WINTER road conditions caused three accidents on the A30 between the Woodleigh and Merrymeet junctions on Monday. At 9.55 on Monday morning, a Porsche left the westbound carriageway of the road, about a mile and a half from Cheriton Bishop. Firefighters from Chagford, Exmouth and Exeter were called to the scene, where they had to rescue a man from the vehicle using hydraulic cutting equipment. He was taken to hospital. Fire officer Chris Goddard said: 'The road was completely white-over where the car came off the road, yet 100 yards away there was no snow at all.' After leaving the incident, Chagford fire service then passed a van which had similarly left the road, and assisted its driver, who was uninjured. On Monday evening, the Chagford firefighters were called to a third incident, along with fire services from Exeter and Exmouth. In this case, five vehicles were involved in a pile-up — again on the A30 between Woodleigh and Merrymeet. The crews provided first aid assistance and made the vehicles safe. Mr Goddard said: 'The three accidents all happened with a mile or so of each other — and they were all due to the bad weather. 'People really need to be watching their speed, and staying alert, when the weather is bad. Several people were lucky to walk away from those accidents.' He added that the weather conditions also made the rescue operations challenging for the fire service: 'It's far more difficult for us to respond to incidents when the weather is like this. When the roads are bad, it also means it's hard for us to get to accidents.' PC Di Maguire, of Okehampton Police, also urged motorists to be careful while the weather is bad. 'It's important that drivers leaves plenty of time for journeys and allow extra stopping room between cars,' she said.