ST. GEORGE – A collision on Red Hills Parkway sent at least one person to the hospital and heavily impacted traffic Monday.
Police responded to a two-vehicle crash on Red Hills Parkway east of the Bluff Street-Snow Canyon Parkway intersection shortly at 4:30 p.m., St. George Police Capt. Mike Giles said at the scene.
Police and other emergency responders found a blue truck and gray passenger car sitting in the westbound lane. Both vehicles were heavily damaged.
“Initial investigation indicates that a blue pickup truck that was eastbound on the parkway, for some reason, struck and jumped the curb (and) went airborne and hit a passenger car that was westbound at the same location,” Giles said.
“The driver of the westbound vehicle needed to be extricated by (firefighters) and had some significant injuries,” Giles said.
While the injuries were not deemed to be life-threatening, Giles said, the westbound driver was taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center by Gold Cross Ambulance in serious condition.
The driver of the pickup was being treated by Gold Cross Ambulance medics at the scene while Giles spoke to St. George News.
Traffic along Red Hills Parkway was impacted from 1000 East to the Bluff Street intersection with multiple closures and traffic diversions between 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Westbound traffic was completely shut down with diversions into downtown St. George at 200 East and 900 East. That caused delays at various points along the way.
Traffic diverted at 200 East wound up taking Diagonal Street to get to Bluff Street, which also caused some traffic congestion.
While congested at first, eastbound traffic on Red Hills Parkway was able to pass through with little interruption, Giles said.
Westbound traffic was kept closed while police investigated the crash site and tow trucks came for the wrecked vehicles.
Police are looking at all possible factors that could have contributed to the crash, Giles said. For the moment the cause of the crash is unknown.
The scene was eventually cleared and westbound lanes reopened by 7 p.m.
St. George Police and Fire departments and Gold Cross Ambulance responded to the scene. The Utah Department of Transportation also aided with traffic control.
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.
Aftermath of a two-vehicle collision on Red Hills Parkway between Bluff Street and 200 East, where an eastbound pickup truck jumped the curb and crossed into the eastbound lanes and collided with an oncoming passenger car, St. George, Utah, June 11, 2018 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Aftermath of a two-vehicle collision on Red Hills Parkway between Bluff Street and 200 East, where an eastbound pickup truck jumped the curb and crossed into the eastbound lanes and collided with an oncoming passenger car, St. George, Utah, June 11, 2018 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Aftermath of a two-vehicle collision on Red Hills Parkway between Bluff Street and 200 East, where an eastbound pickup truck jumped the curb and crossed into the eastbound lanes and collided with an oncoming passenger car, St. George, Utah, June 11, 2018 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Aftermath of a two-vehicle collision on Red Hills Parkway between Bluff Street and 200 East, where an eastbound pickup truck jumped the curb and crossed into the eastbound lanes and collided with an oncoming passenger car, St. George, Utah, June 11, 2018 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
File photo of a two-vehicle collision on Red Hills Parkway in St. George, Utah, June 11, 2018 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Aftermath of a two-vehicle collision on Red Hills Parkway between Bluff Street and 200 East, where an eastbound pickup truck jumped the curb and crossed into the eastbound lanes and collided with an oncoming passenger car, St. George, Utah, June 11, 2018 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
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Twitter: @MoriKessler
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.
” for some reason struck and jumped the curb”. I wonder what reason that would be? There must have been a distraction. Maybe an animal ran across the highway? Maybe the sun blinded the driver momentarily? Maybe they were trying to tune a radio station, as coverage gets lousy out there in the red Hills? Maybe it was sticky hands on the steering wheel like 2-3 weeks ago? Maybe there’s a bump in the road or some defect like that, such as,debris on the highway? Maybe the driver sneezed? What would Ocam say? This is why the statistics do not hold up.
I called it. Hope the guy in the car recovers. “Fear this” it says on the windshield. We have a legitmate reason to Fear that since the guy behind the wheel is a frickin’ moron and needs to lose his license.
Take it easy with the judgemental attitude. There are a lot of things that could have caused this. Something as simple as a tie rod breaking or a ball joint coming disconnected.
believe me, I’m taking it very easy. “Take it easy with the judgemental attitude.”– maybe go to the hospital and tell that to the other driver. cheers buddy 😉
There ya go folks Prophet Bob ( comments ) wasnt even there and off he goes with another one of his ignorant and hateful attacks on another person he doesnt know and spews out his garbage like he always does…hey comments is that because you have such a high status in the church ?
I’ve always heard a female tone come through “Comments”… Prophet Bob?
Bless your little heart Brother Dump. 😉
most def not a female. hahahah 😉
Oh forgot that one. A Mechanical defect. Maybe the other driver should get a lawyer and subpoena the cellphone records. That Dodge Truck doesn’t look very old to me. I’m with Comments on this one. Now the other possibility is excessive speed, but the accident would have been much worse. Sorry St. Geo. Google “Awakened Driving” and for advice Googleb”Distracted Driving” I have,no sympathy. Don’t get me wrong I hope all parties recover from said injuries. We have,epidemic in this town , and this one is not about opioids. 10 minutes ago I just pulled in my empty trash cans and the two drivers that went by on my street we’re both driving distracted with cellphones.
Oops, google “deconstructive driving”. On that note I was a victim of hit and run on Bluff Street less than 4 weeks ago. There is no doubt we have an epidemic in this town of distracted driving and it is clearly llegal but unenforceable . The Utah legislature is to blame. And the sad thing is until the law is changed, things will get worse. I was a safety director in my former life. For me this is a no brainer. Our local politicians do not care and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them Drive distracted with their cell phones.
