3 yr old in critical condition, others hospitalized after Saturday afternoon crash

Two small children, their mother and grandmother were taken to area hospitals and then airlifted to hospitals along the Wasatch Front following a traffic accident on Highway 89/91 near 3100 South. The accident occurred at approximately 3:45 p.m. Saturday when a 17 year-old female from Wellsville came up too fast on the 70 year-old grandmother from Bountiful.

According to press release from the Utah Highway Patrol, the 70 year-old woman was driving a 1996 Toyota Camry with her 42 year-old daughter, five year-old grandson and three year-old granddaughter. They were  traveling northbound in the inside lane at a speed considerably under the posted 60 mile per hour speed limit.

The 17 year-old from Wellsville was driving a 1998 Ford Expedition in the same lane and did not realize the Camry was traveling at a much slower speed until they collided. The 17 year-old was the only occupant in her vehicle and was uninjured.

The collision caused the Camry to careen across the median and southbound lanes where it clipped a Ford Crown Victoria driven by a 65 year-old man from Box Elder County who was the only occupant in the vehicle and was uninjured. The Camry then went into a ditch against a fence on the west side of the road. Numerous vehicles stopped along the side of the road as volunteers tried to help those trapped in the vehicle until emergency responders could arrive.

Multiple units responded to the scene which required extrication to access the children in the backseat. It appeared all occupants in the Camry were wearing seat belts or in car seats. All four occupants were taken to Logan area hospitals by ambulance. The three year-old granddaughter was later life-flighted to Primary Children’s Hospital in critical condition and her mother and grandmother were both later air lifted to Intermountain Medical Center in Murray.

The accident snarled traffic for several hours on Hwy 89/91 as traffic was reduced down to one lane in each direction. The crash is under investigation to determine why the grandmother was traveling so slowly and why the 17 year-old girl was not able to detect the slow speed of the Toyota Camry. No names have been released.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!