New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) on Thursday publicized his tour of roads near Buffalo, where he urged truck drivers to stay off the roads in the wake of a powerful winter storm.
The governor’s office released photos and video of Cuomo lifting a gate near the Buffalo Skyway entrance so that he could assess road conditions.
“You know how bad it is?” Cuomo asks in the video. “Well, let’s go take a look.”
{mosads}The video shows footage of the snow-covered thruway and of Cuomo ticketing a driver after he violated a state-wide ban on tractor-trailers traveling on certain highways during the storm.
“Pull over, stay right by the other guy, OK?” Cuomo tells the driver. “Because the roads are dangerous.”
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported that a tractor-trailer lost control and jackknifed during the storm on Thursday, prompting a 19-car pileup near Batavia, N.Y. The truck struck a police car that had pulled over to assist two disabled vehicles.
The driver at the front of the pileup was ticketed for violating the state’s ban on such vehicles traveling on the thruway.
A massive winter storm has sent temperatures plunging across the Midwest and Northeast United States, and dropped several inches of snow in some locations.
Cuomo’s office in 2017 shared photos of the governor assisting a disabled vehicle on the thruway during another winter storm.