Drivers describe slick roads, unsafe driving conditions during Mid-Missouri snowstorm

BOONE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)

As snow blankets Mid-Missouri, those brave enough to drive through the storm are met with slick patches of ice and roads still covered in snow.

ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather team issued a Weather Alert Day Tuesday afternoon through Friday morning for large amounts of snow and below-freezing temperatures. On Wednesday, multiple inches of snow fell in Boone County, coating the highway and city roads in ice and snow.

Tow truck driver Melvin Phillips with I-70 Towing and Recovery told ABC 17 it's been a busy day for him and his coworkers. Phillips said he's responded to multiple accidents and cars sliding off the road.

"They've been in the medium, in the ditches, they're turned around," Phillips said. "They was headed northbound and they're looking southbound now, or westbound and they're eastbound now. There's a bunch of vehicles in the medium and in the ditches today."

While a lot of people are calling for tows, Phillips said most of the calls he's responding to are single-car accidents.

"They're not giving themselves enough distance in between the vehicle in front of them and themselves, and they're over-correcting, and it's slick out there," Phillips said.

Phillips advises drivers to go very slowly and leave a lot of space between them and the cars around them. If you find yourself sliding, Phillips says you should take your foot off the gas, don't press the brakes and turn in the direction you're sliding.

For drivers, like Dub Stephenson, who have never driven in the snow before, this weather can take some getting used to.

"Little scary, little scary," Stephenson said. "My little car ain't gonna make it."

Stephenson is from Alabama and hasn't experienced this much snow before. He and his friends were out at Stephans Lake Park trying to learn how to sled downhills.

Stephenson told ABC 17 he'd recommend not taking a small car out in the snow if you have to drive somewhere.