Police: Attempt to answer phone call results in car crashing into fence along Red Cliffs Drive

Written by Mori Kessler
January 12, 2022

ST. GEORGE — Traffic on Red Cliffs Drive in St. George near the mall was either stopped or came to a crawl Tuesday afternoon due to a single-vehicle crash on the west side of the road that was triggered by an attempt to answer a phone call, police say.

The result of a crash triggered by the driver’s attempt to grab his phone to answer a call while driving, St. George, Utah, Jan 11, 2022 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

Just after 4 p.m., the 21-year-old driver of a 2017 Infiniti Q50 was southbound on Red Cliffs Drive trying to avoid manhole covers on the roadway so he wouldn’t scratch his car since it had low-profile tires, St. George Police Officer Tiffany Mitchell said in a text to St. George News.

“He got a phone call and his phone was on the floor,” Mitchell said. “He went to pick it up and took his eyes off the road. While doing so he drove off the road and hit the fence. He tried to get back onto the road but the fence caught his vehicle and stopped him.”

The fence on the west side of the road is one of the barriers between that part of Red Cliffs Drive and Interstate 15. Behind the fence are concrete barriers that also line the interstate.

The crash occurred just north of Sunrise Tire and caused southbound traffic to become clogged for a time. Northbound traffic also came to a crawl as people slowed down to stare at a car that had a part of the fence and roadside landscape sitting on top of it.

The scene was cleared by 5 p.m. with traffic returning to normal.

While the driver was unharmed in the crash, he was cited for driving on a suspended license, Mitchell said. For this reason, his vehicle was also impounded.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mori Kessler serves as a Senior Reporter for St. George News, having previously contributed as a writer and Interim Editor in 2011-12, and an assistant editor from 2012 to mid-2014. He began writing news as a freelancer in 2009 for Today in Dixie, and joined the writing staff of St. George News in mid-2010. He enjoys photography and won an award for photojournalism from the Society of Professional Journalists for a 2018 photo of a bee inspector removing ferals bees from a Washington City home. He is also a shameless nerd and has a bad sense of direction.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MoriKessler@STGnews

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