SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, March 24, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — Two people died in a head-on-collision with a sanitation truck Thursday morning in Salt Lake City.
The accident was reported to dispatch at about 7:22 a.m., and first responders rushed to the crash site, at 980 S. Redwood Road, near the intersection of Redwood Road and Indiana Avenue.
The driver and passenger of the maroon-colored van died at the scene. Both were adults.
The driver of the city-owned sanitation truck was taken to an area hospital to be treated for minor injuries.
Lt. Michael Ruff, Salt Lake City Police Department, told reporters at the scene that the van was northbound until it suddenly crossed into the southbound lane just prior to the head-on impact with the southbound sanitation truck.
“Currently, there’s no indication that the garbage truck was doing anything other than driving southbound,” Ruff said. “It doesn’t appear there was anything that the driver did other than try to avoid the van once it crossed over.
“I’d also just emphasize this is not a vehicle traveling the wrong way. For some reason, it crosses over right before the impact but we don’t know why that occurred. That would be part of the investigation.”
No information has been released yet about the genders, approximate ages or identities of the two people who died.
Ruff said at about 8:45 a.m. that the road would be closed to drivers at least through the morning hours. for at least two more hours and possibly more due to the investigation. The area of closure is from California Avenue to Indiana Avenue, he said.
The investigation could continue long after officials leave the scene, Ruff said.
“This is really early in the investigation. Our crash analysis reconstruction team is here. These investigations can take weeks up to months to try to figure out exactly what happened. So they’ll start that process today and it’ll take a while.”
The crash marks the fifth and sixth traffic-related fatalities in Salt Lake City for 2022.
