CEDAR CITY — A driver was rescued Saturday night when his vehicle went off Route 14 near Cedar Breaks.
Utah Highway Patrol trooper Adam Gibbs says the incident, which happened around 8:30p.m., involved a Ford Edge SUV being driven by a male.
Trooper Gibbs said the man was heading west and coming down the canyon on SR-14 when he was surprised by an oncoming driver who had just flashed on their high-beam headlights.
“He said another car going the other way hit him with his brights, which made it so he couldn’t really see and he went off to the right,” Gibbs said.
The Ford Edge ended up at the bottom of a steep slope, nestled among some trees.
The driver was not injured. He managed to exit the vehicle on his own, however wasn’t able to get himself up to the highway. Iron County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue ropes team was called to the scene for the tactical rescue.
Once the ropes team arrived and set up their gear, two rescuers accompanied a Stokes basket that was lowered via a rope rigging system down to a place alongside the crashed vehicle, where the driver was being attended to by responding UHP trooper Daniel Nielson.
Temperature was around 10 degrees at the time of the incident.
Traffic on SR-14, which was small at the time, was reduced to a single lane for around 1.5 hours while the scene was cleared.
This report is based on information provided by law enforcement and may not contain the full scope of findings.
