gallon76- NO i don't . I am at work. You'll see less of me when the economy comes back. There isn't a law on how often I can comment so please leave me alone.

BY "WRIGHT ROAD" THEY MEANT A LOCATION ON THE MAP KNOWN AS "NORTH WRIGHT ROAD" WAY UP THERE PAST FOREMOST KITCHENS ON 26. LIKE BY TOWNHALL ROAD, THAT AREA. NOT OVER ON THE WRIGHT ROAD EVERYBODY ALREADY KNOWS. . . A DIFFERENT ONE.

It sounds like the ice had much more to do with this accident than a drink or two. Until you find out all of the facts, don't be so quick to judge this guy.--Leave him alone.......

Very well said, hiloa. I hope your and your son's injuries heal quickly!

All the streets are done? Well ya might want to check the side streets between Milwaukee and Mt Zion From the circle east have not been touched! But hey don't worry you got our taxes so why do anything now..... My street has been plowed 2 times this winter and NO SALT OR SAND I just love having to go 5 miles an hour until I can get to A main road! What A Joke.... I do hope all involved in the accident Sat Night will be OK and if the county would have sprayed the roads before to ice storm Sat it may have been A different story, Rock Co has always been aweful to drive in....... I use to work in Walworth Co and always new when I crossed the countyline just by the road conditions. Its A real shame people have to be hurt because of our unsafe road conditions every winter.....

Roadmaster> FYI as a CDL holder and over the road truck driver for over 20 years all safe and accident free. for those of you that dont know the legal limit for anyone who has a CDL is .04 no matter what you are driveing at the time . Dont belive me ask the state patrol or for that matter ask the DOT cop they call duelly Dan he will set you straight. so yes even if Mr. Briggs only had 1 or 2 beers under the federal laws pertaining to CDL holder he would of been legaly drunk. and no i do not drink and have not drank for 25 years. I do hope his wife will be ok though. also any ticket you get in your personal auto also affects your CDL and vise versa.

I was the driver of the van that was hit. My wheelchair bound son and I were on our way home from a Wheelchair Basketball tournament at UWW. Although the article says that we are uninjured, that just means we didn't need to go to the hospital. My son saw the paramedics twice due to back pain. We were advised that if we did go to the hospital, that we would be there a very long time due to the number of critical injuries. I decided to refuse treatment at that point and knew I could call later if we needed help. Every muscle in my body hurts. It is very forutnate that we are ok. My first thoughts were to get my son out and to safety and then to check on the car that hit us. Fortunately our team van was behind us and was able to pickup my son and move him safely to a side road. I walked to the Briggs' car and by then a paramedic was already working on Mrs. Briggs. I then went back to my son as I knew things were being handled.

The justice system will take care of Mr. Briggs and if he was legally drunk, he will have to pay the price. No excuses. Icy or not. I did see the 5 other cars, 2 of which hit right in front of me. The roads went from ok to skating rink in a matter of minutes. I could hardly stand on the road.

No matter what though, Mr. Briggs is going to have to live with the fact that he severly injured his wife and could have taken the lives of others.

At this time, we should all be thinking about Barbara Briggs and hope that she recovers quickly and has no lasting physical injuries.

I can't say if he was drinking or not. I do know that when the road is slick cars slide off even when not speeding, but to sustain this much damage this guy was going way too fast for conditions and should be cited accordingly. I do not agree with giving everyone who slides off the road a ticket but when there is this much damage and this severe of injury its more than clear this guy needs to have a heavy fine and possibly a Driver License retest. The only people who speed in icy conditions are idiots in my opinion.

besides i thought he was innocent until proven guilty , i dont remember reading that he could be convicted by gazette reading

they need to start and aa group for serial bloggers lol

It is true that almost everyone of age (almost) has driven after a beer or two, even after a beer or two too many. That is the issue. The attitude that most drinking Wisconsin drivers have that "everyone does it", that "it's no big deal” and "I can handle it" is why a man like Mr. Briggs drives after drinking. I suspect he's done it before without consequence, perhaps many times before. It may be that the only reason he had his problems controlling his vehicle on Saturday was the ice combined with his alcohol consumption. He obviously didn't take the law or his condition seriously probably believing that he could drive without incident as he probably has before, and so did his wife as she seems to have been a willing passenger. Fortunately Mr. Cummings, the other driver, was uninjured, but only by chance or providence as Mr. Cummings name could well have graced the obituaries as well as this story, which is why we need a new attitude about drinking and driving in Wisconsin. How many have to die or be horribly injured until that new attitude appears?

hannah; Haven't you got anything else to do besides write articles on here, you wrote articles 15 times.

