Driver sent to hospital after rollover crash in Cedar Canyon

Scene of a single-vehicle rollover on SR-14 in Cedar Canyon, Iron County, Utah, Oct. 30. 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY — A driver was injured in a single-vehicle rollover in Cedar Canyon Friday afternoon.

The crash reportedly occurred shortly after 4:30 p.m. on state Route 14 near Woods Ranch and involved a dark green Mercury Mountaineer with an adult male driver believed to be in his 40s or 50s.

Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Bambi Baie said the driver had been heading westward down the canyon toward Cedar City.

“Witnesses said he drifted off to the right, then overcorrected and rolled,” Baie told Cedar City News at the scene. The vehicle ended up crashing into a small stream bed on the left side of the road before coming to rest on its passenger side.

Baie said the man, who had to be extricated from the vehicle, complained of severe back pain and was transported via ambulance to Cedar City Hospital. He was later taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George, Baie said, adding that the incident is being investigated as a possible DUI.

Scene of a single-vehicle rollover on SR-14 in Cedar Canyon, Iron County, Utah, Oct. 30. 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

No other vehicles were involved in the crash, but Baie said another vehicle coming up the canyon did sustain slight damage when the Mercury came back onto the road from the opposite shoulder, sending rocks and debris flying across the oncoming lane.

The Mercury sustained heavy damage and needed to be towed from the scene. Whether the driver was properly wearing his seat belt is still under investigation, but multiple airbags deployed in the SUV.

Iron County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jeff Humphries said at the scene that responders had difficulty making it up the canyon quickly, because several cars failed to pull over for the flashing lights and sirens of the emergency vehicles behind them.

“That was our biggest problem coming up here, is that people wouldn’t pull over and stop,” Humphries said. “Make sure to pull over and stop and get all the way off the road.”

Cedar City Fire Department personnel also responded to the scene and helped with cleanup. Traffic along SR-14 experienced minor slowdowns in both directions for more than an hour, with sheriff’s deputies assisting with traffic control.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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