The Speed Limit there is 50mph…….which as a rule in STG is totally ignored! I never see any speed enforcement on that stretch?????
They sit at the bottom of the hill when it turns to 40 if you’re heading Eastbound. Other than that it’s a raceway.
Lots of speculation in these comments. I witnessed the accident and was on scene, and have a good idea of what caused this accident (speeding and cell phone use were not a factor). I will leave it to the police to complete their investigation. I have been praying for both drivers to make a speedy recovery. This event will change their lives forever, and I hope they can each find a way to overcome the rough patches ahead. Life is short, you can be doing everything right and in an instant everything can change. Please don’t pass judgement before you know any facts, do what you can to support both these men who will need all the love and care our great community can provide.
So that leaves what, some sort of intoxication or a mechanical failure? …or perhaps a medical episode or the ol’ spilling of hot coffee in the lap? Don’t wanna clue us in?
Awwww somebody ruffled comments pretty pink panties…..
My panties are not ruffled at all, my dear little Dump 😉 . I just don’t know why these clown circuses have to come to town and be all cryptic, like KingGeorge up there. I mean, he’s whining about us speculation, yet he refuses to tell us what he knows and end the speculation. It’s kind of funny. 😉
First King George , no one’s passing judgement. Speculation YES. As far as the outcome of these individuals, nobody in these comments would want otherwise that everybody recovers and has a good life. AND yes, those of us that have had near death experiences in accidents know it could take years to recover. The one and only time I visited the Tabernacle, did the tour etc, 10 minutes later up on Red Hills Parkway I was almost hit head-on simpmy WAITING to turn into the small parking lot for Pioneer Park, just around the blind curve. A black charger came directly at me over the line. I froze put my head down and at the last moment it cut over in missed me by a,hair. Now that was not a near-death experience, but rather just a close call. I’m glad that you will pray for the victims here. But we will continue to have more victims unless you pray that we change the law when it comes to distracted driving as well as having a massive enforcement effort in this town to push back on the crazy driving. It may require hiring more law enforcement but in the end it will pay for those additional officers. Let’s hope the community can get behind that. It is up to the politicians unfortunately. Meanwhile look around the next time you drive out there and see how many people are on their cell phones, breaking the law. Good luck, and once again I truly hope everybody does recover.
I’ve had three (four) wrecks within two miles of me with suspected cell phone texting. First was a head-on at the 35mph road at the end of the block, big truck crossed over on a turn and hit a woman. Loud crash. The second, a work truck fell into a hole on Dixie Drive (Dizzy Drive?) where they were going to put in landscape planters. (Thank GOD) Within 100 feet of this spot, some yahoo drove off the Dixie dr into the landscaping at the cemetery, went about 100 through bush and tree before hitting BIG tree that stopped him. Oh wait a fourth, across from Allconnect a guy going westbound went into the landscaping in his big truck, tore up bushes and trees like these other bozos before landing sideways on the sidewalk. So I wonder how many of these people are ticketed for texting or if it’s just a ghost law that never shows up on a ticket? One of my sons schoolmates pulled a similar stunt on I-15 and died, overcorrected of course.
Carpe Diem, the problem is two fold. 1) driving with a hand held cellphone is a secondary offense, so relatively unenforceable. 2) unless someone volunteers info to police, there is no way to identify a person was driving distracted. Thus distracted driving never gets recorded as a root cause majority of time. A witness unless they were really taking notice isn’t going to see it either. You truly only notice distracted driving by certain tells. A person going super slow; a person that is sitting and not moving after the light is green; a person that is driving over the lines, are but a few. You can go to the local Smith’s Supermarket parking lot, and watch how often people take out there cellphone as they get into their car to leave. I guarantee you some people still don’t even know it is illegal to drive with a hand-held cell phone. The solution is you can buy a Bluetooth device or new vehicles have the cell phone hook up built in. This is legal and ensures both hands are on the wheel and your eyes remain looking forward. It is that one to two second instant when a person looks down at the adjacent seat where their cell phone is ETC when it rings out that causes an accident. It has reached epidemic proportions. Safety is about being proactive. We can talk all we want, but more people are going to get killed and injured until action is taken by the legislature. This last February it was killed in the committee. Those politicians that voted “no” have the blood on their hands. They used the excuse of civil liberty. Some were cowards and didn’t even show up.
Thx Kilroy. BTW the first accident I mentioned, after the accident the cell phone was lying on the floorboards on the driver’s side. He had a warrant so IIRC off he went to jail. This before any laws on cell phones, it was in 2006 or 2007. I thought there was a State law against texting that is currently in force however. I found this:
What is the penalty for texting and driving in Utah?
Under Utah’s law, someone caught texting and driving now faces up to three months in jail and up to a $750 fine, a misdemeanor. If they cause injury or death, the punishment can grow to a felony and up to a $10,000 fine and 15 years in prison.
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It seems that in these types of accidents, LEA should do some due diligence, imagine they would have to find a record of texting within so many minutes of accident… dont know if anyone has EVER been charged. If they simply ignore the prosecution when it stares them in the face, then ya, its blood on their hands too.
I bet it’s was speeding and texting that cause the accident.
Proof that even if there is a curb, here in St. George, you just go ahead and make that left turn anyway !
The driver had to be either drunk high speeding or just being plain out stupid to jump a curb and land on the wrong side of the road