15 cars involved in two separate pileup accidents in Chicago suburb
MATTESON, Ill. (CBS) -- Anyone heading out this snowy Halloween night was advised to take it slow – with cars sliding around on icy roads.
In south suburban Matteson, the road conditions led to two separate pileup accidents in south suburban Matteson. Altogether, tow trucks hauled away close to 15 vehicles.
Earl Stoxsell rushed down to the site of one of the pileups on Vollmer Road after his wife called. The ice on the road left car after car sliding off.
"She got hit on the side at the first car, and then a second car hit her on the back - and all the cars in the back of her were running into each other," Stoxsell told CBS 2's Jermont Terry.
The slick roads caught many off guard.
"Very icy. It was not prepared," said Earl Stoxsell's wife, Mary. "We didn't see any of the salt trucks."
Matteson village spokesman Sean Howard said there was a nine-car accident at Lincoln Highway over Interstate 57, and a seven-car accident minutes later a mile north at Vollmer Road and Cicero Avenue.
"They told me not to get off on Lincoln Highway because it was icy," said Mary Stoxsell. "And so I said, 'OK, well, I'll get off at Vollmer, and sure enough, it was icy as well.'"
The first Halloween snowfall of the season started out pretty in Deerfield. The flakes were thick and fluffy.
In Morton Grove, the winds reduced visibility as the snow fell Tuesday afternoon. But when the sun set, the overpasses proved to be trouble spots there too.
"Nothing but a sheet of ice," said Mary Stoxsell.
Thankfully, no one was seriously injured in either pileup. But Mary Stoxsell could not forget feeling helpless as each car pushed her closer to the guardrail.
"I just wanted to make sure I didn't go over - hit the guardrail hard enough to go over the highway, because I was right over the northbound lanes of I-57," she said. "I was trying to gain control of my car."
Mary was shaken up, but knows she and others are lucky they walked away. Their vehicles are a different story.
Trucks did come salt Vollmer Road after the pileup was clear.