ST. GEORGE — A driver ran a red light to make a right-hand turn Thursday morning and crashed into a truck towing five horses in a trailer.
Shortly before 9 a.m. emergency personnel and officers were dispatched to a two-vehicle crash in the intersection of state Route 9 and 3700 West in Hurricane involving a 2008 Ford Fusion and a Dodge Ram pickup truck, Hurricane City Police Officer Jeff Adams said. The Dodge Ram was pulling a horse trailer loaded with five horses.
Officers investigating the crash found an 82-year-old woman driving the Fusion had stopped behind another vehicle on 3700 West, both waiting to make a right-hand turn onto SR-9. The vehicle directly in front of her proceeded on a red light and she attempted to make the turn as well, striking the horse trailer in the intersection.
“She just followed right behind that vehicle who also turned on a red light,” Adams said, “but didn’t make the turn and hit the trailer instead.”
The woman suffered a minor laceration to her left hand, Adams said, but declined to be transported to the hospital.
The woman was cited for failing to obey a traffic signal, turning on a red light without stopping, Adams said, calling it a “big problem right now.”
“People are just making turns on red lights when they think the lanes are clear,” he said.
Both drivers and all passengers were properly restrained at the time of the crash. The man driving the Dodge Ram told officers neither he nor his passengers nor the horses were injured in the collision.
“The man driving the truck said he checked on the horses and they appeared to be OK,” Adams said, “and the horse trailer actually sustained only minor damage.”
The Dodge Ram remained operational so the man was able to drive it away from the intersection with trailer in tow. The Fusion, on the other hand, was extensively damaged and later towed from the scene.
Hurricane Police Department and Hurricane Valley Fire District responded and tended to the scene.
This report is based on preliminary information provided by law enforcement or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.
This is just a constant thing here! Very few people ever stop before making a right on red. Either they don’t know the law or they just don’t give a darn.
haven’t noticed that one. they should keep in mind that pedestrians have right-of-way over their R turn tho.
Stupid dumb …* people just think their time is just to important to waste stopping at a red light, well …*? You hit me or mine? I’ll own your Home, Business, Bank account, etc….so becareful who you run into, as I’m not in your Ward
Ed. ellipsises: …*
This story is a little bit confusing?? There are acceleration lanes for traffic making right turns onto SR-9 from 3700 West so that they can get up to speed before merging into the travel lane on SR-9. So either she turned directly into the travel lane crossing over the acceleration lane or the driver of the Dodge Ram pulling the horse trailer was driving in straight through in the turning lane??? Something is not right here. I do agree that she should have stopped on the at the red light before proceeding, but I don’t understand how this crash happened if they each had their own lane???