ST. GEORGE — A driver was critically injured in a single-vehicle rollover on the Southern Parkway Thursday afternoon, causing a temporary closure of both westbound lanes as Utah Highway Patrol troopers conducted a crash investigation.
Shortly before 4 p.m., emergency personnel were dispatched to westbound state Route 7 near mile marker 4, where they found a white Ford Ranger pickup truck partially blocking the No. 1 westbound lane closest to the median.
Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Nick Street told St. George News that the 20-year-old driver was found unresponsive outside of the vehicle when responders arrived. CPR was initiated at the scene, and the driver was transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center in critical condition.
Additional personnel were called in as troopers closed off the westbound side of SR-7 to allow emergency personnel to tend to the scene.
At the time of the crash, Street said the driver was heading east toward mile marker 4 when the right rear tire of the vehicle separated, which is when the driver lost control of the truck and it slid sideways into the center median, striking a drainage culvert.
Street said the driver was ejected from the driver’s side window, landing on the soft shoulder on the opposite side of the highway. The truck came to rest in the No. 1 lane partially blocking westbound traffic.
A debris field that extended for more than 200 yards left wreckage scattered across median and the outside westbound lane.
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