CHP responds to nearly 50 crashes along Central Coast during latest storm

Another round of winter rain pounds the Central Coast, keeping first responders across four counties busy into the early morning hours. Between midnight on December 21 to 6 p.m. on December 22, CHP officers responded to nearly 50 crashes. They weren’t the only ones busy, so were tow companies and tire businesses.

“It’s been pretty busy, we’ve got a lot of people realizing the tires are bad,” said Mike Spencer, owner of Tire and Wheel World in Salinas.

Mike Spencer says rain drives business. Not only are people coming in for fresh tires, but for flat tire repairs.

“Whenever it’s wet with inclement weather,” Spencer said, “We do a lot more flats because the tires are a lot more permeable to the rain, so it picks up nails a lot easier.”

From tires to tows, Lugo’s Towing and Automotive Repair has been flooded with calls. The operations manager says overnight, they had all hands on deck, responding to more than 100 calls.

“Well what we’ve noticed with the wet weather is cars won’t start, flat tires, dead batteries, and also an increase in accidents, which keep us pretty busy,” said Bob Eggers.

There aren’t only concerns on the road, but off as well. Cars can get stuck in the mud.

AAA offers this advice:

-Avoid cruise control, it may make you lose control

-Slow down and leave room, because it doesn’t take that much water to hydroplane

-If you do skid, don’t slam on the brakes

And if you do have to pull over —

“When vehicles do become disabled,” Eggers explained, “They (drivers) have to think they do have to get off the road as far as possible and as safely as they can because it’s extremely dangerous for first responders to be behind those vehicles on the edge of the road when people are driving fast and the roads are wet.”

The owner of Tire and Wheel World also wants to remind drivers to periodically check tire pressure, and have the tires rotated regularly.