With so many airline shutdowns, delays and travel restrictions flying anywhere is pretty difficult right now. I saw numerous friends on social media who were stuck in various airports in random cities due to airline travel complications. Not exactly the best way to spend the holidays. That being said more people are on the roads to visit family or at least get away from home with the time off of work. Driving, especially this time of the year has it's own complications, especially here in Idaho and most of our surrounding states. While heading south may not be as icy or dangerous, local and northern or even eastern and western road trips, even shorter ones are causing havoc on the roadways.

I grew up in Tucson Arizona, certainly unexperienced in icy and snowy driving conditions. However at 21 years old I moved to Anchorage Alaska and learned really quickly how to handle scary, slippery and crazy driving situations. Knock on wood, I have yet to be in a bad accident and feel pretty confident now driving in just about any condition.

Yesterday I drove to Pendleton with my son to drop him off for a week with his father who lives in Portland. Pendleton is a great middle ground between Boise and Portland. I had been keeping an eye on weather and road conditions so I knew what to expect for the most part. That being said the mountains between Onterio and Baker City, just before the Cement plant was nothing but ice when I drove through it. I passed a U-Haul Trailer that was completely tipped over, multiple vehicles that were off to the side, fender benders and then this catastrophic accident with a car and a semi that was dangling off of a massive hillside cliff.

Icy road accident, photo by Nikki West
Icy road accident, photo by Nikki West
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Icy Road Accident, Photo by Nikki West
Icy Road Accident, Photo by Nikki West
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Icy road accident, Photo by Nikki West
Icy road accident, Photo by Nikki West
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On my way back through about 3 and a half hours later the ice on the roads had for the most part melted and turned to slush but the semi had slipped even further down and was being pulled up by some massive equipment. There are more and more accidents happening all over due to the combo of limited air travel and dangerous road conditions. Please slow down and be careful, overly careful.

These 13 Treasure Valley Roads Need a Speed Change

Spend any time driving around the Treasure Valley and odds are you will spot a little bit of road rage. While it's nothing wildly aggressive most times, it seems that with the growth of our city has come a lot of conflicting opinions on HOW to drive on our streets. Roads that were never meant to handle the volume of traffic that they now do have different speed limits-- some that are a little fast, some that are a little slow. We took to our means, Facebook, to ask YOU where the worst roads are at and which speed limits need adjusted. Here is what we found.

Five Driving Rules Idahoans Should Adopt

Yes, living in the Treasure Valley is great however sometimes it can just take being "rubbed" the wrong way on our streets to completely throw you off for the day. Road rage, as we have seen from recent viral TikTok posts, is REAL here in the Treasure Valley. Sometimes, we get so used to streets not being busy that when they are, we go a little crazy. This is the case from the freeway, as well. According to a local driving group, this graphic sums up a list of rules that Idaho drivers need to pay attention to. What do you think?

10 Bad Driving Habits That Could Get You in Trouble With the Police in Idaho

10 Things Guaranteed to Give Boise Drivers Road Rage

Are You Smart Enough to Pass the Idaho Driver's Test If You Had to Take It Today?

New Idahoans have 90 days to apply for their Idaho driver's license after moving here. To pass? You have to get 36/40 questions correctly! Are you up for the challenge?

 

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