Driver suffers minor injuries as rollover lands truck 150 yards from roadway

ST. GEORGE — A driver was transported to the hospital with only minor injuries Friday when an early morning rollover sent a metal fence post crashing through his windshield, barely missing him.

White Nissan pickup truck is upside down at the bottom of a ravine after an early morning rollover on State Route 18 Friday, St. George, Utah, Sept. 8, 2017 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Shortly after 6:15 a.m. officers and emergency personnel were dispatched to State Route 18 southbound at mile marker 6 for a white Nissan Titan pickup truck that went into a diagonal skid, took out 80 feet of fence and landed upside down in a ravine.

The location of the crash was initially reported to be in Dameron Valley, Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Jesse Williams said, but officers started searching for the crash when they were unable to find anything at the location reported to 911.

Officers found the truck, which was extensively damaged, in a ravine more than 40 yards from the right shoulder of SR-18, along with the driver who was able to exit the vehicle on his own, Williams said.

Paramedics made their way down to the driver and assessed the man’s condition before transporting him to Dixie Regional Medical Center for evaluation and treatment.

“The driver was transported by ambulance more as a precaution, but did have minor injuries and cuts on his arms,” Williams said.

Numerous emergency personnel respond to early morning rollover on State Route 18 that leaves driver with minor injuries Friday morning, St. George, Utah, Sept. 8, 2017 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News.

Huey and Kathleen Clark, the driver’s in-laws, were also on scene after he called their daughter advising of the accident. The couple’s son-in-law was on his way to a dialysis appointment when the rollover occurred, Kathleen Clark said.

“He sounded disoriented and couldn’t really tell us exactly where the accident was,” she said.

Huey Clark said that the driver, Randy, was able to get out of the truck after the crash, but was unable to see as it was before sunrise and pitch-black in the ditch where the truck landed, so instead decided to wait on a rock for help to arrive.

Officers determined that the Nissan was heading south on SR-18 and veered to the right near mile marker 6, hitting the soft shoulder of the highway.

The truck continued to skid along the embankment before it careened across the bike path and plunged into the ravine, taking more than 80 feet of chain-link and wire-mesh fencing with it. Nearing the bottom, the vehicle hit a large drainage pipe causing it to roll one time before coming to rest upside down more than 150 yards from where it left the roadway. The driver called 911 after exiting the truck.

White Nissan pickup truck was flipped upright by wrecker before being towed from the scene after early morning rollover sends fence post through windshield Friday, St. George, Utah, Sept. 8, 2017 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News

“The driver was wearing his seat belt thankfully so he was able to survive the crash,” Williams said.

The truck was pulled from the ravine and later towed from the scene, an operation that took nearly three hours.

The damaged fencing runs along a 7.5-mile walking/bicycle path that runs parallel with SR-18.

The Utah Highway Patrol, St. George Police Department, Washington County Sheriff’s Department, St. George Fire Department and Gold Cross Ambulance responded to the scene, while the St. George City Parks Department was called out to repair the fencing

This report is based on statements from police or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery.  

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

 

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

2 Comments

  • Caveat_Emptor September 8, 2017 at 4:47 pm

    This could have been a lot worse if that fence post entered a couple feet closer to the driver’s seat………
    Perhaps it is time to look at installing a guardrail along these steeper sections of the road, near corners. This is not the first accident in this area of Hwy. 18.

  • Honor1st September 9, 2017 at 11:05 am

    Driving oneself to a dialysis appointment ?
    That is the saddest thing I’ve heard in a long while .

    If I lived in the same county as a family member who was going through medical treatment ,
    I would drive them to and from it .

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.