UHP Responds To Over 300 Crashes, 600 Calls On Monday
Feb 3, 2020, 11:40 AM | Updated: Feb 4, 2020, 9:21 am
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A heavy winter storm with strong winds created a hectic situation on Utah roads Monday morning, and Utah Highway Patrol troopers responded to at least 313 crashes.
The majority of the state was under a winter storm warning that began early in the morning and was set to continue through Monday night.
Snow quickly packed the roads hours before the morning commute, though crashes and slide-offs began almost immediately.
UHP tweeted troopers had responded to 125 crashes statewide before 10 a.m. – the majority of which were in Salt Lake County.
That number jumped to 163 crashes an hour later. By 1 p.m., UHP had responded to 211 crashes and 257 crashes were reported by 3:45 p.m.
At 7:45 p.m., the official number of crashes reached 313.
Sergeant Nick Street told KSL NewsRadio at 2:30 p.m. they had received a total of 610 calls.
One trooper’s vehicle was hit in South Salt Lake City while responding to a crash. The trooper was out of the truck and was uninjured.
One of our Sergeant's vehicles was just hit while doing traffic control on the ramp from SR-201 eastbound to I-80 eastbound. Fortunately he was out of his truck at the time, we're lucky there are no serious injuries on this one. pic.twitter.com/s3KqUwrBb7
— Utah Highway Patrol (@UTHighwayPatrol) February 3, 2020
“It’s still a very active storm & there are a lot of slick spots out there,” according to the UHP. “Remain patient, provide plenty of following distance, and keep it slow on ice & snow.”
According to the Utah Department of Transportation, traffic incidents began just after midnight and were steady throughout the morning.
The weather also created issues with the Utah Transit Authority. The snow caused extensive delays on TRAX lines, and a portion of the FrontRunner lines was closed completely due to a switch problem.
Winter driving conditions were expected throughout the day. UDOT urged drivers to watch for snowplows and give them as much room as possible as they work.
