Police: Pothole May Have Been Factor In Crash That Killed Father, Son
LYON TOWNSHIP (WWJ/AP) - An investigator was looking into whether a large pothole contributed to an accident that killed a man and his 9-year-old son on an icy Michigan road, Oakland County authorities said Thursday.
Pedro Montanez swerved into oncoming traffic Tuesday morning and was hit by a pickup in Lyon Township, northwest of Detroit. The 36-year-old from New Hudson was taking his three children to school. His son, Steven, was killed and his 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter were injured.
The truck's driver escaped injury.
"We've talked to witnesses. We're looking at everything," Undersheriff Michael McCabe said. "There were two large potholes - one 13 feet long. It was also snowing at the time and the roads were snowy and ice-covered."
One pothole a couple hundred feet from the crash site was filled Friday and repaired again a few hours after Tuesday's crash.
The condition of roads and bridges across the state has been a point of debate for motorists, local officials and state legislators
Craig Bryson at the Road Commission for Oakland County spoke with WWJ Newsradio 950 about the recent road repairs in the area of the accident.
"We don't know what happened in the accidents but we do know that's a continuous problem area, where those potholes are, we had patched them, it was one of the last things we did before the Martin Luther King holiday we patched those potholes," said Bryson, adding that the road conditions will continue to be in bad shape due to budget cuts..
In his State of the State speech this week, Gov. Rick Snyder said potholes are putting drivers at risk of a "major" accident. He's urging voters to approve a sales tax increase in May as part of a plan to spend more fixing roads and bridges.
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