Deseret News | Accidents tie up I-15 traffic

Reader comments
Accidents tie up I-15 traffic

10-4 good buddy | 3:55 p.m. Aug. 29, 2009

Wow, most freeway overpasses are well marked in feet and inches. If this overpass was appropriately marked he should pay a steep fine and lose his license. Dummies like this guy don't belong on the road!

Observer | 3:56 p.m. Aug. 29, 2009

Judging from the photo, I have my doubts the drivers foot could reach the brake pedal...

Bridge is marked | 4:42 p.m. Aug. 29, 2009

looks like the 15' something sign is wedged under the tank on the bridge.

Comments continue below

Adalaide | 4:45 p.m. Aug. 29, 2009

You can see in the third photo quite clearly the sign indicating the height of the overpass. Of course you can only tell that its 15 feet and can't see the rest of the sign since the driver crashed right into it. If he missed an exit and knew he had a required route due to clearance he should have pulled over and called for help admitting he screwed up rather than blatently ignoring signs and creating a dangerous situation.

ANE | 4:48 p.m. Aug. 29, 2009

Looks like a trucking company just bought a fuel tank.

Dutch | 6:25 p.m. Aug. 29, 2009

Thanks goodness for Legacy

re: observer | 8:24 p.m. Aug. 29, 2009

Maybe the UHP officer is just tall...

Anonymous | 8:44 p.m. Aug. 29, 2009

It's a good thing no one was seriously hurt!

Jpjazz | 9:53 p.m. Aug. 29, 2009

That must have been one quick stop.

Tab L. Uno | 10:39 p.m. Aug. 29, 2009

Driving accidents occur in fraction of seconds. Missed exits and on-ramps occur daily. This accident is probably one of hundreds that occur daily in Utah, but it just so happened that this one oversight had big consequences, but missing an exit is so easy to do if you're not familiar with the freeway. It's lucky that nobody was injured. Hopefully, this will be just one big headache that will be forgotten in a month. Things like this just happen and it can happen to anyone, no matter how good a driver you are.

The only question I'd have was what the normal speed of the transport was and were there any support cars one in front and back going along for additional safety? If the transport was going may 30 or 40 mph, maybe it's possible that all exits and entrances can be easily supported, but with all the construction and changes going on on the Interstate, it's a pretty mess of confusion. Try keeping up with changes, freeway signs, cones, and the rest going at 50, 60, 70 mphs and well. It happens.

Jojo | 11:33 p.m. Aug. 29, 2009

Funny, i just passed by the lehi crash, its been 9 hours and the lane is still closed!

Dumb Drivers | 11:36 p.m. Aug. 29, 2009

I was driving southbound around 5pm in the Lehi area and the interstate was backed up for miles. Imagine my surprise when I drove past the accident and realized it happened on the other side of the road! Stupid drivers HAVE to look at the accident and slow down traffic.

BeauDak | 11:53 p.m. Aug. 29, 2009

I was driving southbound from Bountiful to American Fork and drove past both accidents and was caught in both traffic jams. It was quite annoying because I ended up an hour late for a wedding.

But, I did drive past the tipped semi-truck about 10pm and it was still at the crash site. It looked like crews were removing it. I wonder what took so long?

cdntrukr | 1:28 a.m. Aug. 30, 2009

i saw the walmart crash ,, it took long because they were unloading it by hand ,,, cases of soda pop

cdntrukr | 1:30 a.m. Aug. 30, 2009

btw please note that the walmart crash was caused NOT by the trucker , but by a vehicle that cut him off
today i was cut off twice by cars ,,, i drive a flatdeck 18 wheeler , loaded im almost 80g pounds
you cant stop fast even at ten miles an hour
seems the UTAH billboards about giving trucks room are NOT working !

davisdriver | 8:27 a.m. Aug. 30, 2009

Yeah Dutch, thank goodness for Legacy, but yesterday IT WAS CLOSED FOR A MARATHON!!!! So it did little good for those going north bound. We were back to taking the surface streets yet again!!!

