A USU student was killed in a vehicle accident in Northern Utah’s Sardine Canyon Wednesday.
A light snow at the mouth of Sardine Canyon near Brigham City, combined with icy conditions on an overpass, may have been the cause of a three car accident Wednesday around 8:30 a.m.. Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Lee Perry said the driver of a white SUV traveling toward Logan on State Road 91 lost control and was struck by a large semi-truck.
“The individual lost control, spun across into the south bound lanes of travel and spun clear into the slow lane of the south bound side where it was impacted by a semi-truck broad side, pushing him backwards,” Perry said.
The 23-year old driver of the SUV, Joshua Diamond, was a student at Utah State University in Logan. Perry said he was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.
A third vehicle was involved, hitting the semi-truck from behind. The occupants of the Mercedes received only minor injuries. Perry said the driver of the semi-truck was transported to an area hospital for observation.
Sardine Canyon from Brigham City to Logan was closed until 11:30 a.m. Wednesday while crews cleared debris.
“It’s the same problem we had on the Weber/Box Elder County line the other night when we had the fatality there, the same problem we had yesterday,” he said. “Again, it’s just a light snow on the road but sometimes the light snow is the most dangerous because it does put that layer of snow down and that layer of ice down that people aren’t expecting and people think they can drive faster than they really can because it is not deep and thick.”
The National Weather Service and the Utah Department of Transportation continue to monitor weather conditions in hopes of informing drivers of winter road hazards. The forecast is calling for more intermittent snow into Friday