Over 160 crashes reported on Utah roads over past two days
Jan 6, 2024, 1:04 PM | Updated: 10:37 pm
OGDEN — State troopers say emergency crews responded to over 160 crashes on Utah roads over the last two days, including two deadly crashes Saturday morning.
Ahead of the next wave of snow, which the KSL Weather team says will arrive Saturday night, officials urged drivers to be mindful as winter driving conditions return.
“You can do nothing better yourself by just slowing down and … increase your following distance,” said Capt. Chris Simmons with the Utah Highway Patrol. “You need to slow down, you need to be aware of your circumstances, and be aware of the performance of your vehicle while you’re driving.”
One of those deadly incidents happened on I-15 in Iron County when a black Ford F-150 pickup truck crashed, killing a woman and injuring two people.
Troopers said the truck hit black ice and lost control before rolling across the median into northbound lanes approximately 20 miles northeast of Cedar City. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash while an infant and a man were hospitalized.
Later in the morning, a woman was killed after crashing head-on into a semitruck on I-84 in Morgan County. Simmons said the woman was driving the wrong way in eastbound lanes, and the semi driver had no time to react.
“You have seconds in these cases,” he said. “Both vehicles are traveling at freeway speeds.”
Simmons said the offramp the woman entered had illuminated, flashing wrong-way signs, and the crash is under investigation.
This was the first wrong-way fatality in the state. There were seven in 2023 and six in 2022.
Both crashes involved infant passengers and Simmons said they were properly restrained in their car seats, “Or we would be talking about, obviously, additional fatalities. So we’re fortunate on that aspect of things.”
