5 vehicles wreck on I-15 near Cedar City minutes after motorcycle crash

A tow truck removes a wrecked vehicle from the scene where multiple crashes occurred along a stretch of Interstate 15 north of Exit 62, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 5, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY — Two crashes minutes apart Saturday afternoon caused major congestion along northbound Interstate 15 north of Cedar City for approximately two hours.

Investigators at the scene where a motorcycle carrying a husband and wife crashed on Interstate 15 north of Exit 62, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 5, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Bambi Baie said both crashes occurred just before 1:30 p.m. just north of Exit 62. The first crash involved a motorcycle carrying a husband and wife, she said.

“Their tire blew out and they tried keeping it up … they did a good job for a couple hundred feet,” Baie said, adding that the tire that failed appeared to be overly worn.

“And then, that front tire just dug into the dirt and flipped them over onto the side,” she said.

Both riders were thrown from the bike and into the center median, Baie said.

Then, with traffic backing up as a result of that crash, a secondary incident involving multiple vehicles occurred about three minutes later and a few hundred yards to the south, Baie said.

“I was told there were five cars with minor injuries in that secondary crash,” she said, describing the scene as a two-car collision with a three-vehicle collision immediately near it.

At least two of the vehicles involved, along with the motorcycle, sustained significant damage and needed to be towed from the scene.

A tow truck removes a wrecked vehicle from the scene where multiple crashes occurred along a stretch of Interstate 15 north of Exit 62, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 5, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

The couple aboard the motorcycle, both of whom were wearing helmets at the time of the crash, were transported via Gold Cross Ambulance to Cedar City Hospital. From there, Baie said the woman was transported via LifeFlight helicopter to Dixie Regional Medical Center for further treatment of unspecified injuries.

None of the occupants of the vehicles involved in the secondary crashes reported any serious injuries.

“People were not paying attention and driving too close to each other,” Baie said, advising motorists to always be attentive to what’s ahead of them on the road.

“There’s merging traffic going on, construction starts there, there’s a bridge overhead and there’s a lot of stuff to be aware of. Be aware of your surroundings,” she said.

Traffic on northbound I-15 was impacted, including the closure of the left lane, until the scene was cleared just before 4 p.m.

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

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, 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!