Like I've said before, this stretch of highway is dangerous for sober people. Lower the speed limit between Milton and Janesville. And get tougher on drunk drivers. I feel bad for the families who are affected by this accident and all the others who have died or been injured on this road.

hannah- can u say %100 sure that u have never had one or two beers and have driven home. Because in a state where 70 percent of adults drink on a regular basis its highly unlikely that anyone who has had two beers would say that they were too drunk to drive. We live in a state that will let drunk drivers to continue to have their license even after they've had numerous duis. And the roads were very icy bc i wouldnt drive 2 miles in it. There were many accidents that night and u obviously have nothing better to do to comment on a situation that u have been given very limited information on.

sorry crazycatlady- i wasnt trying to be mean saying crazylady- i was just trying to shorten it some and looked back and it looks bad that way sorry.

crazylady- you may be correct but how would you prove the opposite. may have NOT slide if not drinking? cant it is too late. lets say he didn't have any drinks. How fast was he going? is this why he slide off road. then you're in trouble anyway from driving poorly on icy roads. If you have a couple drinks you may be more distracted or not pay as close attention to roads. It didn't mention his speed at all.

anoble- you can terminate for any reason or no reason to list. This legally i am sure you'd be able to. he CANNOT drive a truck for you. I am sure you're covered legally. but it were a concern and you wanted to i would put "no reason" for why he was fired. you seem like you wouldn't cause of the way you commented. If i were you i may not mention any more here just in case.

After watching 60 min last night, I agree with the NY prosecutor that anyone knowingly driving drunk is commiting a felony. if you kill someone while driving drunk it is murder 2nd degree.

The article says that he was arrested for causing great bodily harm by drunken driving but it does not list his BAC. So isn't it possible that when he took the breathalyzer he maybe was below a .08 but being an honest man who was devastated by hurting his wife & admitted to the officers that he had had a drink or two so the charges were filed pending the blood test results? Don't get me wrong, I am in no way a proponent of drunk driving, but isn't it ever possible that someone really could have just a beer or two & maybe get in an accident simply because of the icy roads. Sometimes, some of us, are just a little too quick to judge based on just what we read in the paper.

but he wouldn't be able to drive the truck. do you have an office job for him. that would work. I am sure it is up to the employer and if he could do something else for a year. I know of some car salespeople who ARE not allowed to drive any of the dealers cars(by dealers insurance company) but they still employ them- luckily for them.

I work with mr. briggs, thats how i know he has a CDL. with bodily harm, would it still only be a year that he loses that for? and legal, i do not believe we could terminate him just because of this.....

If a CDL holder received an OWI while operating a regular vehicle (car, pickup motorcycle etc) they lose their CDL for one year, which also means they would likely lose their job. If they are driving a commercial motor vehicle and are over .04 they lose their CDL for 10 years.

irishlady- why wouldnt a bac test be BACK yet? They arrest you they should get the report right away. sounds like guilty until proven innocent here.

yes i do. if it ALOT I dont drive home. We will walk downtown alot well not alot but we go downtown and WALK home then we can drink alot and be silly and not worry. If we go out to eat I will have usually 2 drinks in 2 hours. I dont feel impared and do drive home. they say you can have one drink per hour. I am not skinny so I should be fineas far as their blower thing. I did buy a breathalizer thing online to check for fun when we walk home just to see what it is. One night we had lots and walked home i checked the next morning and it still said .07. It was sunday so I didnt go anywhere or FEEL like it anyway.

notfromhere- i know a guy for the city he said NO alcohol while driving your OWN car and if busted then no cdl either. He went out for his bday and had a driver and mentioned not worth the risk. of course duh they cannot drink while driving their plow or truck while working. I may have misunderstood him but I dont think so. cause think about it. you get a drinking ticket in YOUR car guess what youll lose your own lic along with your cdl.

Do any of you posting in here drink? I use to but havent for many years. I got an owi after 2 and I mean 2 beers The first breathalizer registered less than .10 ( when it was .10 ) They waited 45 min and did it again and to no surprise it hit .10.... I took the original to court and it was dismissed as at the time I was stopped I was not legally drunk. I got lucky. A lot of money and time spent now I dont worry as I dont drink at all. And the daughter is correct his BAC is not back so he may not have been past the legal point. By the way did the cop that went off the road get a ticket for to fast for conditions?

yes I understand that if youre 18. And if that is the case you should know if you weigh under 100 lbs and get a driver to be on the safe side. I would like to see a guy just once in the drunken state of WI drink ONE beer.

Just because you have a CDL doesnt mean you can't drink and drive at all. It means you can NOT be driving the commercial vehicle under the influence.

