The Minot Police Department issued a "no travel" advisory Friday morning due to the icy roads and snow. The advisory was lifted by midafternoon, but a general travel advisory remained in effect.
As of 5 p.m. there were 46 total accidents in the city, said Lt. Steve Whitesell of the police department. Forty-one of the accidents resulted in property damage, four were hit and runs, and one accident involved a minor injury that did not require hospitalization, he said.
A fatal crash happened on the 15,300 block of U.S. Highway 52 around 1 p.m. The highway was shut down for about two and a half hours following the crash.
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A three-car pileup near the intersection of Third Street and Fifth Avenue Southeast was just one of many accidents that happened in Minot Friday.
"A Dodge pickup was travelling westbound pulling an empty gooseneck trailer," said Capt. Gary Orluck of the North Dakota Highway Patrol. The truck "began to enter the eastbound lane," he said, where the trailer struck an oncoming Chevy van hauling an ATV on a "bumper-style trailer." The passenger of the van was killed and the vehicle was totalled.
The van was driven by Joseph Kriedeman, 41, of Voltaire, and the truck was driven by Darin Clark, 38, of Minot, according to a statement released by the Highway Patrol. Both drivers sustained injuries and were taken to Trinity Hospital.
It is unclear whether the truck itself struck the van. The accident remains under investigation and the name of the deceased has not been released by authorities.
While the highway was shut down, traffic was rerouted through Sawyer, said Capt. Bob Barnard of the Ward County Sheriff's Department. While travelling through Sawyer to bypass the highway, two tractor trailers slid off the road. There were no damages or injuries involving the tractor trailers, though the event did "add to the chaos," said Barnard.
Karl Hawes, of Velva, described a Minot accident involving his wife, Viana, near the intersection of Third Street and Fifth Avenue Southeast Friday morning, as "three accidents in one, involving the same three cars."
"I was parked farther up the hill," said Viana, when a Mercury Milan sidespwiped her brand new Kia Soul and slowly pushed it down the hill. Viana had called her husband, who works at OK Automotive WD down the street, to come check on the car. He was about to be on his way when a loud screech could be heard over the phone.
"The [Mercury Milan] was beginning to back out" of the accident, said Mindy Anderson, who had just dropped off her kids at daycare, when her GMC Suburban locked up on the ice and began careening down the hill. "I couldn't control the slide so I started honking" to warn people, she said, but she joined the other two vehicles as they slowly drifted down the hill, finally coming to a stop just above the intersection. "I'm just glad no one was hurt," Anderson said.