WASHINGTON COUNTY — One driver was killed and another injured after a passenger car drifted across the median on state Route 18 and crashed into a dump truck Tuesday afternoon.
Police have identified the driver as 30-year-old Alyssa S. Jenkins of Santa Clara.
Shortly after 1:30 p.m., a two-vehicle crash was reported on SR-18 near mile marker 15 just south of Dammeron Valley involving a silver passenger car and a dump truck hauling a load of gravel, Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Joe Pastor said.
Emergency personnel arrived and performed CPR on the 30-year-old woman driving the passenger car as Intermountain Life Flight landed on the highway. But despite their efforts, the woman was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the dump truck was in stable condition and transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center by ambulance for evaluation and treatment.
At the time of the crash, the passenger car was heading north when it veered across the median. The car clipped the front of the southbound gravel truck, sending the truck skidding across the roadway more than 70 feet before it overturned. The truck spilled its load of gravel across the highway before coming to rest facing south in the northbound lane.
At the same time, the passenger car was sent spinning off the highway where it came to rest more than 20 feet from the northbound shoulder facing east.
Officers and emergency personnel responded from multiple agencies to tend to the scene which extended several hundred yards. Traffic came to a standstill for more than 40 minutes as Life Flight landed in the middle of the southbound lane of SR-18. The helicopter returned to its base after it was confirmed the woman had died.
Crews were also called in to load the gravel into a second truck to be hauled from the scene.
Traffic is expected to be impacted until 5 p.m. as investigators process the scene for evidence, clear the spilled load of gravel and remove both heavily damaged vehicles from the roadway. The Utah Department of Transportation’s Incident Management Team was also dispatched to the scene to help coordinate the cleanup effort and assist with lane closures and traffic control.
Pastor said the investigation is ongoing, noting that UHP’s Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team was also dispatched and should arrive in a few hours.
The Utah Highway Patrol, several deputies with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and emergency personnel from Dammeron Valley Fire Department and Rescue, the Diamond Valley Fire Department and Intermountain Life Flight responded and tended to the scene.
The identity of the woman driving the passenger car will be released once the family has been notified, Pastor said.
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