SALT LAKE CITY — One of the systems put in place by the Utah Department of Transportation to alert motorists and the Utah Highway Patrol about wrong-way drivers apparently did not work early Saturday morning when two teenagers were killed.
Troopers say 21-year-old Jose Angel Torres Jimenez drove the wrong way onto northbound I-15 from 600 South in Salt Lake City. Moments later, his Audi slammed head-on into a Nissan Rogue near 1900 South.
Two people inside the Rogue, 17-year-old Anneka Wilson and 18-year-old Leo Shepherd, died as a result of that crash.
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A little over two years ago, UDOT placed cameras and sensors along 600 South to alert its traffic operations center if a driver is going the wrong way onto the freeway. Personnel at the center would then notify law enforcement and other motorists.
“We need to understand why we didn’t get that notification," said UDOT spokesperson John Gleason. "It’s technology; it’s fairly new. It’s something we’ve had some success with and we’re still working on it. But we need to know why we didn’t get that alert.”
Gleason says it’s still too early to know if the alert would’ve made a difference, because it likely would’ve only taken a minute or so for Jimenez to drive from 600 South to 1900 South. But he says his team is determined to figure out what went wrong and prevent it from happening again.
UDOT officials are also trying to determine whether or not the wrong-way signs were flashing to alert the driver.
Jose Jimenez suffered only minor injuries in the crash. He is now facing two counts of automobile homicide, driving under the influence, wrong-way driving and violation of his learner's driving permit.
