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Amanda Butterfield reporting A driver on I-80 somehow lost control of her car last night and slammed into the movable barriers the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has been using while doing construction on the roads. When the driver hit them, the barriers moved right onto the road, causing another wreck.
The woman was driving west on I-80 and couldn't make up her mind on which exit to take. According to Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Martin Turner, the woman began to exit the freeway then suddenly tried to get back on. She crossed three lanes and slammed right into the concrete barriers that divide traffic going east and west.
"Two of the barriers knocked out [in]to lanes of traffic," Turner said.
The car rolled, and while witnesses were trying to help that driver, another car hit the barriers that had been knocked into the road then hit the first car.
Both drivers suffered broken bones and will be OK, but it raises concerns about these movable barriers. "These barriers will move. They will not move very easily--only if these cars are traveling at a high speed," said UDOT spokesman Adan Carrillo.
UDOT uses the movable barriers to efficiently move lanes while they are doing work on I-80. Depending on the time of day, another lane can be quickly added to ease the flow of traffic.
However, UDOT admitted that even if a car was only going 50 miles an hour and hit the barrier, it would move. But like traffic cones or barrels, these barriers are not meant to be hit. UDOT says speeding drivers cause the danger, not the barriers.
Carrillo adds it can be viewed as fortunate the driver last night hit the barrier instead of heading right into the other lane. "If we did not have mobile barrier, and still have barriers, accidents would be worse because we would have head-on collisions," he said.
UDOT says many states use the movable barriers, and Utah will continue to use them on I-80.
