Drivers cope with sub-freezing temperatures, icy roads on Tuesday morning commute

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Concern among drivers switched from snow-slickened roads on Monday, to temperatures in the teens and snow-packed, icy surfaces during Tuesday's morning rush hour in El Paso County.

Crashes and slide-offs weren't as frequent Tuesday morning as they were Monday, when heavy snow quickly accumulated late in the morning through mid-afternoon.

KRDO 13 drove past a two-car crash on Research Parkway just before 9 a.m. Tuesday; a westbound SUV apparently skidded onto the median and into another SUV traveling in the opposite direction.

There were no apparent injuries.

Snow and ice were packed on some major streets and roads so hard that plows couldn't remove it.

However, Tuesday's sunshine -- even in temperatures below freezing -- produced melting of snow and ice, turning surfaces from slick to sloppy.

Slush and water on roadways can be just as dangerous as snow and ice, by clouding a driver's vision; drivers should make sure they have plenty of windshield washer fluid in their reservoirs.

For a KRDO 13 staffer, however, there was a different concern.

"I have a crack in my windshield," the staffer said. "I just got this car not too long ago."

The latest round of wintry weather also will likely create new potholes or worsen existing ones; a city spokesman revealed last week that crews had patched nearly 92,000 potholes this year.