Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Troopers with the Utah Highway Patrol are seeing more wrong-way drivers on Utah roads than ever before. In fact, troopers say they respond to at least one report of a wrong-way driver every day.
Over the weekend, a 21-year-old woman injured herself and two others when she crashed head-on into their SUV on I-15 near 500 North in Salt Lake City. Troopers say Ashley Pacheco was driving north in the southbound lanes; she was arrested for investigation of DUI.
Accidents like this usually happen after midnight, according to UHP Sgt. Marvin Snyder.
“It’s probably one of the most dangerous things we encounter,” he said. “You don’t have a lot of time to react.”
Snyder said troopers aren’t quite sure why they’re seeing a rise in the number of wrong-way driver reports, but they have a few guesses. Many of these drivers are older, from out of town, or are driving distracted, he said; but a huge number — about 50 percent — are impaired.
If you find yourself staring down a wrong-way driver, there’s not a lot you can do to avoid a collision. But there is an action you can take that will lessen the impact.
“Speed reduction is the first thing; you want to slow down,” Snyder said. “One of the biggest problems we have on these combined-speed impacts is the speeds are so great that it causes great trauma.”
Bottom line, he says: stay calm, slow down, switch lanes then follow the next sign.
The only way troopers can curb the number of wrong-way drivers is to educate all drivers, Snyder said, reminding them to stay aware when they’re on the road.
Contributing: Jordan Ormond
