Six Injured After Wrong Way Crash In West Jordan
Nov 20, 2018, 10:44 PM | Updated: 11:40 pm
WEST JORDAN, Utah – Six people were rushed to the hospital after a wrong-way crash in West Jordan Tuesday afternoon.
“The first car that he actually hit was a West Valley police officer’s car,” said West Jordan Police Sgt. J.C. Holt.
Sgt. Holt says an elderly man entered Bangerter Highway at 70th South, going northbound in the southbound lanes.
His car hit into the cruiser and then slammed into a minivan head-on.
A family of five in the minivan and the wrong way driver were taken to the hospital with serious, but non-life threatening injuries. The officer was not seriously hurt.
Another car crashed into the displaced engine of the wrong-way driver’s car. In addition, Sgt. Holt says a secondary crash occurred on the other side of the freeway as folks were most likely looking at the wrong-way crash. He says one person from that incident was taken to a hospital.
This was the second wrong way crash in Utah Tuesday, increasing the total to at least six in the last week.
As investigators look to see if a medical issue is to blame for the man driving the wrong way, we wanted to find out what to do if you’re behind the wheel when something like this happens.
Despite the difficulty of avoiding a wrong-way driver, Utah Highway Patrol has three tips for your Thanksgiving travel:
1) Stay to the right-hand side because drivers tend to react to the right.
2) Flash your headlights and honk your horn as a warning.
3) Drive at or below the posted speed limit to give yourself more reaction time.
“Obviously, just paying attention several seconds ahead of you in the roadway is always a good idea, so you have time to react and take whatever maneuvers you need to, to avoid crash or a collision,” said Sgt. Holt.
