Loose ladder lost on I-15 leads to rollover

Rescue workers struggle to extricate a man from a vehicle that rolled over on northbound Interstate 15 between mile posts 15 and 15 in Washington, Utah, Jan 2, 2014 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News

WASHINGTON CITY — A man was injured in a rollover accident on Interstate 15 Thursday morning after swerving to avoid a ladder in the road. The accident happened at around 8:43 a.m. in the northbound lane, about a quarter mile before the State Street exit to Hurricane.

Utah Highway Patrol, Washington City Fire Department, and Gold Cross Ambulance Service responded to the accident where fire crews worked to extricate the sole occupant of the vehicle.

“A ladder was in the lane of travel,” UHP Trooper Lars Gardner said. “The driver said he swerved to miss it. He’s not sure whether he hit it or not.”

According to emergency radio communications, dispatchers at the St. George Communications Center had received a complaint about the stray ladder and had dispatched a unit to clear it from the road just minutes before the accident occurred.

The driver of the truck sustained injuries in the accident, which appeared to have crushed the entire cab of the pickup.

“The injuries don’t appear to be critical,” Gardner said. “He was extremely lucky.”

The driver, who was not cited in the accident, was extricated from the truck and transported by ambulance to Dixie Regional Medical Center.

There were no identifying marks on the ladder to indicate to whom it belonged, Gardner said, people should be very careful when transporting cargo on the highway.

“Strap your stuff down,” Gardner said. “Whatever it is you are putting in or on your vehicle, strap it down.”

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2014, all rights reserved.

Rescue workers struggle to extricate a man from a vehicle that rolled over on I-15 in Washington. Jan 2, 2014 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
Rescue workers struggle to extricate a man from a vehicle that rolled over on Interstate 15 in Washington. Jan 2, 2014 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News

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5 Comments

  • Steve Shaw January 2, 2014 at 12:09 pm

    As an OTR driver, I see this(ladders on the road) way too often! I also recently read that ladders coming off of vehicles is one of the biggest causes of accidents on our highways.

    • skippy January 3, 2014 at 10:10 am

      Wrong. It’s still banana peels…

  • Author L.M. Smith January 2, 2014 at 12:43 pm

    There was another rollover accident on SR 9 yesterday at the top of the La Verkin twist just before heading into Virgin. My sister saw the accident and took a picture with her phone but we haven’t been able to find any news on it or find out if the driver/passengers are ok. In the picture the car is upside down and the entire top of it is caved in so if they survived, from the looks of it, it would have been a miracle. Any info on this?

  • My Evil Twin January 2, 2014 at 4:42 pm

    You see it all the time! People just don’t use common sense when it comes to securing stuff in the back of a truck.
    FWIW, you are a lot better off in almost every case to just go ahead and hit the object in the road. Yeah, you are going to do damage. But it is better than a rollover.

  • Kev January 3, 2014 at 6:12 am

    I see Huuricane fire and ambulance EMS on scene, but no Gold Cross in sight.

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