Driver blacks out on I-15, crashes through 50 feet of cable barrier

ST. GEORGE – A 41-year-old woman blacked out while traveling northbound on Interstate 15 Tuesday morning and crashed her car through 50 feet of cable barrier.

The collision occurred at approximately 7:47 a.m. near mile marker 9, just prior to the Washington Exit, Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Jake Hicks said. The woman, driving a 2011 Toyota Camry, was the only occupant of the vehicle.

Two-vehicle collision on northbound Interstate 15 near mile marker 9, St. George, Utah, Sept. 23, 2014 | Photo courtesy of UHP Sgt. Jake Hicks, St. George News
Woman crashes through 50 feet of cable barrier on northbound Interstate 15 near mile marker 9, St. George, Utah, Sept. 23, 2014 | Photo courtesy of UHP Sgt. Jake Hicks, St. George News

“I was driving southbound on I-15 from Exit 10 and I saw a little bit of dirt in the air on the northbound side around milepost 10,” Hicks said. “When I looked over there I saw this car crashed kind of sideways into that cable barrier on the right shoulder.”

Hicks said he turned around and went back and set up traffic control to get the woman out of the heavy traffic.

“The woman said she started coughing and she blacked out,” Hicks said. “She didn’t do anything, she just blacked out and went into the cable barrier.”

The right northbound traffic lane was closed for approximately 30 minutes.

At the same time, a passerby’s car broke down right into the crash scene,” Hicks said, “so I helped push her out of the road because she was also kind of in danger there.”

The woman in the Camry was transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George with no obvious signs of injury but mostly as a precautionary measure, due to concern that some sort of medical condition is causing her to pass out, Hicks said.

No citations were issued due to the circumstances involved, he said.

This report is based on preliminary information provided by UHP and may not contain the full scope of findings.

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15 Comments

  • Herd September 23, 2014 at 12:33 pm

    Minimum citation should have been the lane control citation just like the (MLK) “I had a dream” driver last week. http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2014/09/19/ams-odyssey-spins-on-i-15-driver-says-i-had-a-dream-foreboding-accident/#.VCG8eBbp95c

  • SSfreeze September 23, 2014 at 12:44 pm

    I certainly hope that the UHP plans to issue a citation for not staying in her lane. Otherwise this does not seem consistent with the poor fellow last week that blew a tire.

    • There was an Update September 23, 2014 at 1:03 pm

      That same article later said that there was no evidence that he blew a tire…

      • Goodyear September 23, 2014 at 9:31 pm

        No comment was available from the tire. BTW, what’s the latest with gay marriage in Utah? Legal or no?

  • SWEET ICE TEA September 23, 2014 at 1:52 pm

    I too, have come close to passing out during a wild coughing fit. It happens quite a bit ……especially when I am texting and driving. I think I need to go see a professional about this condition. It’s really scary at times.

  • Doug Bringhurst September 23, 2014 at 2:16 pm

    Hey Joyce could you please tell me how to shut the notifications off on the SGNews app. They just started doing it. I really don’t care about your breaking news on every car crash in Southern Utah.
    Is there anyway of doing it without uninstalling the app and getting my news elsewhere.

    • Avatar photo Joyce Kuzmanic September 24, 2014 at 10:17 am

      I will ask the wizards, Doug – standby 🙂
      Joyce

    • St George News Dev Team September 29, 2014 at 10:14 am

      Depending on if you are using the iPhone or Android app the process is a bit different. iPhone you can mute the notifications under settings > notification center > find the STGNEWS app and then deselect whatever type of notification you don’t want. For Android go to Android’s Settings app > scroll to “Apps” entry > scroll down to the STGNEWS app and tap on it. Then disable the “Show notifications” options.

  • retired trooper September 23, 2014 at 2:30 pm

    You are giving out false information.
    Go back and read that story again.
    There was no flat tire that cause the accident.

    • killjoy September 23, 2014 at 4:11 pm

      Sir or Ma’am;
      Isn’t a blown tire the same as a flat that happens suddenly? Please if you don’t mind can you give the definition of a flat and a blown tire in law enforcements eyes.

      • FYI September 24, 2014 at 8:23 am

        At the scene the Trooper can tell from evidence left by the vehicle, the tire (If it Blow), and the angle it hit the guardrail. Was it a gradual off the road or was it sudden? Was the tire flatten from impacting the guardrail or was there pieces of tread in the road or before the impact. Lot of evidences is at the scene of a crash and in the early morning hour not much traffic even the little evidence will be still there.

  • Koolaid September 23, 2014 at 4:23 pm

    Just blacked out for no reason? That seems a fishy excuse to me. Were any toxicology tests performed? What is the cause of this sudden phenomenal epidemic of women running stop signs or just blacking out and crashing cars? Why? Why? Why?

    • sagemoon September 24, 2014 at 10:59 am

      If you ask my husband, it’s due to women being bad drivers. I do not agree with him but this recent news involving women drivers is looking bad for the fairer sex. Lucky for me he does not bother to read the news or I would never hear the end of it.

  • Zonkerb September 23, 2014 at 10:57 pm

    Well she just arrived out of warp drive when Captain Kirk accidentally hit the foot brake because Mr Zooloo was playing with himself. and Mr Spock claims that sounds logical to him.. Live long and prosper

  • Bobber September 24, 2014 at 11:38 pm

    If folks are just blacking out for no reason they need to have their license revoked just like they do for epileptics…

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