SUV blows 2 tires, rolls off I-15 north of Cedar City, police say

Tow truck personnel prepare to remove a Chevrolet Tracker SUV from the scene of a rollover crash on southbound Interstate 15, Cedar City, Utah, May 22, 2018 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY — An SUV that had two of its tires pop in succession rolled off Interstate 15 and crashed through a fence Tuesday, police said.

The incident, which occurred shortly before 7 p.m. on southbound I-15 north of Cedar City near mile marker 65, involved a dark blue Chevrolet Tracker with a male driver as its sole occupant.

Scene of a single-vehicle rollover involving a Chevrolet Tracker SUV on southbound Interstate 15, Cedar City, Utah, May 22, 2018 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Ryan Bauer said the driver’s left front tire blew out first, causing him to lose control and start to skid.

“Then, the right rear tire blows out on him,” Bauer said, “(The vehicle) comes off the road, rolls a couple of times, and lands on its top.”

The driver, who was wearing his seat belt, reported a slightly hurt shoulder, Bauer said. The driver was not transported for medical treatment, but called for a friend to come pick him up from the scene of the crash.

No citations were issued in connection with the incident, Bauer said.

The vehicle sustained significant damage and needed to be towed from the scene. However, its airbags did not deploy in the crash.

In addition to multiple Utah Highway Patrol officers and Iron County Sheriff’s deputies, Gold Cross Ambulance personnel were among those responding to the scene.

The SUV had gone off the right side of the road, coming to rest just past a barbed-wire boundary fence. Several of the response vehicles and the tow truck were able to access the site via a frontage road just west of the interstate. The incident did not appear to significantly impact I-15 traffic.

This report is based on preliminary information provided by law enforcement or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.

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4 Comments

  • Carpe Diem May 22, 2018 at 10:40 pm

    Gnarly wreck, lucky he survived the bad luck.

  • Brian May 23, 2018 at 8:15 am

    It must have been both left tires that blew. The rear right tire is still inflated (and I doubt they took the time to change tires to get it on the wrecker).

    The crazy thing is the tires you can see (still inflated) aren’t in that bad of condition (they aren’t terrible and still have tread left). Either they were really old, had been sitting for a long time in one place, or he hit something on the road on the left side.

    Glad he wasn’t seriously hurt!

    • Carpe Diem May 23, 2018 at 9:13 am

      Yeah, noticed that. But the black dirt… Those tires look nasty and worthless to me. And you’re right, they could be rotten. Most folks don’t realize tires have an expiration date ha ha. And no I dont sell them!

      to wit: Even though the tires were never used on a vehicle, they are still several years old. Every tire has a birth date—the day it was manufactured—and an expiration date that is six years from that manufacture date. Most automobile manufacturers warn drivers to replace vehicle tires after six years.

      The date of manufacture is the last four digits of the DOT code (on the tire). The first two digits are the week of manufacture, and the last two digits are the year. For example, if the last four digits of the DOT code are 0203, that means that the tire was manufactured during the second week of the year 2003.

  • comments May 23, 2018 at 2:30 pm

    The tires could be 20 years old, or maybe they had them “worked on” by Big O’ Tires or an equally shady and incompetent business. Also, seeing how the blown tires were on the same side, the driver may have run over some sort of sharp road debris.

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