OOps could register drunk

By the way hannah depending on your weight and time after 1 BEER you could be drunk!

My street s. chatham off court is still an ice slide to my driveway cut a sharp right and spin on in!!!!!

actually A BEER would not even get you a ticket if the legal is .08. SO MAYbe he had MORE than a beer huh?

if he MAY have had A beer at dinner then he would have gotten a DUI OR A OUI. A BEER will not give you OWI OR DWI and pretty sure they wont arrest you without BLOWING for a bal report unless he waited until he got to the station for a blood test-bac. and if he knows his cdl says NO drinking and driving AT ALL why did he?

He is charged with OWI . But I would think if convicted he will definatly lose his cdl. Not sure how somebody would know he had one.
I dont understand the difference between
OWI
DWI
OUI
DUI
I know what they mean but dont understand the difference.
operationg while intoxicated sounds the same as
driving while intoxicated

I am not sticking up for my father...he deserves whatever he gets! I am saying that we don't know what his blood alcohol content was...he may have had a beer at dinner. Who hasn't done that. With a CDL you can have NO alcohol at all. Period.

in response to:
whoanellie-so what offese was this for him? Again with the drunk driving!!! he'll probably just get a slap on the hand, even though he could have injured or even killed more innocent people!!!!

i'm pretty sure that's not all that is goin to happen......... he has, or should i say had, a CDL, im sure he'll do some jail time too, i'm pretty sure they wont just treat it as a DUI since he injured others and hospitalized them!

it is always nice to see people STICKING up for the drunk driver. Like somebody said there isnt ANY excuse for driving while drunk and ESPECIALLY in icy weather when you could slide off easily due to bad weather THEN add alcohol. I dont know what being married for 35 years has to do with drunk driving.If youre so happy in your marriage why drink and drive and be w/o your spouse??

It must have warmed up after this accident. We came back from jefferson about 1 am and it was 33 degrees and NOT icy. Still drove about 50 and YES I had a designated driver

windsor- thanks for the map.(from other blog about this accident) this is very weird. This n wright rd isnt shown in the 08-09 phone book. shows the acorn, hazelnut etc but no write rd. The other weird thing is it is nowhere near the other north wright roads like the one by hwy 14 by fagan, and the other that crosses hwy 14.These are eat of hwy 26 and the other part is west of 26 and not even directly north of the other wright road where it ends on the north side of 14. I can see why everybody is confused here.

Does Janesville really have salt and sand? What is the city saving it for? I was out early this morning and saw no evidence of any kind of road treatment anywhere. I was really surprised that Memorial Drive had not been touched in front of Adams school.

You drink, You drive, You lose. This guy doesn't seem to have a record but he still decided to drink and drive. I hope he gets his license revoked so he doesn't do this again. And just because he doesn't have a record it doesn't mean he hasn't driven drunk. He was just never caught. Drinking and Driving is wrong. The drunks are to selfish to think about how there selfish actions can end up harming or ending someone's life.

I am the daughter of these two people...before you all continue to pass judgment,you should think about the family. My parents have been happily married for 35 years and in today's society that is almost unheard of. To "whoanellie"...you should think before you speak. What good will it do to "give him the boot"? Everyone must remember the roads were so icy that many other cars lost control too.

This was charged as a 1st offense OWI against Briggs. He has no prior offenses on any kind (speeding etc) on the record.

For the geographically challenged, here is a map:
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&am...
.
The city probably intends that Wright Rd. will eventually be connected to 26 from the south.

so what offese was this for him? Again with the drunk driving!!! he'll probably just get a slap on the hand, even though he could have injured or even killed more innocent people!!!!
let's hope his wife recovers and gives him the boot!!!!1

mapquest: http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Janesv......

No, there is a north Wright road that goes only one way off of 26 down from Bingham road. Someday Im sure they will meet.

I agree, I've been wondering for two days where 14 intersects with Wright Rd? Last time I was out that way, it ended at Rotamer.

"near the Highway 26 intersection with Wright Road. Th..."
I am confused these roads dont intersect do they??????
do they mean 14 and wright rd?

try staying home ! it is not worth going to the store during freezing rain or to return movies. hospital and emergency only trips people. my daughter had a birthday party on Saturday and we canceled it because we did not want to be responsible for people driving to our home in freezing rain. some people have really backwards reasoning and should try doing the opposite.

My streets also recieved no salt/sand.The corners are ALL ice !

Yeah, my street certainly hasn't seen anything either.

All residential streets received the salt/sand mix, Gee they didn't come down ours! The only thing I thought was pathetic is they didn't salt/sand at the schools today and the sidewalks were glare ice looks of clean solid glass kids were falling way to go for the city budget safety always first nope not in janesville!