BEAVER – Last week a Dodge Caravan carrying six people rolled on Interstate 15 near the Beaver-Millard County line. The driver was seriously injured while the other five sustained various minor injuries. There have been rumors and inquiries concerning the driver’s condition following the accident which the Utah Highway Patrol has since responded to.
The accident occurred last Wednesday on southbound I-15 at mile post 132. The 19-year-old female driver was attempting to change lanes, Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce said, when she noticed another vehicle in her blindspot, swerved and over-corrected.
She then hit a large drainage culvert that was down in the bottom of the median and started to roll, continuing on through the two northbound lanes of the interstate before coming to rest.
The minivan contained the 19-year-old driver, her parents, and three younger brothers. The family is from Parry, Utah.
The driver sustained a fractured skull and broken bones in the accident, but was alert and asking about family, said UHP Sgt. David Bairett, one of the troopers who responded to the crash. The driver was ultimately taken to Intermountain Medical Center in Murray by medical helicopter for treatment.
There have been rumors that the driver has passed away from her injuries. This is not the case. UHP confirmed she is recovering and the family hopes to bring her home Tuesday.
The rest of the family was taken to area hospitals for minor injuries. Each person in the van was wearing a seatbelt, which the UHP credits with saving their lives.
The UHP is not releasing names per request of the family. No citations were issued in connection with the crash.
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Great to hear. We drove past northbound about an hour after the accident. Freeway was still at one-lane there and moving slow. We had counted four ambulances heading south already. When we saw the van, we were aghast and thought we had witnessed an accident with multiple fatalities. I saw the top of the van as we drove slowly by and thought, for a moment, it was the tangled mess of another car that had sheared off the top of the van. Later I learned I was looking at the mangled top of the van that they had to cut off to extract the victims.
Someone in the earlier post had suggest they, “sue Dodge” because the “top is not supposed to come off like that.” I was thinking they should probably send Dodge a Christmas card. 🙂
Was happy to find later that night in the news that all occupants had survived. Glad to know that the most seriously injured victim survived and it appears she will make a full recovery.