Failure to yield causes collision, citizen assists driver; STGnews Videocast

ST. GEORGE – A woman driving a white minivan on Red Cliffs Drive Monday afternoon caused an accident when she attempted to turn left onto 1680 East, and hit an oncoming vehicle.

“The van, as it turned, turned just as that car went through the intersection and the van hit the rear end of that green car,” St. George Police Sgt. Sam Despain said. “There were no injuries and the driver of the van was issued a citation for failure to yield.”

The minivan was traveling westbound on Red Cliffs Drive about 3 p.m. when the driver made the left turn, and struck a green Pontiac sedan which was traveling eastbound. The accident slowed traffic in the intersection, but help from a passerby kept disruption to a minimum.

When the accident happened, 20-year-old Brodie Wilcox was driving by and pulled over to help the woman who was driving the van.

Wilcox was driving towards Washington with his girlfriend, Alexa Rippetoe, when they came upon the accident and noticed that the police had not arrived, and no one had stopped to help.

“My first thought was that she needed to get out of there, she was blocking traffic and she looked shaken up,” he said. Wilcox pulled her car into a nearby lot to get it out of the flow of traffic, and made sure both she and the other driver were not injured.

“I think if everyone did a little in the world, the world would be a better place,” Wilcox said.

Only St. George Police Department responded to the accident, and traffic was flowing again quickly. The van was damaged, and had to be towed as a result of the accident.

This report is based on preliminary information provided by responders on scene and may not contain the full scope of findings.

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4 Comments

  • Floyd Kitchen January 5, 2015 at 9:26 pm

    Failure to yield and running red lights seem to be in epedemic form. Every day there is an incident. waaaaaaaup?

  • S. Carter January 5, 2015 at 9:54 pm

    Way to go Brodie Wilcox!! Glad to see there are still good people out there willing to help strangers

  • ladybugavenger January 5, 2015 at 10:10 pm

    Nice kid. Good job, Brodie

  • arts and letters January 6, 2015 at 7:32 am

    Yeah, accidents every day. Never lived in a place like this. The big problem in St. George is speed. I no longer try to make a left turn if there’s something coming from a much greater distance than any place I’ve lived or driven. Cars are usually going a lot faster than the speed limit, so judging the distance you have to make a left turn is totally screwed up. Sometimes I’ve watched drivers speed up when they see that someone wants to make a turn. Must be that macho (male or female) “nobody’s gonna get ahead of me” b.s. that turns driving in St. George into a competition instead of just a means of getting from one place to another. No wonder there are so many left turn accidents around here. More left turn lanes would help but only if there’s a light with a green arrow. Driving here is a menace for people who are used to driving where people obey the speed laws.

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