With another wind-whipped winter storm dumping and blowing snow on Central Kansas, Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir has one piece of advice for motorists – stay home.
“We are discouraging travel again,” he said Monday morning. While county Road and Bridge Department and state crews are keeping the snow cleared, “there is ice under that snow.”
As of 9 a.m. Monday, Bellendir said there had already been 18-20 cars slide off the road and two non-injury accidents. In fact, his department will not remove stranded cars from ditches due to the hazards it presents to safety personnel. Over the past few days, there have been two near misses between road and sheriff’s vehicles.
The BCSO has also implemented its emergency accident reporting system. Drivers involved in minor accidents can just exchange insurance information and come in to the sheriff’s office during the week to have a case number assigned.