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SALT LAKE CITY — It happened again. Over the weekend, two more wrong-way drivers caused crashes in Salt Lake County, one of them fatal.
"Unfortunately, tonight, somebody didn't survive this accident," said Lt. Paul Barker with the Unified Police Department.
A death was reported in the crash on Mountain View Corridor Saturday night in the Kearns area, but there have been dozens in the past couple of months on Interstate 15, Bangerter Highway, Mountain View, and other highways and roads.
Another crash occurred Sunday night when a wrong-way driver going east in the westbound lanes of West Temple hit another driver turning onto 3300 South in South Salt Lake, police said. The wrong-way driver is being investigated for DUI. Injuries have not been reported.
The scary thing is it could be any of us hit.
"There's always that chance of something crazy happening of a wrong-way driver," Barker said. "So, just, you got to be cautious, even if you completely have the right-of-way, doing what you're supposed to be doing, accidents still occur."
Being alert of what's in front of you while driving is the best way to try and avoid being hit by a wrong-way driver.
Trooper Andrew Battenfield with the Utah Highway Patrol says while you're driving, it's important to constantly look 10 to 15 seconds in front of you, to give yourself time to get out of the way if you see a wrong-way driver coming.
Of course, you can only do that if you're not distracted by something else — like your cellphone and texting.
"If you can see those headlights coming towards you, distance and time are the best things you have on your side," Battenfield said.
UHP also wants you to call 911 if you see a wrong-way driver. That's how one trooper knew about a wrong-way driver last month and was able to spin that car out of control, before that driver possibly caused a fatal crash further down.
"I don't know what's causing the epidemic with wrong-ways right now, and over the years, I have seen a lot of wrong-way vehicles," Battenfield said.
Although many wrong-way drivers are drunk or high on drugs, many just made an innocent mistake.
"Some are elderly people who just got confused and got on the ramp the wrong way," Battenfield said.
Whatever it is that's going on, everyone just hopes it stops.
These types of crashes shouldn't happen.
"They are preventable," Battenfield said. "We all just have to pay attention to our driving and where we're going."
Contributing: Ashley Imlay
