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Nose for News by Sarah Stultz

As I write this, the snowfall has  ended, and it has been another crazy day of winter as we know it here in Minnesota. 

While I had a few appointments outside of the office today, the majority of my day was spent working at my computer. 

Anyone who has been in our newsroom before knows we have our scanner running 24/7, and though some days it is busier than others, today we heard nothing but call after call of crashes — mainly on the interstates. 

From what I heard there were a mix of semis that jackknifed and passenger cars that went off the road or rolled. There were even times the interstates were closed as responders aided the drivers and cleaned up in the aftermath. 

Having covered crashes for many years now for this newspaper, my heart sinks every time I hear a call come in about a crash. 

Though I still believe it is important to cover these types of events, I’m much more hesitant than I used to be to venture out in this kind of weather because I’ve seen the impact this kind of weather can have.

I’ve covered way too many fatal crashes, and I get nervous more now than I used to in the conditions. I can control my own driving, but I can’t control the driving of others — and that sometimes is really scary. 

As we move into another winter season, I encourage us all to leave a few minutes earlier to arrive to our destinations, to get rid of the distractions while driving and to take our speeds down a notch. 

Not all crashes are preventable, but we all owe it to each other to do our part to drive responsibly. 

And be sure to thank our first responders for getting out in the awful conditions to respond when we need them most. I thank them for their service and dedication to responding in dangerous conditions.

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column appears every Wednesday.