's a chance you're  going to end up in a crash."

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