August 3rd, 2011 @ 8:25am
By ksl.com
UTAH COUNTY -- Drivers who run out of gas through the I-15 construction zone in Utah County could face a ticket.
Troopers have started giving out $97 tickets to motorists whose tanks run dry.
Alan Peterson with UDOT's incident management team told KSL in 2008 that the agency was getting an increasing number of calls about people running out of gas. Peterson thought it was linked to higher gas prices.
UHP now says it's getting about five calls per 10-hour shift from motorists stranded because they're out of gas.
In the Utah County CORE construction zone, a car stopped in the narrow lanes poses a real danger, troopers say. Those vehicles often stop in areas where there are no shoulders to the road.
UHP Cpl. Todd Johnson said, "Just one stalled vehicle unnecessarily can back traffic up, if not for minutes then sometimes hours, depending on the time of day."
Written with contributions from Randall Jeppesen.
