Snow Sticks in Beaumont, Cars Pile Up On Freeway

When snowflakes start falling, many embrace it – no problem.

“Oh, I love the snow,”Yvonne Myers said.

When streets starts embracing the snow, though – big problem. Icy streets in Beaumont caused a major accident on the eastbound 10 freeway at 22nd street Saturday night.

“It started with a single vehicle spinout because of the snow and the sleet that was on the roadway. It ended up escalating to a 10 car pile up, closed the freeway to an hour hour and a half,” Darren Meyer of California Highway Patrol said.

Three people were hospitalized after the crashes with non-life threatening injuries. Meyer says the Banning/Beaumont community may expect the snow, but that doesn’t hold true for other travelers.

“Interstate 10 gets a lot of transient traffic, traffic from la that travels to Palm Springs and vice versa, folks that leave California coming back form Arizona out of state. They may not be used to the weather. They expect the freeway to be open. Usually the pass catches them off guard,” Meyer said.

When you get behind the wheel – whether the snow surprises you or not – you can help the conditions. In addition to having a full tank of gas, ready windshield wipers and tires, “Slow down, significantly. This allows you to have more reaction time and it allows you to keep from spinning if there’s debris or a crash in front of you.”

“There’s a certain amount of courage you get when behind the wheel. In southern California were used to nice weather year round,” Meyer added.

The best piece of driving advice in blustery weather?

“If you don’t have to go out, just stay home,” he said.

A piece of advice even snow lovers follow.

“I stay home that’s the best thing to do don’t be on the roads unless you have to be somewhere,” Myers said.