Hours after driver rams into barrier in Washington City, woman crashes car into rocks in St. George

WASHINGTON CITY — Separate crashes of Honda sedans cities and hours apart on Friday involved drivers either impaired or distracted enough not to see an immovable object ahead of them, police said. 

A grey Honda involved in a crash on 300 East is loaded onto a towing vehicle, Washington City, Utah, Jan. 14, 2022 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

In the first crash that happened shortly before noon in Washington City, the driver of an older-model gray Honda sedan traveling north on 300 East turned horizontally across the southbound side and crashed into a Jersey wall barrier separating 300 East from the parallel Wolf Creek Road and homes nearby, officers said.

Washington City Police officer Kory Klotz said the driver was impaired, though it has not been determined how.

“We’re not sure if he was impaired chemically or just asleep at the wheel,” Klotz said. “The vehicle went straight and just collided with the wall. The driver said he woke up and didn’t know how he got there.”

The driver and sole passenger of the vehicle declined medical treatment at the scene, Klotz said, adding that the driver was wearing a seat belt and the airbag deployed. He was cited for an unsafe lane and DUI.

“Without the airbag and seat belt, it could have been a lot worse,” Klotz said. “It’s also fortunate there was no one in the south lane.”

Dixie Drive crash

About three hours later in the Tonaquint area of St. George, another grey Honda didn’t hit a wall, but two rocks in the center island separating the two directions of Dixie Drive near the corner of Alienta Drive. 

The front fender of a Honda Accord sits near the rocks it crashed into on Dixie Drive, St. George, Utah, Jan. 14, 2022 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

After crashing into the rocks while traveling southbound on Dixie Drive, the car then veered across and parked along the side of the road. The Accord’s front fender could still be seen next to the rocks, with a trail of vehicle fluids leading some 50 yards to where the car was stopped.

An officer with St. George Police said a mother driving her young son and daughter was distracted, looking at her phone before the crash occurred.

“She said that she was on her phone trying to get a show up for her kids and trying to hand it back,” Officer Burkeley Christian said. “She seems to have went to the right end in the right lane, overcorrected, went to the left and went into the median and two different boulders.”

A Gold Cross Ambulance arrived and the three passengers were assessed.

The mother, who Christian said was not wearing a seat belt, had minor injuries to the face and was treated at the scene.

The two children were not injured at all. Both were in seat belts and child seats.   

The St. George Fire Department, also on scene, kept the spirits of the children up with their distraught mother nearby by giving them plastic fire helmets.

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

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