UHP responds to more than 140 crashes on slushy roads
Dec 9, 2021, 6:24 PM | Updated: Dec 10, 2021, 8:11 am
SARDINE CANYON, Utah – The Utah Highway Patrol urged drivers to take it slow as troopers responded to more than 140 accidents statewide during Thursday’s snowstorm.
Road conditions were bad all day and officers were concerned it could get worse with the slush on Utah’s roads freezing overnight.
State troopers said many of the day’s crashes could have been avoided.
Police saw a number of slide-offs in Sardine Canyon. One car with bald tires slid into oncoming traffic and got T-boned by a truck.
The driver of that car was transported to a hospital in critical condition.
UHP Sgt. Cameron Roden said, “A lot of time we think it’s not going to happen to us until it’s too late.”
He said it’s the same thing in virtually every snowstorm, a combination of drivers who are either too confident or don’t have their cars ready for the conditions, or both.
“We do ask that people adjust and a lot of times people think, you know, ‘I’m fine, I’m doing maybe the speed limit or just over the speed limit.’ But when there’s no snow on the road we need to slow down, even slower than the speed limit,” Roden explained.
A dashcam caught another driver with bald tires rear-ended a car.
“The primary vehicle ended up striking that vehicle and causing it to lose control as well,” said Roden.
Both cars spun off but luckily no one was hurt.
In Morgan County, a bus hit some slushy conditions along state Route 66.
“As they were coming around the curve, the driver lost control and went off to the right, which caused the bus to roll over onto its side,” Roden said.
There was only one child on the bus with the driver at the time. Neither was seriously hurt.
Roden said even when drivers were in mostly rain, there were several crashes.
