By KAREN ROCHESTER
karen@du2.byu.edu
A truck driver died Wednesday morning after his semi collided with another tractor trailer in Spanish Fork Canyon.
According to the Utah Highway Patrol dispatch, the accident happened at mile marker 199 on State Road 6.
The two semis involved were traveling in opposite directions in Spanish Fork Canyon. The semi traveling westbound crossed the center line and collided with the semi traveling eastbound, said Verdie White, spokesman for the UHP said.
The driver of the eastbound truck, a 59-year-old male from Missouri, died in the accident, White said. However, the driver of the westbound semi left the scene of the accident uninjured, he said.
UHP declined to release the names of the drivers pending notification of their families.
Kevin Elmer, a UHP trooper, said the death was a result of the impact between the two trucks.
However, a third party traveling eastbound may have been the real cause of the accident, Elmer said.
The third car traveling eastbound was too close to the center lane, and the westbound semi moved over in an effort not hit the car, Elmer said.
After the westbound truck driver checked his mirrors to make sure his trailer did not hit the car traveling eastbound, the semi driver returned his attention to the road and found himself in the on-coming lane, Elmer said.
'The accident is being blamed on weather conditions and driver error,' White said.
Elmer said it was snowing in the canyon at the time of the accident, and the roads were snow-packed causing the lines for the lanes to be invisible.
A complete investigation of the accident will not be completed for at least a week, White said.