one dead and 35 injured in accidents in Côte-d’Or

This Saturday, January 4, Côte-d’Or was placed on orange snow-ice alert by Météo France. An alert active until 11 p.m.

The freezing rain episode is coming to an end

It is mainly freezing rain which is causing major disruptions in our department. They arrived from the southwest at the end of the afternoon when the mercury showed negative temperatures almost everywhere. At the start of the evening, the episode slowly ended in the west of the department but continued over a large part of the territory. A return to normal is expected during the night from Saturday to Sunday.

To limit the formation of ice as much as possible, pre-salting operations were carried out during the afternoon on most of the departmental road network, in Dijon, but also on the motorways. However, although the presence of salt makes the ice melt more quickly, it does not prevent its formation. Even less so in the event of supercooled rain like this Saturday in Côte-d’Or.

Accidents: one dead and 35 injured according to an initial report

Consequence: traffic conditions quickly became difficult, causing numerous accidents. At 9:40 p.m., the Côte-d’Or firefighters drew up an initial assessment and mentioned 16 road accidents requiring emergency services, including 11 on the motorway. In total, the provisional toll is one dead, two seriously injured, 33 lightly injured and 24 involved. The fatal accident occurred on the A6.

In addition to 15 interventions to rescue victims, 7 other interventions linked to this weather episode took place.

Motorways: “difficult traffic on the A38”, A6 cut, accidents on the A31

On the motorway network, accidents have increased. Very quickly, the Department’s services mentioned “impossible traffic in the Pouilly-en-Auxois/Dijon direction” on the A38. At 7 p.m., the Côte-d’Or prefecture announced that “traffic is prohibited on the portion of the A38 (La Côte-d’Orienne) between Pouilly-en-Auxois and Sombernon”. Traffic was able to gradually resume around 10:40 p.m.

On the A31several accidents have also been reported in Côte-d’Or according to Autoroute info. In the direction of Nancy, several vehicles were injured on the tracks at km 7 after the junction with the A6 and before the Nuits-Saint-Georges exit. At kilometer 16, after the Nuits-Saint-Georges exit, a vehicle was also stopped in the right lane. Finally, in the other direction, two cars were damaged on the emergency lane, just after the Gevrey-Chambertin rest area.

But it is on the A6, towards Lyon and near the Beaune-Tailly area, the evening turned into drama, around 6:15 p.m., when an accident involving three vehicles occurred. An accident which left six victims according to the first report communicated by the firefighters on Saturday evening.

A 20-year-old man, alone in his vehicle, died at the scene of the accident. In another car, a 26-year-old woman, a 36-year-old man and a 6-year-old child were injured. Finally, in the third vehicle, a 36-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman were injured. Traffic was cut for almost three hours to allow emergency services to intervene before reopening, on one lane, shortly after 9 p.m. Another accident was reported four kilometers further north.

Furthermore, many vehicles are stopped, without hindering traffic, on the various highways in the department. On the Autoroute Info side, only one piece of advice was repeated to motorists during the evening: “Stop as soon as you can at a service area”.

Departmental network: it extends throughout the department!

Throughout the evening, traffic conditions were considered delicate across the entire departmental network. From 10 p.m., the improvement was visible in the west of the Côte-d’Or thanks to a rise in temperatures, finally rising above 0°C.

Salting operations were carried out for long hours. In the evening, François Sauvadet, president of the Department, greeted, on the social network

Dijon and its surrounding area: public transport traffic interrupted, difficulties on the ring road

In Dijon and its metropolis, weather conditions forced Divia to stop bus traffic shortly after 6 p.m. Before making the same decision for its trams an hour later. Furthermore, several accidents and major slowdowns were reported, particularly on the ring road near Toison d’Or and Fontaine-lès-Dijon. Or even in the Neuilly-Crimolois sector.

Call to postpone your trips

Faced with these conditions, the greatest caution was recommended. Earlier in the day, the Côte-d’Or prefecture invited all those who could to postpone their trips.

As a reminder, during these episodes of freezing rain, you must adapt your driving to the traffic conditions, give priority to winter service vehicles and stop as soon as possible.