Police: Potentially impaired driver strikes cable barrier, goes off I-15

2020 file photo of police vehicles at the scene of a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 15 near Exit 40, Washington County, Utah, Nov. 2, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News/ Cedar City News

 WASHINGTON COUNTY — Two women were injured when they lost control of their vehicle and went off the road on Interstate 15 Monday night.

Chevrolet Cobalt involved in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 15 near Exit 40, Washington County, Utah, Nov. 2, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News/ Cedar City News

The incident reportedly happened shortly after 6 p.m. on northbound I-15 just south of Exit 40 and involved a gold Chevrolet Cobalt passenger car with two adult female occupants.

Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Mike Murphy said the car was traveling in the right lane when its driver made a sudden lane change.

“It made an abrupt lane change to the left, lost control and continued on, leaving the roadway to the left, hitting the cable barrier, and then overcorrecting to the right,” Murphy told St. George News at the scene.

The vehicle then crossed all three lanes of traffic before leaving the roadway off the right shoulder and coming to rest alongside the wire fence that borders the interstate’s right of way.

Murphy said the driver and passenger were transported in separate ambulances to Cedar City Hospital for treatment of injuries that he described as “non-life-threatening.”

A vodka bottle sits on the roof of a Chevrolet Cobalt involved in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 15 near Exit 40, Washington County, Utah, Nov. 2, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News/ Cedar City News

“One was taken out with a backboard and the other one walked out on her own power,” Murphy said, adding that both women appeared to have been wearing their seat belts, which likely spared them from more severe injuries.

The women were reportedly traveling from the Las Vegas area to northern Utah, Murphy added.

“Right now the investigation is leaning toward alcohol impairment,” Murphy said. “That, and excessive speeds according to witnesses.”

Deputies from Washington County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the incident. At some point, investigators apparently found a vodka bottle inside the vehicle and set it atop the car’s roof.

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

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

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