HOUSTON – The Texas Department of Transportation says it has not seen a spike in car crashes Thursday amid the rain showers, but the majority of accidents it has seen were weather related.
A major crash on I-10, where a tractor-trailer jackknifed, shut down the two right lanes at Antoine is considered weather related, TxDOT said.
The bigger problems will be during the evening and morning commutes on Friday, officials at Houston Transtar said.
Sleet could be seen during Thursday morning's commute. Officials say they are not worried about the possibility of snow, because drivers will be able to see snowflakes coming down. But what they won't be able to see is black ice.
"The most dangerous is black ice, what you can't see on the road. Make sure you give yourself extra distance between you and the driver. Give yourself extra time to react. Watch those conditions very closely," Francisco Sanchez, spokesperson for Harris County Office of Homeland Security Emergency Management, said.
The best advice will be to pay close attention to the weather reports, give yourself extra space and time, and slow down. That will help cut down on weather-related crashes.