Week of roll over vehicle crashes.

   This past week was unusual in the number of roll over vehicle crashes that occurred in The Mercury coverage area. We had five accidents over six days. Four of them were on various stretches of Rt. 422 from Amity Township to Lower Pottsgrove Township. The other was on Manatawny St.
   The tri-county has always had more than its share of collisions over the years. But, to have a week where we are out covering that many roll over crashes was a first. I don't know if all could have been prevented, but bad weather wasn't a factor on any.
   We've had a moderate winter with temperatures above freezing quite a bit. So none involved sliding on ice. We've only had two measurable snowfalls all winter. It had been quiet for a while, going several weeks without any serious wrecks.
   Maybe the warm dry weather had motorists driving faster.  One crash involved a driver turning a vehicle into an oncoming motorist clipping the car, causing it to barrel roll several times. The driver suffered only a scraped up arm. The unfortunate thing is that he was homeless and living in his car. He lost his home when they towed it away.

   On another crash I covered, the driver of a tractor-trailer lost control on a curve and the truck smashed through a guardrail rolling down into a ravine. The Amity and Monarch fire companies had to rescue the man from inside the cab. He was in serious condition and airlifted to the hospital. I'm happy to report that all drivers from the various accidents survived. And that alone is good.
  There is one possible answer to preventing the crashes, maybe we can take more time and just slow down and hopefully there will be less of these incidents. I for one need to drive more slowly.