State police say Connecticut drivers need to be on the lookout for ice missiles -- chunks of flying ice that leave one car and hit another.
It’s against the law for drivers to have excessive snow or ice on their vehicles.
“This is one of the worst years we’ve had so far,” said TFC Tanya Compagnone, a spokesperson for the state police.
She said many drivers are ignoring the law -- and risking the lives of others.
“We’d just like to remind people that when you fail to remove snow and ice from your vehicle, you’re putting yourself and others at risk,” Compagnone said.
It’s a $120 fine for failure to clear snow and ice off a vehicle and it’ll cost more than that for cars that cause damage to other vehicles – up to $1000 in additional fines.
The ice missile assault on vehicles is a product of the most recent storm.
“It started off as a bit of snow and pretty quickly went over to sleet, which are those little ice pellets,” said meteorologist Garett Argianas. “Then, we had an extended period of freezing rain.”
Argianas pointed to changes in the weather pattern as the catalyst for the creation of these ice missiles.
“Consider that you have snow and sleet already sitting on the car and then you have rain into that for several hours,” Argianas said. “That was all followed by a flash freeze on Sunday, and if you remember, temperatures dropped like a rock. So basically, everything kind of gelled together on the cars and then froze into a solid block.”
Compagnone said there are no numbers available on how many people have been pulled over for not having cleared their vehicles or how many cars have been damaged by ice missiles.
But, Compagnone said at least 20 cars were struck in the Hartford area alone.
