ST. GEORGE — The caravan of RVs and travelers heading to Zion and other spots in the area for the holiday weekend were slowed down by two crashes on northbound Interstate 15 in Washington City that happened yards apart from each other within an hour Friday afternoon.
A set of two skid marks along the right-side wall of I-15 passing the Green Spring Drive entrance provided evidence of what caused additional headaches for drivers heading north.
“It was almost the same spot within 45 minutes,” Utah Highway Patrol trooper Grant Hintze said. “It had to be at this bottleneck on a holiday weekend.”
The first was reported around 3:11 p.m., which had the effect of bringing traffic heading north to a crawl.
The second crash, involving a Saab wagon with a mother and her toddler and a Toyota pick-up at around 4:30 p.m., closed all lanes of northbound 15 for a time and in an hour, limited it to one lane.
As the pieces were being picked up from the Saab, Hintze was still trying to piece together what exactly caused the second incident.
“All I know is it was a two-vehicle collision,” Hintze said.
Along with UHP, the Washington City Fire and Police departments responded to the second incident.
What could be seen was the pickup, driven by what Hintze said was an elderly woman, slammed head-on into the wall on the left side of the freeway.
“She hit the concrete head-on,” Hintze said.
The driver of the pickup was transported to the hospital after complaining of chest pains.
The gold Saab was also positioned horizontally on the other side of the freeway, its rear driver’s side crushed. While neither the female driver nor her around 2-year-old daughter were injured, a Washington City firefighter could be seen holding and comforting the shaken child.
By 6 p.m., the second scene was cleared, and the already heavy holiday traffic continued moving forward.
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Two separate skid marks 25 yards apart mark the scene of two separate car crashes within an hour and yards of each other on the northbound side of Interstate 15 in Washington City, Utah, on the afternoon of Sept. 4, 2020 . | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News The Toyota pickup involved in the second of two separate car crashes within an hour and yards of each other on the northbound side of Interstate 15 in Washington City, Utah, on the afternoon of Sept. 4, 2020 . | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News The Saab wagon involved in the second of two separate car crashes within an hour and yards of each other on the northbound side of Interstate 15 in Washington City, Utah, on the afternoon of Sept. 4, 2020 . | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Pieces of the Saab wagon involved in the second of two separate car crashes within an hour and yards of each other on the northbound side of Interstate 15 in Washington City, Utah, on the afternoon of Sept. 4, 2020 . | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News Pieces of the Saab wagon involved in the second of two separate car crashes within an hour and yards of each other on the northbound side of Interstate 15 in Washington City, Utah, on the afternoon of Sept. 4, 2020 . | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News The Toyota pickup involved in the second of two separate car crashes within an hour and yards of each other on the northbound side of Interstate 15 in Washington City, Utah, on the afternoon of Sept. 4, 2020 . | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News The Saab wagon involved in the second of two separate car crashes within an hour and yards of each other on the northbound side of Interstate 15 in Washington City, Utah, on the afternoon of Sept. 4, 2020 . | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News The scene of the second of two separate car crashes within an hour and yards of each other on the northbound side of Interstate 15 in Washington City, Utah, on the afternoon of Sept. 4, 2020 . | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News The scene of the second of two separate car crashes within an hour and yards of each other on the northbound side of Interstate 15 in Washington City, Utah, on the afternoon of Sept. 4, 2020 . | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News All lanes of northbound Interstate 15 in Washington City, Utah, were closed off on the afternoon of Sept. 4, 2020 after the second of two separate car crashes within and hour and yards of each other. | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News A Washington City Fire engine is parked alongside Interstate 15 as a firefighter comforts a toddler who was aboard one of the cars in a two-vehicle collision on Sept. 4, 2020. Washington City, Utah. | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
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