ST. GEORGE — Before police had even finished their work at the scene of a crash at Riverside Drive and River Road, a three-car collision less than two miles away started another response along a stretch of road that’s proven increasingly hazardous in recent months.
The initial crash occurred around 4 p.m. on Monday afternoon, when an automobile and motorcycle collided at the busy intersection. The motorcycle rider sustained serious injuries and was transported by ambulance to St. George Regional Hospital, according to police.
St. George Police Officer Jace Hutchings responded to the second crash, arriving shortly after 4:30 p.m., to find a gray Jeep Wrangler stopped in the outside lane of eastbound Riverside Drive near the intersection with Mall Drive.
Two other damaged vehicles, a white Volkswagen Passat and a white Volkswagen Jetta, had pulled over into the turnoff accessing Dino Dash Car Wash.
Describing the circumstances leading up to the crash, Hutchings said, “Traffic was at a standstill at the intersection – it’s always packed – and the Passat was stopped in front of the Jetta when the guy in the Jeep plowed into the back bumper of the Jetta, jolting it forward into the Passat. The guy driving the Jeep said he was distracted by his kids in the back.”
Paramedics with Gold Cross Ambulance and emergency medical technicians with the St. George Fire Department reported to Hutchings that a boy in the Jeep had sustained a significant injury to the top of his head and was bleeding heavily.
After some wound care and bandaging, the boy was released in lieu of transport as his condition improved. The other two children in the Jeep and its adult male driver were uninjured.
The man driving the Jeep was cited for distracted driving, an offense that carries a fine and goes on the driving record with the possibility of a suspended license. Hutchings said it was fortunate the vehicles bore the brunt of the damage, as he’s seen the worst-case scenario in his own life.
“My nephew was killed in an accident up north from the exact same thing,” he said. “It shatters lives, so I would just tell people to please pay attention.”
John Voss, who was driving alone in the Passat at the time of the collision, said he suffered whiplash and wrenched his back in the crash, but avoided more serious injury.
Voss said his work as a trucker gives him a front-row seat to the poor driving habits of many locals. From the high vantage point of a truck cab, he said he can see just how many people are on a phone, distracted by passengers or taking their eyes off the road to reach for items in their vehicles.
“They’re not paying attention, period,” Voss said. “This Jeep (driver) couldn’t have been paying attention to end up rear-ending somebody stopped at a signal. It’s just people doing too many things at once.”
Monday’s pair of crashes mark the fourth and fifth serious incidents along Riverside Drive in as many months. Hutchings said the road is “one of the worst” in St. George, with regular crashes at multiple intersections, including 700 South, River Road and 100 South.
“There’s a lot of people in this town driving distracted,” Hutchings said. “People just get so caught up in what’s important to them at that very moment that they forget a vehicle is basically a missile going through the city – it’s going to kill someone if you’re not paying attention.”
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