SOUTH SALT LAKE — The Utah Highway Patrol says seven people have lost their lives to wrong-way drivers since the beginning of this year. And the number of calls spotting wrong way drivers has also gone up 49% since this same time last year.
“The vast majority of the drivers that cause wrong-way fatal crashes are intoxicated, either on alcohol and/or drugs,” said Maj. Jeff Nigbur. “They’re significantly intoxicated.”
Nigbur says UHP and UDOT are creating a task force to try to identify any more patterns and to come up with solutions. But right now, they’re not seeing any.
“There’s a lot of randomness to this,” said UDOT Spokesman John Gleason. “We’re not seeing any one particular area that sees more wrong way drivers than any other.”
Two drivers experienced only minor injuries after yet another crash caused by a wrong-way driver overnight.
South Salt Lake Police responded to the crash around midnight on West Temple near 3300 S.
Police believe the driver was going east in the westbound lanes when they hit another driver. It is being investigated as a possible DUI.
A deadly weekend for crashes caused by wrong-way driver
Three people died in two separate crashes involving a wrong-way driver over the weekend.
Early Saturday, a crash between two cars killed both drivers when they hit each other head-on as one traveled the wrong way on 600 S. The driver who entered I-15 the wrong way was not wearing a seat belt.
The later Saturday, a 29-year-old West Valley man died in another wrong-way crash around 11 p.m. at 6860 South Mountain View Corridor.