Sandy Personal Injury
& Car Accident Lawyer

A Sandy crash guide from our Sego Lily Drive office

Our Sandy office is at 45 West Sego Lily Drive, Suite 315. The crashes we hear about from Sandy tend to fall into a few patterns: I-15 at rush hour, the retail traffic around South Towne, event nights at America First Field, TRAX crossings, and winter traffic heading up to the Cottonwood canyons.

I-15 and the interchanges

Crashes on I-15 are usually worked by the Utah Highway Patrol. Crashes on city streets are usually handled by Sandy Police. Request the report from the agency that responded, and keep the police case number and the insurance claim number separate.

Freeway rear-ends at the 9000 South and 10600 South interchanges often involve more than two cars. In a chain reaction, every insurer will point at another driver. Get every driver's name and insurance, and photograph where each car ended up.

Retail parking lots and event nights

South Towne, the State Street corridor and the traffic around America First Field produce parking lot crashes, left-turn crashes and pedestrians hit at night. Parking lot crashes are often on private property, where the police may not write a full report. That makes your own photos, witness names and any store security video far more important. Ask the business to save the video in writing, today.

TRAX in Sandy

The TRAX Blue Line runs through Sandy. A crash involving a UTA train or bus is a claim against a government entity, and a written notice of claim must be filed within one year under Utah Code § 63G-7-402.

Canyon traffic

In winter, Sandy streets fill with drivers heading toward Big and Little Cottonwood canyons. Snow, ice and impatience on the approach roads cause crashes that insurers like to blame on the weather instead of the driver. Weather does not excuse driving too fast for the conditions, and the photos you take of the road that day help prove it.

Semi and box-truck crashes on I-15 and Bangerter

A crash with an 18-wheeler is not a car accident with a bigger car. The truck is run by a company, the company answers to federal safety rules, and the evidence that decides your case starts disappearing within days.

The tractor records things your car does not: engine data, hard-brake events, and the driver's hours in an electronic logging device. Federal rules require a carrier to keep some of those records for six months and some for only 30 days, and nothing requires them to keep anything for your benefit. A written preservation letter, sent to the carrier the week of the crash, is what stops those records from being erased in the ordinary course of business.

There are usually several policies stacked on one truck: the tractor, the trailer, the load, the driver's employer, and sometimes a freight broker who never touched the road. Each one has its own adjuster, and each adjuster has a reason to point at the others. Do not give a recorded statement to any of them.

On the Sandy stretch of I-15 and on Bangerter Highway, the pattern repeats: a loaded truck cannot stop the way the traffic around it can. When a semi rear-ends a car at freeway speed, the fight is almost never about who hit whom. It is about how much.

The evidence, in the order it matters: truck and 18-wheeler accidents.

Motorcycles on the canyon approach roads

Sandy is the gateway to Big and Little Cottonwood, and on a summer weekend the approach roads are full of bikes. Three pieces of Utah law matter more to a rider than anything an adjuster will say.

Lane filtering is legal in Utah, within limits. Under Utah Code § 41-6a-704, a motorcycle may move between stopped lanes on a road posted at 45 mph or less, when traffic is stopped, at no more than 15 mph. An adjuster who tells you filtering put you at fault is describing a state you do not live in.

Helmets are required under 21, not over. Utah Code § 41-6a-1505 requires a helmet for riders under 21. Riding without one at 21 or older is legal, and it is not a defense for the driver who turned left across your lane. Expect it to be argued anyway.

Utah does not require PIP on a motorcycle. Under Utah Code § 31A-22-302(2), motorcycle policies are exempt from the no-fault medical benefit that pays a car occupant's first dollars of treatment. If you ride, your own health coverage or medical payments coverage is what meets the emergency room bill — and what you carry before the crash is what you get after it.

More on Utah rider claims: motorcycle accidents.

Where treatment usually happens

Intermountain Alta View Hospital is in Sandy, and many crash patients are seen there or at a nearby urgent care. It is not the time to be brave. Tell every provider every symptom.

Teen drivers and injured kids

Sandy has two big high schools, Alta and Jordan, and a lot of new drivers on the roads around them before and after school. When a teenager is hurt, or causes a crash, two things work differently.

A claim for an injured child is brought by a parent or guardian, and the insurance company will want a parent to sign for it. Do not sign a release for a child's injuries before you know how the injuries will heal. Children's injuries can change as they grow.

Utah also protects a minor's deadline. Under Utah Code § 78B-2-108, the statute of limitations does not run while the injured person is under 18. That is not a reason to wait. Evidence and witnesses do not wait for a birthday. But it does mean a parent who missed a deadline for their own claim should still ask about the child's.

If the teen was driving, find out whose policy covers the car. It is usually a parent's, and the parent is the one who needs to report the claim.

Tickets and court

Traffic citations written in Sandy are generally handled in the Sandy Justice Court. An injury lawsuit is a separate case in the Third District Court, which covers Salt Lake County. Do not plead to a ticket before you understand how it affects your injury claim.

Whatever kind of auto accident it was in Sandy — a freeway rear-end, a left turn at 9400 South, a semi on Bangerter, a bike on the canyon road — the first calls you make decide how much of the evidence still exists a month later.

Read our full guide to car accidents in Sandy, or call (801) 685-1000.