caring driver | 1:44 p.m. Aug. 30, 2009

Three accidents in five days of travelling to work. That's a 60% chance of accidents. It's about time to slow down and pay attention to the road and the conditions. Slow down also to follow the rules of the road. How about Staying alive at 65. Most accidents can be prevented if we take the time to be safe. I'm tired of the accidents and tired of the pain it causes the drivers and people who are involved in them. SLOW DOWN. SLOW DOWN. SLOW DOWN. Winter is soon coming upon us. Time to slow down and practice safe habits now befor ethe weather turns bad.

Driver | 2:19 p.m. Aug. 30, 2009

If the UHP would enforce traffic laws concerning speeding, illegal lane changes, distracted drivers and DWI there would more revenue and fewer accidents.

RE: "Dumb Drivers" | 2:49 p.m. Aug. 30, 2009

I agree with the comment from "Dumb Drivers." I was also headed South on I-15 around 5:00 PM last night. There is no reason traffic should have been backed up at all from the Draper to Thanksgiving Point... the accident was on the OTHER SIDE of the freeway. I really think people who want to have no courtesy and slow everyone else down by bringing traffic to nearly a stand-still because they want to stare at the accident should move their car over to an outside lane and let those of us who really need to be places and realize you can't really see anything anyway pass them at a normal freeway speed on the inside lanes. Slowing traffic down unnecessarily to be stop-and-go is just another accident waiting to happen!

Re:Caring Driver | 3:47 p.m. Aug. 30, 2009

I'm guessing you're advanced in age. You seem to think that slowing down would solve all traffic problems. I guess if everyone slowed to 0, you'd be right. The fact is, drivers traveling too slow cause traffic jams and a huge number of accident. The answer is to drive intelligently and in a manner where you don't negatively impact others. Sometimes that means slowing down a bit, but it often means speeding up as well. A safe driver travels the speed of surrounding traffic, not slower.

rediculous | 5:08 p.m. Aug. 30, 2009

I got stuck for an hour and a half while trying to travel northbound from Lehi Main St. passed Thanksgiving Point. The thing that really burned me was that all the lanes were closed except the far right lane, and only the left two lanes should have been closed to clean up the mess. UHP idiots!

The NIT | 5:11 p.m. Aug. 30, 2009

Well an all too common thread running through both major accidents - semi-trailer trucks. It seems that they are involved in mos tmajor accidents. What we need, besides truck drivers that know how to drive, is more trains and less trucks.

UHP | 5:34 p.m. Aug. 30, 2009

UHP can and should come up with faster ways of getting things going after an accident. They go so slow - THOUSANDS of man hours are lost while they follow slow procedures. Worrying about documenting what happened and overzealous (that's right) safety procedures - is costing millions of dollars (lost hours, wasted gas, etc.). Get on with it - push it out of the way and open the lanes!

2 thenit: | 7:31 p.m. Aug. 30, 2009

reread the article, one accident was caused by a semi with a driver not paying attention, another was caused by a small car that hit a semi, seems you could use some more training in reading, this morning, sunday, a old beater chev blazer bounced off the divider at about the same location, reminded me of a NASCAR race, the driver didn't slow or stop, and for UHP post, itg is because of lawsuits that documentation is important and takes so long,

UHP haters | 12:24 p.m. Sept. 9, 2009

I was at the walmart crash when it happened. Lehi police were first on scene and as for UHP hurrying up the process... Ya there are certain procedures that have to be taken to ensure safety of the accident scene and saftey of all other traffic... Everything went very smoothly considering the size of the situation... so slow down and get off the UHPs back and realize everything was done as fast as necessary... Its not UHPs priority to make sure you get to where you are going on time and speed up a huge accident scene... How about you care about the ones that might be injuried or even dead.

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