EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah — Neighbors are calling for change after a car crash in Eagle Mountain left two people seriously injured.
Sunday night’s wreck was just one of the over 250 crashes the Utah Highway Patrol reported over Memorial Day Weekend.
The Utah County Sheriff’s Office said 21-year-old Austin Miller was driving down Ranches Parkway at 60 mph before losing control and crashing into a nearby tree.
“It rattled our windows it was so loud,” said Krysti Motter.
Motter and her neighbors helped Miller and his passenger before medics arrived.
“[The passenger] was only able to respond once and she told me she couldn’t feel anything from the neck down,” said Motter.
Emergency responders rushed the pair to the hospital with serious injuries. Photos from the scene showed a child's car seat taken out, but police said there were no children in the car at the time of the crash.
Cell phone video shows Motter running up to the vehicle just seconds after the impact. In the video, Miller is seen kneeling near the woman in the passenger seat, checking her condition.
“Hey, are you OK?” Motter asks in the video.
“No,” Miller responds.
Someone then says to “call 911.”
“It was really hard to see, that’s for sure,” Motter later told FOX 13 News. “I didn’t sleep well.”
READ: Violent crashes across Utah lead to deaths, arrests
Motter said this is the second time this year that she’s had to help at a car crash just outside her backyard.
She said this winter, a teenager lost control on the ice and hit another tree near her home.
“If he had missed that tree, just over a few inches, he would’ve gone straight into our house,” said Motter.
She's not the only one in the area who's concerned.
“You can see the trees here are all marked up because people come down that hill and they’re going too fast,” said Lavon Pavlowich.
Pavlowich has lived in the neighborhood for around 20 years. She said she’s noticed an uptick in crashes and hit-and-runs on Ranches Parkway.
“I don’t know that all of the accidents are even reported to the sheriff’s department because people just pick up their car pieces and move on,” she said.
Motter and Pavlowich are tired of hearing the noise of screeching tires and seeing the stripped bark and tire tracks. They think it’s time for a stop sign or a speed bump, something to help put a stop to the reckless driving.
“Just anything to slow this traffic down through here,” said Pavlowich.
“I need something done just to keep my kids safe,” said Motter.
