PARLEYS CANYON, Utah, Jan. 31, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Interstate 80 westbound in Parleys Canyon has reopened after a driver crashed into a moose just before midnight Tuesday.
Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Travis Barrett told Gephardt Daily a car traveling westbound in Parleys hit a “smaller” calf just before midnight near mile post 131.
“Because they’d just hit the moose, that car stayed out in traffic and another vehicle traveling westbound down Parleys struck that vehicle,” Barrett said.
The people in the cars suffered only minor injuries, he added, but the calf had to be euthanized.
“Unfortunately the moose was still alive after the collision and another trooper on scene had to unfortunately put it down,” Barrett said. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources then came to retrieve the animal.
The incident should be a warning to all drivers, particularly in the canyons at night, Barrett said.
“You can’t see them when it’s dark out,” Barrett added. “They’re very large and when a vehicle is travelling 70, 75 miles per hour, and they strike an animal that large it does tend to cause a lot of damage to the vehicle. When you’re travelling up the canyon we encourage people to not only pay attention to the road but pay attention to wildlife cos unfortunately these things can happen where wildlife just comes out into traffic and in times like this they do strike vehicles.”
The crash closed westbound I-80 about a mile prior to the I-215 east junction, but the freeway has since reopened.
