Five people, including a 3-year-old child, died in two separate rollover accidents on I-15 Tuesday. Most of those who died were not wearing seat belts, authorities say.
Killed were:Jennifer Hilton, 30, Syracuse
Celia Hernandez, 30, Ogden.
Maria De Jesus, 40, address unknown.
The name of Hilton's son was not released by police, and the name of the fifth person killed was unavailable Wednesday.
Hilton and her son were killed in an 11:27 a.m. accident at the Point of the Mountain.
The others died in a second accident near Clearfield at about 4:30 p.m.
The deaths come just as the state launches its "Always Buckle Your Child" (ABC) program designed to inform parents about safety seats and new seat-belt laws concerning children. Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Chris Kramer said research shows only one in five parents knows how to correctly buckle kids in car-safety seats.
"Part of the program will involve police going out and showing parents how to use the safety seats the right way," he said.
Another program objective will be informing the public about legislation passed this year that allows police to pull over any car containing a child under age 4 who is observed not properly buckled in a safety seat.
In Tuesday's first accident, Hilton and her son were ejected from their southbound vehicle, which veered into the median and rolled into oncoming northbound traffic where it collided with an oncoming automobile.
The northbound car's two occupants were both injured.
The driver, Richard Brown, 24, Park City, was taken to Alta View Hospital. He was later released. A passenger, Phillip Crook, 35, Boise, Idaho, was in fair condition at LDS Hospital.
Hilton, who was driving the southbound car, was transported to University Hospital where she later died from her injuries. Hilton was not wearing a seat belt, and her son was not strapped into a car-safety seat.
Her son was pronounced dead at the scene, Kramer said. Northbound traffic was diverted onto a frontage road for more than an hour while rescue and clean-up crews worked to clear the freeway.
The second accident, a few miles north of Clearfield, happened when a northbound minivan carrying nine people went into the median and rolled. Five people were ejected from the car, two of them died. According to the police report, De Jesus was wearing her seat belt; Hernandez was not.
De Jesus and Hernandez were pronounced dead at the scene. Another died in a medical helicopter en route to a Salt Lake hospital. The survivors were taken to area hospitals.
The wreck shut down I-15 northbound for at least an hour.
Both accidents are under investigation.
E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com