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Christmas weekend snowstorm results in hundreds of car crashes throughout Utah

Posted at 5:39 PM, Dec 27, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-27 19:39:56-05

SALT LAKE CITY -- Accidents piled up on Tuesday morning after the Christmas weekend storm left icy roads behind.

It cost Utahns around $2.6 million in auto liability insurance claims, according to the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.

Tow trucks were pulling cars off the sides of roads and ramp ways.

Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce said there were 41 accidents Tuesday morning alone.

“This morning we had a little problem with black ice,” Royce said. “Watch your speed. People fall into a false sense of security like ‘hey the road isn’t snow packed I’m good to go.’ That’s not necessarily the case. Watch those on-ramps, watch those off-ramps, watch those structures.”

He said structures like bridges with air passing above and below them freeze first.

UDOT traffic cameras captured dozens of accidents.

In total between Friday at 6 p.m. and Tuesday at 10 a.m., there were 573 crashes.

Of those, 357 accidents were non-injury crashes, only property damage.

80 accidents had minor and major injuries, including one deadly crash and 136 slide-offs.