Charles Liu, Residents of Fuyang, Anhui had a tough commute last Thursday, following over 40 collisions due to icy roads. Interestingly however, there had been no snow or precipitation of any kind, and side streets and side-walks weren’t affected.
Upon further inspection, the icy roads appeared to follow a path through the city, and that’s because it did. At around 4 o’clock early Thursday morning, the Fuyang sanitation department sent out a truck to spray city streets with water. While the water indeed cleaned the streets, the overnight lows of -5 degrees Celsius, covered the streets in glare ice.
As described by the People’s Daily Online, the sanitation department’s “arduous sense of duty” was directly responsible for all the accidents, including 11 that occurred in a two kilometer stretch of road fully covered with ice.
One unfortunate Fuyang driver that fell victim to the good-intentions of the sanitation department described the scene: “Once my car collided with the median, I got out to take a look, and immediately slipped.”
Police say only one minor injury was reported from a motorcyclist that fell, but stress that there may be additional collisions and accidents caused by ice that was not reported.
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Fuyang Municipal Sanitation Department assistant manager Rui explained the importance of spraying the streets: “Recently, Fuyang city streets have been very dusty due to the arid and dry weather. The intention of spraying water (with the truck) is to clean the streets in order to provide the public a clean environment,” said Rui.
Rui added that the ice was an isolated incident. “We had previously sprayed water in just about the same weather conditions. At that time, ice didn’t form on the roads,” he said.
For all the hassle they have caused to city residents, Rui offered a personal apology for the zealousness of his department. “We will strengthen our management efforts in the future, and prevent any similar incidents from happening again in the future,” he said.
According to Fuyang municipal regulations, spraying water on city streets is supposed to cease in subzero weather conditions.