Out-of-control dump truck plunges into reservoir, killing driver, Utah officials say
A dump truck driver died after losing control and plunging into a reservoir in Utah, officials said.
The driver was heading north on Trapper’s Loop in Weber County and approaching SR-39, an area with a steep downhill slope, the Utah Department of Public Safety said in a July 21 news release.
The truck “lost its brakes” on the downhill slope, officials said in the release. A witness told officials they saw smoke coming from the truck’s wheel hubs as the driver tried to brake and then tried to slow down on the road’s soft shoulder.
The truck couldn’t stop and instead barreled through a stop sign, intersection and a field before plunging down a steep embankment and into Pineview Reservoir, where the front of the truck was submerged, officials said.
Photos posted to Weber Fire District’s Facebook page show the tractor-trailer on the embankment. A Utah DPS photo shows the vehicle partially submerged in water muddied from the topsoil the truck had been carrying.
First responders pulled the truck from the water and found the driver of the truck dead in the cab, officials said.
Officials did not release the identity of the driver, but said he was from Mexico, where most of his family lives.
It wasn’t the first crash of its kind at the intersection, FOX13 reported. Another commercial tractor-trailer crashed there within the last two years, though that driver was injured but not killed, the station reported.
“Especially with commercial vehicles, we’ll have situations like this,” Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Brandon Whitehead told KSL. “It doesn’t happen very frequently, but it does (happen).... Because of the incline they’re coming down from Trapper’s Loop.”
The crash shocked those who witnessed it, the station reported.
“Last thing that we expected is that dump truck would be down the ravine,” Jennifer Fisher told the station. “We could see the guys going down the hill to try to see, to try to figure out how to get that dump truck out of the water. It’s a steep drop down in there.”
Some people commenting on the posts on Facebook and Twitter asked officials if they would consider installing a runaway truck ramp after multiple crashes there.
“Question: This kind of incident has happened too frequently at this intersection, fortunately without the fatal results this one has,” someone said on Twitter. “When will a Runaway Truck Ramp be installed here? It’s overdue.”
This story was originally published July 23, 2023 at 1:33 PM with the headline "Out-of-control dump truck plunges into reservoir, killing driver, Utah officials say."
