Estimated read time: 2-3 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
Alex Cabrero Reporting"The roads have been so slick today up here that we even spun out coming up the canyon."
If fire trucks are spinning out, regular cars could be in trouble, and today a lot were. It's common sense when driving up and down canyons to be even more careful than on other highways. Still, at least a half dozen people crashed their cars today in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
Two of those crashes were slide-offs, where the car went down a cliff. The one thing in common with all these accidents, deputies say, is speed.
Frank Deras: “Next thing you know, you saw her rear-end fishtail a little bit.”
It's not something you'd ever want to experience the way this woman did.
Frank Deras: “And next thing you know, down the hill she went.”
Frank Deras was driving right behind her, and when she drove over the cliff's edge, he ran over.
Frank Deras: “What else do you do, you know? There was nobody else in sight, so.”
Rescuers with the Heavy Rescue Team eventually got her back up. Her son walked on his own and took her to the hospital.
Capt. Charles Dejournett, Unified Fire: “It’s definitely not a quick situation, it takes a little time.”
Fortunately, the woman appears to be okay in this crash, but police know the crashes in the canyons don't always end up that way.
Dep. Paul Barker, Salt Lake CO. Sheriff's Office: "We've had fatal accidents in this canyon, as well as all the other canyons."
But today it appeared Big Cottonwood Canyon was the real danger zone. Earlier in the day, the rescue team was called to get two people out of a pick-up truck that had gone off a cliff near Solitude. They only had slight injuries and some broken bones, but all day long deputies were busy with drivers who needed help.
Paul Barker: “Just going too fast, speed too fast for the conditions in the canyon.”
UDOT recently finished a study looking at canyon driving safety and came up with some solutions.
Nile Easton, UDOT: "We had certain areas that definitely, yes, need some guardrails right away. We also had some areas that could use some widening."
But even still, it all comes down to driving safely.
Charles Dejournett: “They get in too big a hurry, they hit one of these slick corners, and that's all she wrote."
And a nice day like it was today,can be deceiving as well. The roads in the valley may be dry, but in the canyons, melting snow crosses the road and that can turn into the dreaded black ice.
