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Better safe than sorry, truckers sidelined by Utah winds

Posted at 11:01 AM, Oct 25, 2021
and last updated 2021-10-25 23:24:15-04

TOOELE COUNTY, Utah — High winds blew over several semi trucks on Interstate 80 in Tooele County on Monday morning, according to Utah Highway Patrol.

Semi Truck Wind

Minor injuries were reported, but authorities were not specific about the medical conditions of the drivers.

Authorities closed I-80 to high profile vehicles between mile marker 99 westbound (Lake Point) and mile marker 1 eastbound (Wendover), until further notice.

Trucks Wind

Drivers dealt with the windy conditions the best they could, wishing they could be on their way instead of being stuck at a truck stop.

“It would be nice to, but they don’t want you putting your life in danger, like it’s always been said, this stuffs not worth your life,” said Jeff Ward, who was towing macaroni and cheese to Reno. “If you get there you get there, if not, it’ll be alright, it’ll get there eventually.”

Trucks Wind Utah

Charles Sanders has been driving for over 15 years and was headed to Sacramento when he was forced to pull over due to the windy conditions.

"You don’t want your load to tip over, so you’d rather get the money than have to pay somebody out of your own pocket,” said Sanders. “You’d rather be safe than sorry.”

Despite all his years on the road, Sanders is new to the area and has never seen anything like what sidelined him Monday.

“I never dealt with this stuff, it’s my first time coming out west so I normally do the northeast corner or like Florida down south or something like that, I took this load on purpose so I could see how I did for the winter, but I don’t know if I’m going to do this one again.”