ST. GEORGE — After missing his exit on Interstate 15 in Southern Utah, a California man in an SUV towing a Smart car on a trailer made an improper U-turn and was struck by a station wagon following behind him.
Just before 1 p.m. Saturday, a California man driving a Ford Expedition SUV towing a car trailer pulled over to the outside shoulder just past the Brigham Road exit northbound on I-15. He then attempted to make a U-turn across the Interstate and through the emergency vehicle turnaround in the median, Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Jake Hicks said. In doing so, he failed to see a Volkswagen Jetta wagon coming up behind him.
As the SUV made the turn, Hicks said, the Jetta was unable to stop in time.
UHP believes, Hicks said, that the SUV missed an exit and wanted to turn around.
“So they turned left across the freeway in order to go through that median and turn around,” Hicks said, “and when they made that left turn that’s when that other vehicle (the Jetta wagon) hit them like in T-bone fashion in the side on the driver’s side – pretty hard.”
The SUV driver was taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George in stable condition, Hicks said. There were no reported injuries to his female passenger.
The driver of the Jetta wagon, a California man, reported no injuries but his female passenger was taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center with minor injuries.
The SUV driver will be cited, Hicks said.
All occupants were wearing their seat belts and air bags were deployed in both vehicles.
Traffic was backed up on northbound I-15 for over an hour as the crash was investigated and cleaned up.
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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An accident on I-15 Saturday resulted in two California residents taken to the hospital, St. George, Utah, Oct. 24, 2015 | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News An accident on I-15 Saturday resulted in two California residents taken to the hospital, St. George, Utah, Oct. 24, 2015 | Photo courtesy of Dylan Westover, St. George News An accident on I-15 Saturday resulted in two California residents taken to the hospital, St. George, Utah, Oct. 24, 2015 | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News An accident on I-15 Saturday resulted in two California residents taken to the hospital, St. George, Utah, Oct. 24, 2015 | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News An accident on I-15 Saturday resulted in two California residents taken to the hospital, St. George, Utah, Oct. 24, 2015 | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News An accident on I-15 Saturday resulted in two California residents taken to the hospital, St. George, Utah, Oct. 24, 2015 | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
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Gotta be the per capita car crash capital of the USA. Just crazy how many accidents we have around here.
Remember, it was two Californians and one of them did a dumb thing. I’m on a L.A. road trip right now and it’s scary out here.
I’m sorry, but stupid is as stupid does! I’m so troubled by the driving habits I see here and elsewhere, too. For example, if you’re about to miss your exit, don’t drive across several lanes to get it! Go to the next exit and live with it. Doing a U-turn on a highway shouldn’t even be part of the discussion! That goes beyond anything I can even imagine “thinking” to do much less doing.
This is just what we need, more qualified absolute horrible drivers moving to saint george from california,
just when we thought how could it get any worse, saint george is kinda like the capital of absolute worst drivers of the u.s.
We should change the name from saint george to city of bad drivers, or maybe inatentivville.