2024-01-09 11:15:19
The snow surprised everyone on the A13 on Monday evening. Motorists like the highway agents who watch over this axis. “We didn’t see it coming and it fell in abundance in a short period of time,” recognizes Guillaume Berezay, head of the SAPN motorway center in Morainvilliers (Yvelines), responsible for monitoring the section between Poissy-Orgeval and the Mantes-Buchelay toll. A sector that is already particularly accident-prone in normal times. The department was placed on orange snow and ice alert this Tuesday morning by Météo France.
Very quickly after the appearance of the first snowflakes on the expressway, around 10 p.m., teams from the Société des autoroutes Paris-Normandie (SAPN, a subsidiary of Sanef) were mobilized. “First one salt spreader, then two, up to four quite quickly,” continues the center manager. We have also dedicated a resource to the only Guerville viaduct, near Mantes-la-Jolie, due to the temperature differential on this work of art which runs along the Seine.
This did not prevent an accident on the bridge, which left one person lightly injured. It would be a motorist who wanted to overtake a heavy goods vehicle and who lost control of his vehicle. A case which was not uncommon on the A13 during the night from Monday to Tuesday. “I was outside all night, I see that there is still too much bad behavior,” points out the professional. Some were driving at 90 km/h on a snowy road, this is either unconsciousness or an overestimation of one’s abilities. These are also the same vehicles that we found across the road, after a spin a little further on. »
The SAPN reminds us that we must not overtake the salt spreaders
The center manager also deplores the excessive number of overtaking of his teams’ salt spreaders, which is nevertheless prohibited by the Highway Code. “We are driving at a slow speed, so at the limit I can understand that sometimes we are slowly overtaken,” continues Guillaume Berezay. There, we had people who overtook us at a brisk pace considering the weather conditions. »
The negative temperatures during the day on Monday made the roadway very cold. And it was on this icy macadam that the snow was deposited – and held. “It was war this Tuesday morning. We were at a complete standstill,” annoys Jessy, who rushed onto the A13 in Aubergenville at 5 a.m. “It wasn’t plowed. There were trucks on the hard shoulder, it was slipping. There were cars in the ditch. » Given the heavy traffic which tends to heat up the road, the salt spreaders interrupted their passages this Tuesday morning and will resume service when the traffic is more fluid.
In total, several minor accidents were observed on the motorway, but as a safety measure, the A13 was closed between Poissy and Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt. “We had to go out to Poissy and we arrived at the Versailles market at 7 a.m.,” explains this trader. Usually it takes 35 minutes, here it took two hours. »
The prefect of Yvelines calls on motorists to exercise caution
This Tuesday morning, part of the N12 and part of the A12 were also closed to traffic. On the A12, two collisions required lane closures. Two heavy goods vehicles were involved in an accident around 7 a.m. near Chesnay in the Paris – Montigny-le-Bretonneux direction, and another truck an hour later near Fontenay-le-Fleury, towards Paris.
The prefect of Yvelines calls on road users “to exercise the greatest caution” this Tuesday morning. “The A12 and A13 motorways are currently saturated and are being treated by teams from the Île-de-France roads department. State services are mobilized to deal with the evolving situation. The Yvelines prefect invites users to avoid these routes until further notice. »
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