Abe Dietz was driving his family home from the airport when, somewhere near American Fork on Interstate 15, a shovel suddenly smashed through the windshield.
“Traffic was busy,” he said, recalling the event from last summer. “I was changing lanes, and I heard this boom. I thought someone’s tire had popped, it was so loud.”
Glass covered his eyes, he said, and he couldn’t see. His wife, Jodi Dietz, had to take the wheel and steer them to safety. Their minivan was totaled, but the family was fine. Abe emerged with just a few scrapes.
“To think of all the things that could have happened, we were really grateful,” Jodi said. “It was scary.”
The Utah Department of Transportation reports that the amount of garbage and rogue items on roads is up by 28% over the past five years compared to the previous five-year period. And it’s costing the state $2.5 million a year to clear away.
(Leia Larsen | The Salt Lake Tribune) Abe Dietz, left, holds a shovel that slammed into his windshield last summer. His wife, Jodi Dietz, and son, Micah Dietz, were in the car during the crash but the family was able to survive the incident unharmed, apart from a few scrapes. Wednesday, June 30, 2021.
“If you look at this pile, this was all out on our roads,” said UDOT spokesperson John Gleason, pointing to a pile with hundreds of bags of trash, car parts, a mattress and some rogue signs that were recovered from Salt Lake County highways during the past month. “Our roads shouldn’t be obstacle courses where people have to swerve to miss dangerous debris.”
Utah sees 1,800 crashes a year in which debris played a factor, Gleason added. As recently as Tuesday evening, a load of canvas bags came loose from a catering truck on I-15 near Kaysville, causing cars to slow or stop. A truck driven by an allegedly impaired driver slammed into one of the cars, killing two people and sending others to the hospital.
“It wouldn’t have happened had that cargo been tied down,” Gleason said. “This could have been any one of us driving on the freeway.”
Data collected by UDOT shows debris and litter cause problems on roads throughout the state, but especially in Salt Lake County and other urban areas. Sgt. Mary Kaye Lucas with Utah Highway Patrol said it’s something troopers deal with daily.
“I’ve seen things go through people’s windshields that are outright scary,” Lucas said.
Debris she said she’s had to recover include large pieces of Styrofoam and sheet metal, along with more unusual items.
“In the springtime, you see an increase in personal belongings because people are moving,” Lucas said. “You start seeing bags of clothes, totes with things in them. During the holidays, we see a lot of Christmas trees.”
Lucas recommends drivers increase their following distance from other cars in case they need to react quickly to dangerous objects in the road.
“If you’re following the person in front of you [too] close,” Lucas said, “when they dodge the debris, you’re suddenly right on top of it.”
Motorists also need to secure their loads. Fines for unsecured cargo, or debris that falls from a vehicle and creates a hazard, range from $260 to $690, according to the UHP. But oftentimes, law enforcement and UDOT aren’t able to find the culprits.
Such was with Abe Dietz and the case of the rogue shovel, which he took home as a memento after getting help from troopers.
“That thing hit me right in the face,” he said with a laugh. “So I told [my son] Micah when we left, ‘Grab the shovel. I’m keeping that.’”
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