SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Highway Patrol made a renewed plea Monday for motorists to slow down during inclement weather after three patrol vehicles were hit in one day.

No troopers were injured in the crashes.

The first incident happened just before noon on an I-15 off-ramp in Farmington, said UHP Sgt. Todd Royce. A trooper was investigating a crash when a second vehicle lost control and slid into his car, he said. Damage to the patrol car was minimal, and the trooper was not injured.

Later, another trooper was getting off I-15 at 400 South in Springville when an SUV in front of him lost control, hit a second SUV and pushed it into the UHP car, Royce said. Again, damage was minimal and the trooper was not hurt, he said.

A third crash in Tooele County was more significant, Royce said. During a period of heavy snow, a trooper driving a UHP truck had stopped a truck with two trailers that wasn't allowed to be on the road during bad weather, he said.

While the trooper was talking to the semitruck driver, another vehicle slammed into the back of the UHP vehicle, causing it to spin sideways. Neither vehicle was driveable after the collision, Royce said. An ambulance was called to treat the driver who hit the trooper's vehicle for minor injuries.

In all three accidents Monday, Royce said the drivers who caused the accidents were going too fast for conditions. He said especially in Utah County on Monday, troopers were seeing a lot of crashes due to vehicles hitting their brakes too quickly after motorists saw another accident ahead of them or the red and blue flashing lights of patrol cars.

"People need to be aware of what's happening in front of them and anticipate the problem," Royce said. "People are getting a kind of a false sense of security. The roads may be a little bit wet and they'll pick their speeds up, and then they'll come into an area where there's a snow squall, and the snow will be packed on the road and they'll hit their brakes really quick."

Royce said drivers need to people look farther ahead of them and anticipate potential problems, then adjust speeds accordingly or slowly change lanes.

"We, as troopers out on the road, come into a lot of close calls quite often," he said.

Road Weather Alert issued

Meanwhile, UDOT has issued a Road Weather Alert for Monday morning through 10 a.m. Tuesday. A map shows the area of high caution extends from Logan to Price.

Motorists should expect snow and patchy ice on both mountain and valley roads, UDOT said. Some of the impacted roadways include I-15, I-80, I-84, U.S. 189 through Provo Canyon, and U.S. 6 in Spanish Fork.

Numerous accidents and slide-offs were reported on I-15 and I-80 along the Wasatch Front, including at 4100 South and 5400 South on I-15. Earlier Monday morning a semitruck jackknifed in Parley's Canyon.

UHP reported 60 vehicle crashes in Salt Lake County from midnight to 2:30 p.m. Monday. Six of those crashes resulted in minor injuries to the people involved.

In Utah County, there were 83 crashes between midnight and 2:30 p.m. Monday. Seven of those crashes involved minor injuries, and one person was critically injured, according to the UHP.

The Bountiful bench received 8.8 inches of snow since Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Ski resorts along the Wasatch Front reported between 13 and 18 inches of new snow in 24 hours.

KSL Meteorologist Dan Guthrie said scattered snow showers were expected throughout the day Monday, with a couple of more inches possible in the valleys. Get the complete forecast on the KSL Weather Page.

Get traffic updates on KSL NewsRadio, and check commute times on the home page of KSL.com.

Contributing: Andrew Wittenberg

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