I-15 between exits 57 and 62
Exits 57 and 62 connect to Main Street (SR-130), and exit 59 to 200 North (SR-56). Drivers deep into a long run and trucks slowing to exit create speed differences that lead to rear-end and lane-change crashes.
Iron County
Cedar City Truck Accident Lawyer
Hit by a tractor-trailer on I-15 or in Cedar Canyon? Free consultation, and no attorney fees unless we win.
Where Trucks Meet Traffic in Cedar City
I-15 carries long-haul freight past Cedar City day and night, and the city's exits feed trucks into town for fuel, food and deliveries. Add a canyon highway and open rural routes, and heavy-vehicle crashes here take several different forms.
Main Street (SR-130)
The business loop brings trucks off the freeway past fuel stations, shops and people walking between Southern Utah University and downtown. Turning trailers and angle parking do not mix well.
200 North and SR-56 west
200 North becomes SR-56 past Cedar City Regional Airport and heads toward Newcastle at open-road speed, shared with farm trucks and wildlife. Visibility and closing speed decide these crashes.
SR-14 through Cedar Canyon
A steep, curving climb with limited shoulder, rockfall and hard winters. A descending truck with hot brakes or too much speed for a curve has few places to go.
Fuel stops near the interchanges
Rigs pulling out of fuel stations and restaurants near the exits merge slowly into traffic moving at highway speed, and a driver who misjudges the gap leaves others with seconds to react.
Who writes the report
Cedar City Police cover city streets, the Iron County Sheriff's Office covers unincorporated areas, and the Utah Highway Patrol handles I-15 and the state routes, SR-14 included. If UDOT, Iron County or the city is part of the claim, a notice of claim is due within one year under Utah Code § 63G-7-402.
Covering Medical Costs After a Cedar City Truck Crash
Personal injury protection on your own policy pays first. Utah Code § 31A-22-307 requires at least $3,000 for medical care and pays lost income at 85% of gross, capped at $250 each week, for up to 52 weeks. Read the PIP guide.
Intermountain Cedar City Hospital is a Level IV trauma center, and serious injuries may be transferred to St. George Regional Hospital, a Level II center. Transport alone can exceed PIP. To claim pain and suffering from the truck's driver and company, Utah Code § 31A-22-309 requires any one of these:
- Medical expenses in excess of $3,000
- A bone fracture
- Permanent disability or permanent impairment based on objective findings
- Permanent disfigurement
- Dismemberment
- Death
Meet any one and the carrier's insurer is responsible for the full claim. Your underinsured motorist coverage can supplement a policy that falls short (UIM guide), and an uninsured motorist claim is not limited by the threshold.
Comparative Fault on the Interstate
Under Utah Code § 78B-5-818 you can recover only if the defendants' combined fault exceeds your own, and the award is cut by your share. Forty percent at fault means 60% of the damages; fifty percent means nothing.
A long-haul carrier's insurer will ask whether you were driving too fast for snow in the canyon or lingering alongside the trailer on I-15. The driver's logs often raise the better question: how long had that driver been on duty?
Deadlines that apply
Four years for most injury claims (§ 78B-2-307), two years for wrongful death (§ 78B-2-304), and one year for a notice of claim against UDOT, Iron County or Cedar City. Deadline guide.
Hours-of-Service Exceptions on a Long Run
The bad-weather extension
A driver who meets adverse driving conditions and cannot safely finish the run within the normal limits may drive up to two additional hours to complete it or reach a safe place (49 CFR 395.1(b)(1)). Carriers sometimes point to a storm to explain hours that were really the product of the schedule.
Split sleeper-berth rest
A driver using a sleeper berth may split the required 10 hours off duty into two periods, one of at least 7 hours in the berth and neither shorter than 2 hours, while the driving before and after each period still counts against the 11- and 14-hour limits (49 CFR 395.1(g)(1)). Whether a split was done correctly takes a careful read of the log.
False logs and tampered devices
No driver or carrier may make a false duty-status report, or disable, jam or reprogram an electronic logging device so it does not accurately record required data (49 CFR 395.8(e)). Fuel receipts, toll and GPS records can expose logs that do not match the trip.
Out-of-state carriers
Many trucks crossing Iron County are based elsewhere, and their records and drivers leave the state quickly. A preservation demand should reach the carrier before its retention periods run out. See our Utah truck accident guide.
When a truck drives on
A driver at the end of a long shift may not feel a sideswipe. Your uninsured motorist coverage may respond to an unidentified truck, and if there was no contact, Utah Code § 31A-22-305(6) requires clear and convincing evidence beyond your own testimony that it existed.
What To Do After a Truck Crash Near Cedar City
- Call 911 and write down the agency, whether city police, the sheriff or the Highway Patrol, and the case number.
- Get checked that day, even if you feel able to keep driving. Head and spinal injuries can take hours to show.
- Photograph the truck, trailer and door markings and the road conditions, including snow, rock or debris in the lane.
- Ask witnesses, other truck drivers included, for names and phone numbers; many are only passing through.
- Open a PIP claim, and decline a recorded statement to the carrier's insurer until you have advice.
Cedar City truck lawsuits are filed in the Fifth Judicial District Court at 40 North 100 East, which serves Iron County. Most settle beforehand, but logbook, ELD and fuel records should be demanded from the carrier within days. Call (801) 921-5134 or request a free case review. Free consultation. No attorney fees unless we win. Hablamos Español. See our Cedar City car accident page and Cedar City personal injury page.
This page gives general information about Utah law, not legal advice for any person's situation. Facts decide cases, and earlier results do not guarantee later ones.