Vehicle Flip on Belair Road Among Several Weather-Related Crashes Reported

BEL AIR, MD — At least one person was hospitalized after a vehicle flipped on Belair Road near the Winters Run bridge Wednesday morning, according to officials in Harford County, where icy roads created hazardous conditions.

The rollover crash occurred between 8 and 9 a.m. in the area of Lake Fanny Hill Road, said Rich Gardiner of the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company. Crews quickly rescued a trapped person and took the victim to a regional trauma center for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, according to Gardiner.

Due to a freezing rain advisory in effect until 9 a.m. Wednesday, officials advised drivers to be cautious.

"Roads are extremely icy and there have been several motor vehicle incidents..." Gardiner said in a statement at 7:45 a.m. Crashes and ice-related medical calls continued, he added in an update at 8:30 a.m., urging both drivers and pedestrians alike to use extreme caution.

To say there was an increase in the number of crashes was an "understatement," a Maryland State Police sergeant told The Aegis, which reported that the Bel Air barrack handled 10 weather-related incidents on the roads Wednesday morning alone, with calls tapering off by 9:30 a.m.

Harford Community College opened at 10 a.m. on Wednesday due to icy conditions, and several citizens commented on the Bel Air Patch Facebook page that they thought public schools should have been delayed too. Icy roads meant some buses were late, got stuck or did not show up at all, parents said.

Harford County Public Schools has a detailed protocol for determining when to delay opening. The process involves consulting transportation crews, weather officials and law enforcement agencies and driving along designated snow routes to check for dangerous conditions. The research begins the night before and continues at 3 a.m. the day of the weather event.

While other school districts may wait to make their decisions about delays, Harford County's superintendent must make the call by 4:45 a.m. due to the county's tiered bus schedule, according to the school system.

Pavement temperatures were above freezing at 4 a.m. when they made the decision to open on time, school officials told ABC 2 News in a statement, but the temperatures reversed direction and dipped below freezing at 5:45 a.m., which was too late to change the plans, since buses and students were en route.

The National Weather Service advised before 7 a.m. that while outside temperatures were rising, the road temperatures remained below freezing, causing icy spots.

One mother said it was ultimately her responsibility to make the call, writing on the Bel Air Patch Facebook page: "If I feel it's not safe out, I'm going to make my own decision on the safety of my child....Mother Nature is always unpredictable."

In fact, the Harford County Public Schools policy states that the family must make the decision. "Parents have the right not to send their children to school if they feel travel conditions are unsafe," according to the policy in Harford County. "Children will be marked as absent for the time they are not in school."

Carroll County closed public schools on Wednesday, and the Hereford zone in Baltimore County was on a two-hour delay. Harford Community College was the only campus in Harford County operating on a delay.

Temperatures for the rest of the school week were supposed to be above freezing, according to the forecast.

See Also: Bel Air Weather — Warm Thursday, Snow Possible by Saturday

Photos courtesy of Ray Belcher, Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company.