News

Actions

Tire smashes into minivan on freeway

Posted at 1:39 PM, Oct 06, 2013
and last updated 2013-10-06 15:39:35-04

SOUTH SALT LAKE — A West Jordan couple and their two children were sent to area hospitals after a fifth-wheel trailer tire smashed into the windshield of their minivan while traveling north on Interstate Highway 15 Sunday morning, Utah Highway Patrol officials said.

An Idaho couple in a pickup hauling a fifth-wheel trailer was traveling south on I-15 when the trailer lost its tire in North Salt Lake around mile marker 311. The tire bounced over six-foot tall concrete barrier and smashed into the windshield of the minivan, troopers said. The Idaho couple reportedly continued driving, unaware they had lost a tire.

The couple in the minivan was transported to the University of Utah Hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries. Their daughters, ages 7 and 11, were taken to Primary Children’s Hospital also with serious but non-life threatening injuries.

Preliminary investigation shows the tire fell off due to improper tightening of the lug nuts, troopers said. The accident is still under investigation.