Icy conditions lead to accidents on Dixie Drive bridge

Emergency responders attend to an accident on Dixie Drive, St. George, Utah, Dec. 31, 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Icy conditions played a part in two accidents on a bridge over the Santa Clara River as snow fell and temperatures dropped in St. George Wednesday night.

Just after 9 p.m., the St. George Communications Center received reports of a two-car accident on Dixie Drive, on the bridge between Indian Hills Drive and 600 West.

A pickup truck had been traveling westbound on Dixie Drive when it hit a patch of ice and started sliding sideways into oncoming traffic. A passenger car traveling east hit the passenger side of the truck, resulting in the front of the car being demolished while the truck was bowed upward in the center.

Story continues below

Videocast by Melissa Anderson, KCSG and St. George News

The accident shut down the Dixie Drive bridge while police and other responders dealt with the scene.

The driver of the passenger car and a passenger in the truck were taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center to be treated for minor injuries, St. George Police Sgt. Rich Triplett said. The pickup’s driver and the other occupants of the passenger car were reportedly uninjured.

Both vehicles were rendered inoperable and had to be towed from the scene.

As the incident was still under investigation, Triplett said, it was too soon to determine if a citation would be issued at the time of this publication.

Ice formed on many of the bridges in the area Wednesday night, he said. He advised drivers to be careful when driving across these structures.

Icy conditions were blamed for two separate accident that occurred on a Dixie Drive bridge, the first of which sent two people to the hospital, St. George, Utah, Dec. 31, 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News.
Icy conditions were blamed for two separate accident that occurred on a Dixie Drive bridge, the first of which sent two people to the hospital, St. George, Utah, Dec. 31, 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News.

“The roads are very slick right now,” Triplett said. “We’d like to advise people to be cautious. Use a lot of caution on the bridges. They tend to ice up a lot faster than the roads do and become very slick.”

Both the car and the truck appeared to be traveling at around 25 mph, 10 mph below the posted speed limit, he said. Even at the slower rate of speed, it still proved too fast for conditions.

“We’ve got the streets department out right now trying to salt (the streets) off, but as of right now, they’re all very icy,” Triplett said.

At least three or four other accidents occurred within an hour of the Dixie Drive bridge accident – the majority of which were connected to icy bridges, he said. While speaking with St. George News following the Dixie Drive accident, a second two-car accident occurred at approximately 9:40 p.m. on the bridge in nearly the same location as the first. Icy conditions were again cited as a factor in the crash.

Unlike the first accident, no one required medical transport via ambulance as a result of the second crash.

The St. George Police and Fire departments responded to both scenes, with Gold Cross Ambulance providing medical transportation in the first incident.

This report is based on preliminary information provided by law enforcement or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery. 

Related posts

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @MoriKessler

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

7 Comments

  • Excuse Me? January 1, 2015 at 8:41 am

    “Slicker than … on a door knob.”
    Ed. ellipsis.

  • arts and letters January 1, 2015 at 8:53 am

    Sorry about the accidents last night, but I’ll add a little bit of first-hand observation. I live on Dixie Drive and was watching the cars last night, thinking these drivers are not slowing down one bit for the snow and possible ice. Dixie Drive is a racetrack and apparently the race was on last night.

  • Excuse Me? January 1, 2015 at 11:30 am

    Maybe the comment was taken wrong. What i was saying is another word for ‘Boogers’ or mucus from your nose.

  • evil twins mommy January 1, 2015 at 12:31 pm

    It got slick in a real hurry out there last night and it’s melting just as fast now

  • koolaid January 1, 2015 at 1:43 pm

    No skittles falling from the sky but a lot of skiddles last night

  • ladybugavenger January 2, 2015 at 8:33 am

    If only they would have pictured the other cars on the road as snow plows and applied the snow plow etiquette rules

  • New Family January 3, 2015 at 10:11 am

    With all these new types of people in the world today if you don’t pay attention you may get rear ended. Luckily it was slick.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.