A driver was killed early Saturday after losing control of a vehicle traveling at high speed on State Route 172 in Salt Lake City, crashing into a steel traffic control pole and setting the car fully ablaze. The wreck shut down both northbound and southbound lanes of the highway near 5600 West and 1730 South for several hours overnight.
According to KSL, the vehicle was traveling southbound on S.R.-172 when the driver lost control and struck the pole. Salt Lake Police Chief of Staff Glen Mills said the driver appears to have died on impact, before the car became fully engulfed in flames. The Utah Department of Transportation reported the crash at approximately 12:26 a.m.
Fire Crews Arrive to Find Fatality Already Reported
Utah Highway Patrol troopers responded to the vehicle fire alongside crews from the Salt Lake City Fire Department, the station's report notes. Salt Lake Fire Captain Chad Jepperson said the fatality had already been reported before fire crews reached the scene, underscoring how quickly the crash turned deadly.
The driver's identity has not been released by authorities, and the crash remains under investigation. Per the same account, the scene was cleared at approximately 7:49 a.m., according to the Salt Lake City Police Department dispatch board, after both directions of the highway had been closed for roughly seven hours.
Another Deadly Crash Hit the Same Corridor in June
This is not the first fatal wreck to strike this stretch of road. A separate crash on June 26, 2026, killed a driver at 1650 S. 5600 West, also known as S.R.-172, according to ksl.com. Salt Lake City police said that collision occurred just after 8:45 a.m., and police had not identified the person who died.
In a separate report on that June crash, abc4.com said two cars were involved, with a northbound vehicle veering into oncoming traffic and striking a southbound car; the northbound driver was killed while the other driver was treated at the scene. Investigators said at the time they were looking into whether a medical incident, distraction, or another factor caused the crash, with no obvious signs of impairment reported.
Accounts of that June closure differed slightly: abc4.com reported the road was already closed between 1730 South and California Avenue while the investigation was ongoing, while ksl.com reported the road would be temporarily closed between those same cross streets while police investigated the scene.
Pattern of Fatal Wrecks Near 5600 West
The same general corridor has seen other deadly crashes. fox13now.com reported that one person was killed in a crash between a minivan and a semi-truck on a Wednesday near 300 South and 5600 West, after the minivan attempted to go around a semi that was waiting to make a left turn. The male minivan driver was pronounced dead at the scene, per that report.
No details have been released connecting Saturday's crash to those earlier incidents, and investigators have not said what caused the driver to lose control before striking the pole. KSL's Sicily Stanton authored the original report and noted the article may be updated with further information as it becomes available.
