Snow barks and bites in Miami Valley

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Ohio (WDTN) - From crashes to concerns about cleaning the streets of snow, Friday's storm brought with it a whole host of issues.

One close call could've happened on any street in any neighborhood in the Miami Valley.

Like many roads, it was just snowy enough to cause your car to slide.

Most of the time that's harmless, but in this case a woman and her child were in the vehicle's path.

Thankfully the child wasn't hurt Friday on Wayne and Revere in Dayton. The woman only suffered minor injuries.

It was just one in a day full of slips and slides.

"We live in Ohio but this has been ridiculous," says Michael Thomas.

Thomas should know. He had to take drastic measures just to get to work.

When Michael's car couldn't get up the hills in Englewood because they were too slick, he decided to try a detour of sorts and park his car and walk.

"It's best to walk in the last couple miles," Michael says.

Others also probably felt like they could have gotten to work faster by walking.

The many slide-offs around the county led to back-ups like this one on Interstate 75 near the Dryden Road exit.

Of course some still felt the snow's bark was worse than its bite, even after being stuck in traffic.

Once the snow stopped, the work started.

Shovels scrapped sidewalks and driveways everywhere as many tried pushing away Mother Nature's beautiful mess.   

"It's pretty to look at but hope it don't last long," says Robert Whitaker, who was out shoveling his driveway in Kettering.

Bill Terry is nearly finished with his driveway, but his shoveling is just starting.

"Sometimes I go shovel out down by the pole by hand," Terry says.

Terry likes to shovel the intersection near his Royalston Avenue home because he feels like the plows sometimes forget about it.

"All day up and down Dorothy Lane but the side roads they don't pay any attention," Terry says.

After the big December snow when some complained of its plowing practices, Kettering decided to change its policy and allow the salting of residential streets and not just the plowing.

"It's just another tool for the toolbox should the conditions warrant we do that we have that available to us," says Dave Duritsch with Kettering's Street Department.

Crews say they did put down some salt on the residential streets along with the main roads before this storm. They believe it helped, although they say this isn't the best test of the new policy.

"In this case we did some additional salting and the snow will go a lot quicker but it's not just that, it's the type of snow," Duritsch says.

The more powdery snow is easier to clear away, unlike the heavier snow that fell in December.

But how easy depends on your perspective.

Road crews spent hours plowing the snow, and were likely going to be out into the evening hours.

"It depends on what we're seeing how quickly it's beginning to melt and all those factors will depend on how long we're out," Duritsch says.