Utah Highway Patrol stopped another wrong-way driver on I-80 in Parleys Canyon on Thursday, March 17, 2022. Photo: Utah Highway Patrol via Twitter
SALT LAKE CITY — Just days after the Utah Department of Transportation and Utah Highway Patrol announced a plan to form a task force to address wrong-way driving in the state, troopers stopped a wrong-way driver in Parleys Canyon.
UHP Sgt. Cameron Roden told KSL the first 911 calls came in just after 1 a.m. on Thursday, with reports of a reckless driver in Salt Lake County.
“We had multiple people calling, saying that the vehicle may have hit the barrier, hit cones and things,” Roden said.
But soon, they learned that driver was driving the wrong way — eastbound in the westbound lanes — on I-80 through Parleys Canyon.
“Officers were able to make contact with the vehicle as it was stopped,” Roden said. “They conducted an investigation to see what was going on, and found that the driver was impaired.”
Unlike the more than 40 reported wrong-way crashes so far in Utah this year, the overnight Parleys Canyon incident ended with an arrest instead of a crash. But Roden said impaired driving remains the number one cause of wrong-way driving. But occasionally, other factors come into play — such as driving fatigued or simply being unfamiliar with the area.