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Utah Highway Patrol troopers have a dangerous job! It would be a bit less dangerous if motorists would take precautions when they see that an officer has pulled someone over, or is offering roadside assistance.
This message is especially urgent following a rash of near misses in recent weeks. At a news conference in early December, troopers showed disturbing video clips of what sometimes happens. Look how that semi-truck clips a car and sends the trooper scurrying. The truck, obviously, should have moved over.
About a week after the news conference, after the warnings went out, came yet another graphic example of the danger: this time on an icy stretch of I-80 above Parley’s Canyon. Troopers alertly, yet barely got out of the way of a tumbling trailer that had broken loose from the van that was pulling it.
Fortunately in these and other recent incidents no troopers were injured.
A Utah law requires drivers to move over a lane when passing a stopped emergency vehicle that has its lights flashing. From what we’ve seen lately, there’s good reason for the law. It is one KSL believes ought to be more regularly enforced, as troopers say they will, if motorists continue to violate it and endanger the lives of those stopped on busy highways.
