Car fire has teen warning others of road debris danger


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FARMINGTON — A Roy teenager was on her way to work Monday when she said a piece of highway trash hit her car and ultimately burst into flames. She got out before she could be hurt, but the accident has prompted her to issue a warning to other drivers.

Savannah Oxborrow, 17, was driving south on I-15 in Farmington when a cardboard box fell from a truck and hit her car.

She said she didn't think much of it at the time because the box seemed to sort of bounce off her windshield. She continued on a few miles down the road and pulled into a parking lot before she realized something was wrong.

"I, like, kind of slowed down, and I could smell smoke," Oxborrow said. "And at first I didn't think it was my car."

As she got out, she noticed there was something wedged underneath.

The front bumper melted away, and the windows cracked from the heat.

"It makes me mad that that guy got away with it, because he could have killed me," Oxborrow said.

Though she got out unharmed, the accident caused a big scare for Oxborrow's family.

"When we're going along on the freeway, we don't realize each one of us have loved ones out on the freeway that could be in peril," said Verdene Whittier, Oxborrow's grandmother.

The safety warning they're trying to put out is nothing new.

"We have people that are dying or getting seriously injured from some of these items that are falling off of trucks, and falling out of cars, that are unsecured," said John Gleason, spokesman for the Utah Department of Transportation.

The state of Utah launched its own campaign against road debris with the help of litterhurts.utah.gov. Throughout North America, some 25,000 accidents are caused each year by litter.

"We have maintenance workers and UHP troopers that are risking their lives to go out and retrieve some of these items," Gleason said.

Oxborrow may be without a car, and she may never know who that other driver was, but she's hoping this accident can at least remind some people to secure loads.

"By getting the word out about what can happen, I think a lot of people will start to realize how dangerous it is," Oxborrow said.

Farmington fire investigators said they believe the fire started from debris underneath the car, but they could not make that conclusion definitively. Oxborrow's family said they only had liability insurance in the car, so it's a loss.

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Mike Anderson

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