ST. GEORGE — A driver traveling north on state route 18 lost control Tuesday evening and rolled onto the southbound shoulder just north of the Red Hills Parkway overpass. When the driver lost control, the vehicle rolled more than once and landed on its roof. The driver was extricated from the car but was pronounced dead on the scene.
The incident happened at approximately 6:20 p.m. and involved a white 2005 Infinity G35. Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Grant Hintze told St. George News the driver was passing other vehicles “very rapidly in the left lane.”
“Estimated speeds were between 80-100 mph, and it’s 55 mph there,” Hintze said. “Witnesses said that he passed them like they were standing still.”
When the driver reached the curve near mile marker 5, he spun into oncoming lanes and rolled once his car hit the dirt. The car landed on the roof after rolling through the bike path that runs parallel to the highway.
When the driver lost control on the highway and rolled, Hintze said, the car barely missed another vehicle traveling south.
Fire and ambulance arrived at the scene before UHP and started performing life-saving procedures after the driver was pulled from the vehicle, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hintze said how crucial it is follow the speed limit as drivers approach the curve where the rollover took place.
“You come up over that hill … however you don’t really realize how sharp it (the curve) is until you get there,” he said. “Going up that hill at a high rate of speed, it kind of comes up on you fast. Speed was a major factor because it looks like he wasn’t able to negotiate it.”
There was alcohol found on the scene, and there is an ongoing investigation into whether alcohol played a role in the crash.
Hintze said the male driver of the car is not an American citizen. He did not live with family in St. George, nor does he have any known family in the area.
“It sounds like it might be something that will be out of country, and it has to be dealt with through the consulate of the country he is out of,” Hintze said.
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