Icy roads wreak havoc
Emergency workers with West Valley, Whitefish and Kalispell fire departments carry an unconscious driver away from her vehicle Friday morning. Firefighters used the Jaws of Life to peel back the roof in order to free the trapped driver after two vehicles collided on U.S. 93 near the intersection with Church Drive. Drivers of both vehicles were injured. Craig Moore/Daily Inter Lake
The Daily Inter Lake
A two-vehicle highway crash Friday morning left a Whitefish woman in critical condition.
The accident happened at about 9 a.m. on U.S. 93 near Church Drive between Kalispell and Whitefish.
Montana Highway Patrol Sgt. Roy Christensen said the accident happened when the driver of a northbound white Isuzu Amigo lost control of her vehicle. She swerved into a southbound Ford Taurus, driven by a 27-year-old Whitefish woman.
Both were injured. The younger woman was said to be critically injured.
West Valley Volunteer Fire Department extricated the Whitefish woman from her vehicle. Kalispell Fire Department's ambulance took one woman to Kalispell Regional Medical Center. Whitefish ambulance took the other.
Christensen said road conditions Friday morning were slick with new snow and a temperature of 30 to 32 degrees. Traffic warmed the pavement enough to create black ice, he said.
Other accidents Friday morning and afternoon included a rollover near Majestic Valley Arena, slide-offs near the county landfill and KM Ranch Road on U.S. 93, a slide-off on Montana 40 near the Blue Moon bar, a rollover on Montana 206, crashes near Lake Blaine and near Whitefish, and a number of vehicles that slid off the roadway on Lion Mountain.
By Friday evening, more accidents - some with injuries - kept emergency workers busy.