The one that got away; car swerves to avoid being cut-off, ends up broadsided on I-15

Stock image; photo does not represent the accident in the attached report | Image by St. George News

ST. GEORGE – At 2:15 p.m. today Utah Highway Patrol responded to a two-car collision in which one vehicle was T-boned by another on southbound Interstate 15 at mile marker 3. This was one of two accidents that occurred at the same time on I-15 today, unrelated.

A man and woman in a Toyota Corolla were traveling southbound in the fast lane when they reported to UHP that they were cut-off by a white Dodge Neon-type car, UHP Sgt. Dan Ferguson said. The driver took action to avoid the Neon and ended up turning into the center divider, losing control of his vehicle and going into a kind of 360-degree spin right in the middle of the freeway.

At one point as they were spinning, they were actually facing west across the southbound lanes, Ferguson said, at which point they were broadsided by a white Honda van, striking the Corolla at the point of its rear passenger door.

The Neon-type car has not yet been located, Ferguson said, and the UHP does not have a license plate identification or better description of the car or driver.

The man and woman in the Corolla are from the Utah County area. They were wearing seat belts and air bags deployed, Ferguson said, including curtain side airbags which come down from the roof of the car.

“They have bumps and bruises, but right now they are up and around and doing OK,” Ferguson said.

The man and woman in the Honda van were injured but both were talking, alert and conscious, Ferguson said. “The man was already in the ambulance by the time I got there,” he said, “and they were tending to the woman.”

There were no other contributing factors to the incident, Ferguson said. “The road conditions were perfect – traffic today was a little bit heavy, typical of Friday afternoon traffic.”

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2013, all rights reserved.

 

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10 Comments

  • Troll October 18, 2013 at 5:02 pm

    This state seriously need to control every drivers, or put a damn speed control module on every registered vehicles in this state, maybe that’ll help reduce accidents in the freeway. From what I can tell, the said neon is probably speeding over the posted limit, then again, a lot of Utahns, including cops drive over every posted speed limits be it in the freeway, or in the backroads. I get nervous whenever I see a news about car accidents because I’m constantly making sure my mother never gets into a car accident as she drives slow while majority of Utahns drive like crazy, as if their in a nascar race or something.

    • Festus October 19, 2013 at 2:48 am

      Your an idiot… Cause that’s something else we definitely need the government to regulate??

      • Lisa October 19, 2013 at 3:18 pm

        By the way, Festus, it’s “You’re an idiot” not “Your an idiot” – just to clarify the proper usage of “you are” when talking about idiots or anything else where “you’re” is needed.

    • Lisa October 19, 2013 at 3:17 pm

      Troll, agree with the Nascar attitude you mention.

  • Hayley October 18, 2013 at 5:47 pm

    It was at this exit last week when my Grandma and I were cut-off and almost pushed into oncoming freeway traffic! Then the guy had the gall to get on my tail and flash his lights at me when I was able to go in the other lane and pass him! There are ALOT of idiot drivers in this town.

    • Mean momma October 19, 2013 at 12:44 pm

      Amen to that! I encounter some every time I go anywhere…. I’m sure it’s not me!

  • Dan Lester October 18, 2013 at 6:10 pm

    Not assigning blame, but: 1) was the van following too close and/or not paying attention? and 2) was the Corolla just sitting in the guys blind spot for some time instead of actively passing? Often people will just sit there instead either passing or backing off.

    • Ruth October 18, 2013 at 7:53 pm

      I thought the same thing Dan. I also wonder how close the van was following. People seem to be in a such a hurry that no one follows at a safe distance. Assuming the Neon car did cut off, I’m not surprised it happened like it did. And people sitting in blind spots on the left, or just NOT driving any faster than the slow lane need to have their licenses revoked.

  • Rick Guercio October 19, 2013 at 1:00 pm

    Slow driving causes as many accidents as fast driving. And cops nowadays are nothing but revenue generators for the city/county/state.

  • Lisa October 19, 2013 at 2:08 pm

    With the speed limits being increased nearly everywhere between St. George and Salt Lake, it’s amazing there are not more accidents. I know that UDOT says the roads are actually safer, but I’ve witnessed so many near misses lately that I’m pretty sure that will change. And it’s not just I-15, so perhaps excess speed is not the only factor. Could just be dumb drivers! While coming the back way home to St. George via Enterprise a pick up driver in Cedar City slipped between the back end of a semi and the front end of my car to pass barely missing my car. Not sure what his hurry was. Perhaps he was on his way to his IQ test appointment and was late. Then driving on Hwy 18, a young woman from Nevada tried passing and nearly took off the front end of my car by pulling in too quickly for no real reason. There was no traffic coming, but the passing lane stripe was ending. Whoops! Don’t want to be out there when the stripping ends – better to get into accident. Oye!!

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