A man from the Salt Lake City area died Sunday after being ejected from his pickup truck during a rollover crash on SR-132 in Nephi Canyon, according to Utah Highway Patrol. The driver, who was the only person in the vehicle, was reportedly not wearing a seat belt when the 2005 Chevrolet truck ran off the right side of the road and rolled multiple times after he overcorrected. He succumbed to his injuries at the scene, and authorities had not released his identity as of Monday.
The crash happened near milepost 41 on SR-132, according to Utah Highway Patrol, as first reported by ABC4 Utah. The driver was headed west toward Nephi when the truck left the roadway, according to the Sanpete Messenger, which also identified him as a Salt Lake City-area resident. The highway was closed for approximately one hour while responders investigated the scene. It remains unclear whether speed, a medical emergency, or impairment played a role in the truck leaving the road, and that detail has not been resolved by investigators.
A Canyon Road Already Under Scrutiny
Sunday's crash is the latest fatal incident on this stretch of mountain highway. Hoodline previously reported on a fatal SR-132 collision in February involving a semi and a car near mile marker 30, which also shut down the canyon road during the investigation. SR-132 is a 63-mile highway connecting U.S. Route 6 in Millard County through Nephi Canyon to U.S. Route 89 in Sanpete County, and the canyon segment carries heavy daily commuter and agricultural truck traffic between Juab and Sanpete counties, per the state's route history. The road also provides access to the Nebo Loop Scenic Byway at milepost 38.1, drawing additional recreational traffic into the canyon during warmer months, according to the Utah Office of Tourism.
The Utah Department of Transportation has acknowledged the canyon's geometric challenges, scheduling safety projects between 2023 and 2024 that included a new westbound passing lane and a four-foot shoulder near milepost 38.1, aimed at mitigating narrow shoulders and limited passing zones through the corridor.
Seat Belt Non-Compliance a Persistent Factor in Utah Crash Deaths
The driver's reported lack of a seat belt places Sunday's death within a broader statewide pattern. Utah recorded 48 unrestrained fatalities in 2025 as the state's observed seat belt usage rate slipped to 89.6%, according to Zero Fatalities. State data covering 2020 through 2024 found that 323 lives could have been saved had unbelted crash victims buckled up, with unrestrained occupants facing a 40 times higher risk of death than restrained ones, per the Utah Highway Safety Office.
Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows unbelted occupants are 30 times more likely to be ejected in a crash, and more than three out of four ejected occupants in fatal crashes die from their injuries. Rural Utah motorists are three times less likely to wear seat belts than urban drivers, according to studies commissioned by the Utah Department of Public Safety, a disparity that shows up disproportionately on rural mountain routes like SR-132.
Utah enforces seat belt use as a primary law under Utah Code § 41-6a-1803, meaning officers can stop and cite unbelted drivers directly. The violation carries a $45 fine that can be waived by completing a 30-minute online safety course. It is not known whether the driver killed Sunday was cited or stopped before the crash, as no such detail appears in the available reporting.
