4 killed in series of traffic accidents

After a weekend in which six people were killed on Utah's roads, a series of vehicular accidents has taken four more lives since Monday.

On Monday, a Taylorsville woman on an afternoon scooter ride with her husband died after crashing in West Bountiful.

Michelle Rioja, 36, was riding alongside her husband near 500 South and 850 West when she tried to stop abruptly for traffic and crashed her scooter, said West Bountiful Police Cpl. Michael Buchanan.

"She turned the handlebars to the left real sharp and the scooter flipped up and threw her over the handles," Buchanan said.

Rioja was not wearing any protective gear and died at the scene, police said. No other injuries were reported and no other vehicles were involved in the accident.

Other fatal accidents in Utah included:

• Gilbert Lee Adams, 66, of Avondale, Ariz., who died after crashing his motorcycle into the back of a GMC Yukon near Kanab on Monday morning. Mary Ellen Adams, 64, was riding on the back of the motorcycle. She was flown to a Las Vegas hospital.

• An 82-year-old Layton man died after being hit by a car that ran a red light near Hill Field Road and Highway 193 just before 10 a.m. Monday, police said. The man's 80-year-old wife was taken to Ogden Regional Hospital, but her injuries were not life-threatening. The driver of the other car, 27, was treated and released at the scene. Police said charges are pending against that woman.

The victims' names were not released.

• A 71-year-old Bountiful man also died Tuesday after being run over by a trailer carrying thousands of pounds of cement and plaster.

Around 2 p.m., the man, an employee at a swimming pool plaster company, was unloading a delivery off of a truck near 1400 West and 8040 South, said West Jordan Police Sgt. Greg Butler.

"The employee got in between the trailer and the truck," he said. "The driver got back in the truck and started going forward and pulled the trailer over our victim."

The man died en route to Jordan Valley Hospital, police said. His name was not released. No citations were issued Tuesday.

"Right now it doesn't look like anything more than a very unfortunate accident," Butler said.

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