Fresh snow and blowing winds that created huge snow drifts and ice created major problems across the Wasatch Front Monday.
Two people were killed in freeway accidents Monday.
Killed were:
Katrina Vierra, 36, Taylorsville.
Igor Hobson, 68, Evanston, Wyo.
About 10 a.m. Monday, Vierra was driving a sedan north on I-215 in the outside lane near the offramp to U-201. A second northbound car, for an unknown reason, moved into the outside lane. Vierra tried to avoid hitting that car. Her car smashed into a snow bank, went over the rail and landed on U-201, Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Chris Kramer said.
Vierra was dead at the scene, Kramer said. The driver of the other car was uninjured. The accident remains under investigation.
At 1:18 p.m. a vehicle rolled on I-80 two miles east of Coalville near Echo Reservoir. The driver, Hobson, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Strong winds and the driver's going too fast for conditions contributed to the accident, according to Department of Public Safety spokesman Chris Kramer.
Between noon and 4 p.m. Monday, more than 120 accidents were reported just to the Utah Highway Patrol in Salt Lake and Utah counties.
Troopers were forced to shut down northbound I-15 in Box Elder County for several hours Monday afternoon following a series of accidents, one of which involved a sheriff's deputy.
Provo Canyon was also shut down for several hours for avalanche control work.
Meanwhile, investigators continued Monday to try to find the cause of a weekend traffic accident that left the four surviving children without their parents and four siblings.
Ten members of the West Richland, Wash., family were in a motor home Sunday that plummeted off an overpass from the northbound lanes of Interstate 15. The father, Mark Mattila, who was driving the motor home and whose age is unknown, was killed. Also killed at the scene were his children Max Mattila, 7; Katie Mattila, 6; Marci Mattila, 4; and Adam Mattila, 5 months. The mother of the family, Margerie, whose age is unknown, died in the hospital later Sunday.
Misty Mattila, 18, was taken to LDS Hospital, where she was listed in fair condition Monday afternoon. Brent Mattila, 12, was in critical condition at Primary Children's Hospital. Jordan Mattila, 14, and Shane Mattila, 9, were both taken to Alta View Hospital on Sunday, but they were both released within two hours.
Investigators had previously said they doubted weather, including wind, played a role, saying roads in the area had dried up from the weekend's heavy snowstorms and that winds from the storm were not very strong at the time. But now, Kramer said, investigators are reconsidering wind as a possible factor.
There were no skid marks on the road at the scene to indicate the driver had tried to stop suddenly.
Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Chris Kramer said the motor home the family was riding in was so badly damaged that it's difficult if not impossible to say whether seat belts were a factor.
An employee at Lewis Street Trailer Sales in Pasco, Wash., where the family rented the vehicle, said it was equipped with driver's- and passenger's-side seat belts as well as seat belts in the couch area and on one side of its dinette.
Current state law regarding seat-belt use holds motor-home drivers and passengers to the same requirements as those in other motor vehicles: When the manufacturer has equipped a vehicle with seat belts, they must be worn.
Data from the Intermountain Injury Control Research Center indicates that most motor-home occupants wear seat belts while riding, though not as frequently as the general traveler.
Larry Cook, director of motor vehicle studies at the center, said that from 1994 through 2002, 1,132 motor homes with 2,079 occupants were involved in crashes statewide. Of those occupants, 67 percent reported wearing seat belts, and 17 percent reported not wearing them. It is unknown whether the remaining 16 percent were wearing seat belts. That 67 percent compares with 94 percent reporting seat-belt use in all the state's crashes during the same time period.
From 1994 through 2002, only nine motor-home occupants involved in crashes have died, Cook said. Eighty-eight percent of people riding in motor homes involved in accidents escape uninjured, he said. That compares with 79 percent of people involved in auto crashes overall.
"So actually being in a motor home is somewhat safer than not being in a motor home, probably because of the size," Cook said.
The numbers also indicate that most motor-home passengers ride either in the driver's or passenger's seat. Only 15 percent of motor-home occupants are in the back seat — and Cook said those occupants overwhelmingly ride without seat belts.
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