PHOTO BY JIM WILSON
Ashley Palangi of Nahant waits for help after her brown KIA was involved in an ice-related, four-car accident Wednesday morning on Burdett Road in Lynn.
BY THOR JOURGENSEN and LEAH DEARBORN
LYNN — Burdett Road where four cars were involved in a Wednesday morning crash was only one of numerous locations across the region where ice-slick roads caused accidents.
Lynn police and counterparts in neighboring communities scrambled to answer accident calls and dispatch officers to accident scenes. News reports said crashes occurred on Greater Boston highways as the morning commute accelerated after 6:30 a.m.
Route 128 northbound north of I 93 near Wakefield was the scene of a 55-vehicle crash. Eight people received minor injuries, according to published reports.
Palangi said her car was the second involved in the Burdett Road crash off Euclid Avenue at about 7:30 a.m. She hit another car that collided with a tree.
“The road is just a sheet of ice. No one can even walk,” she said.
Troy Heggie lives near the accident scene and watched the mayhem unfold.
He said the first car involved slid down hilly Burdett Road and stopped at the edge of his driveway. The driver disembarked and called for help when another vehicle slid down the icy hill into the car in front of Heggie’s home. The two drivers were just starting to exchange paperwork when a third vehicle lost control and started sliding.
“When another car came up over the hill, we were all screaming, ‘no, don’t try it!” Heggie said.
It took tow truck crews two hours to untangle the mess. The drivers kept their cool — some of them even came into Heggie’s home to watch television.
“I would have had coffee ready,” quipped Heggie.
Bay View Avenue in the Highlands also took its toll on drivers who tried to negotiate one of the city’s steepest streets Wednesday morning. A witness described cars spinning out and colliding with stone walls.