Utah mother urges other drivers to be cautious after being hit at red light
Dec 19, 2023, 6:07 PM | Updated: 6:30 pm
SOUTH SALT LAKE — A Utah mother is holding her two daughters’ closer tonight after being slammed into by a negligent driver, sending her to the hospital with serious injuries.
“It was really scary to think about what could have happened to them if they were in the car,” said Amy Burak.
While coloring with her children, 2-year-old Tatum and 4-year-old Simone, at their home in South Salt Lake, Burak tried to conceal the pain she was in.
“I’m bruised; it hurts to cough and get up,” she said.
Amy playing with her two children, Tatum and Simone. (KSL TV)
On Saturday at approximately 7:00 p.m., Burak was on her way home from work when she was hit from behind while stopped at a red light at 3900 South and 700 West.
“I just looked in the rear-view mirror, and I saw these headlights coming, and they weren’t slowing down, and I thought, ‘Oh no, they’re going to hit me,’” said Burak. “And then he hit me at full speed.”
The impact from the 2013 Honda Accord caused a chain reaction crash involving Burak’s car and two more vehicles.
“It hit me into the truck that was in front of me, and that truck hit the car in front of him,” she said.
The accident that sent Amy to the hospital.
While Burak was taken to a hospital to be treated for back and hip injuries, the driver who caused the crash was cited by South Salt Lake police for negligence, following too close, and driving without a license or insurance.
“It’s really frustrating because he didn’t have insurance, it’s going to cost me a lot of money,” Burak said.
Burak’s car was totaled, and she’s now had to take several days off work as a bartender to heal. As a single mother, she says money is already tight.
“I get by, but I don’t have a lot of wiggle room, so having to take time off is hard,” she said.
Burak is trying to stay positive, especially around her two young daughters, who she fears would have been severely injured had they been with her that night.
“The kids normally would have been in the back seat, but I had some change of plans that night, and they weren’t there,” she said.
Burak says being in such a serious crash just days before Christmas has been challenging, but trying to figure out how to pay for the damage caused by the uninsured driver is overwhelming. She’s asking Utah drivers to slow down and pay attention to what’s happening on the road so what happened to her doesn’t happen to anybody else.
“It’s just so much, all at once, and it’s never a good time, but it’s not a good time right now,” Burak said.
A GoFundMe* has been created to help the family replace their car and pay for medical expenses. Burak says she’s grateful for neighbors who have already replaced some of her daughter’s Christmas gifts that were in her trunk and destroyed in the crash.
*KSL TV does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
