Black ice causes several crashes on rural roads

Police received a flurry of calls over a two hour period from members of the public reporting a number of accidents in Netherfield, Broad Oak and Crowhurst.

The first call came in at 6.45am, reporting an accident on Netherfield Road.

This was followed by calls to an accident on Chitcombe Road in Broad Oak and a second crash on Netherfield Road.

A vehicle overturned on Netherfield Hill and an accident on Crowhurst Road caused tailbacks along Queensway in St Leonards.

Meanwhile one motorist had a lucky escape after their car collided with a tree near the White Hart pub in Netherfield.

Police say all the accidents were caused by vehicles skidding on black ice.

Country roads are more prone to black ice than roads in more urban areas.

Rural roads are often sheltered by trees and this can prevent sunlight from melting the ice as quickly as in urban areas.

Sergeant Mark Evans, of Battle Police, urged motorists to take extra care when driving on rural roads in freezing weather.

He said: “I would ask motorists to be extra cautious travelling on rural roads.

“It’s important when we have a cold spell that people leave extra time for travel.

“We would urge them to take extra care, particularly on rural roads where there is a chance of ice still remaining on the roads, quite often not visible to the motorist.”

Luckily, no one was seriously injured in Monday’s crashes.

There were similar scenes across Sussex.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said that between midnight and 7.45am on Monday there had been more than 40 crashes on the county’s roads, mainly in rural areas.

More than 30 of these had involved single vehicles sliding off the road due to black ice.

The spokesman said: “Rush hour drivers are urged to take it easy on the roads, especially outside towns.

“The ice cannot readily be spotted, so please slow down and allow extra time for your journey.”