Safety

What to Do If Your Car Breaks Down on I-15 in Sandy, Utah

Flatbed tow truck loading a vehicle after a car breaks down on I-15 in Sandy, Utah.

For the first few minutes, a car that breaks down on I-15 is not a mechanical problem. It is a traffic problem, and you are sitting in the middle of it. The Utah Department of Transportation keeps 28 incident management trucks on the Wasatch Front around the clock partly because so many drivers end up on that shoulder, and its instruction to anyone whose vehicle stalls on a Utah freeway is short: dial 911 and stay in the vehicle with your seat belt on. Here is the order to do things in, from the moment the engine stumbles to the moment your car reaches a shop.

Key takeaways

UDOT tells drivers whose vehicle stalls, blows a tire or fails mechanically on a Utah freeway to dial 911 immediately, whether they are in traffic or on the shoulder.
The Utah Safety Council advises raising your hood, waiting inside with the doors locked, and never standing behind or beside a disabled car.
UDOT's Incident Management Team can pull a disabled vehicle a short distance clear of the travel lanes. It does not take your car to a shop.
All-wheel-drive vehicles generally cannot be towed by an incident management truck, so AWD drivers usually need a flatbed.
The Sandy interchanges on I-15 are Exit 295 at 9000 South and Exit 293 at 10600 South. Coasting to an exit beats stopping in a live lane.
If the Utah Highway Patrol has your vehicle towed, the DMV issues a Letter of Impound Release before the yard can hand it back.
DPS non-emergency dispatch is 801-887-3800, but anything touching a travel lane on I-15 is a 911 call.

Step 1: Get Out of the Travel Lanes First

When a car breaks down on I-15, the first job is keeping it rolling toward the shoulder or an exit rather than stopping where it died. The Utah Safety Council's fact sheet is specific about how to do it, and every step is about not startling the traffic behind you.

Ease off the accelerator smoothly. Do not brake hard or suddenly.
Signal your intentions so drivers behind you can read what is happening.
Work the car toward the breakdown lane, checking mirrors before any lane change.
If you are on the interstate and an exit is reachable, take the exit.

Through Sandy that usually means Exit 295 at 9000 South or Exit 293 at 10600 South. Both put you on surface streets with room to wait and somewhere for a truck to reach you without working beside 70-mph traffic. A car that has lost power still carries a surprising amount of momentum on the downhill stretches of I-15, and that momentum is worth more than it feels like at the time.

Step 2: Call 911, Even If It Feels Like an Overreaction

A stalled vehicle on a Utah freeway is a 911 call. UDOT tells motorists that a crash, flat tire, mechanical failure or stalled vehicle on the freeway, in traffic or on the shoulder, means dialing 911 immediately. That is not the advice you would get for a car that dies in a driveway, and the difference is the speed of everything around you.

The call does two useful things at once. It starts a trooper or an incident management truck moving toward you with lights and cones, and it puts your location on the record before anyone drifts onto the shoulder. For a vehicle genuinely well clear of the roadway, DPS non-emergency dispatch takes calls at 801-887-3800. Anything touching a live lane is 911, then a call for emergency towing in Sandy.

Sitting on the I-15 Shoulder in Sandy Right Now?

Once 911 knows where you are, the next call is the one that actually moves your car. Towing Sandy runs around the clock across Sandy and Salt Lake County, so a truck can be heading for your mile marker while you are still waiting for the lane to clear.

Call Now (801) 618-2334

Step 3: Wait Inside the Car With Your Seat Belt On

The safest place on a freeway shoulder is buckled into your own seat. UDOT's guidance is to remain in the vehicle with the seat belt on until an emergency vehicle arrives, and the Utah Safety Council fills in the rest: raise the hood so responders can pick you out, run the flashers, put out reflective triangles behind the car if you carry them, and lock the doors.

It also rules out the instincts people act on first. Do not try to flag down passing vehicles, do not stand behind or beside the car, and do not set out walking along the interstate. If a stranger pulls over, the advice is to crack the window and ask them to call police rather than accept a ride or a jump.

When Getting Out Is the Safer Choice

Leave the vehicle only when staying in it is the bigger risk, which usually means smoke or fire, or a car stranded in a live travel lane where a rear-end hit is likely. Exit on the side away from traffic, get well up the embankment or behind a barrier, and stay there. UDOT separately warns motorists against diagnosing or working on a vehicle at the roadside because of how dangerous standing outside the car on a freeway is.

Step 4: Know What UDOT's Incident Management Team Will Do

UDOT's Incident Management Team is a free traffic-clearing service, not a tow company, and knowing the difference can save you an hour on the shoulder. The team has operated since 1994 and now runs 28 trucks across the Wasatch Front plus two in St. George, patrolling 24 hours a day and actively looking for drivers in trouble. The crews work alongside the Utah Highway Patrol but are UDOT employees, not law enforcement.

What they carry is deliberately limited. They will change or air up a tire, which overlaps with a flat tire change in Sandy, and they carry unleaded fuel, enough to reach the next exit, with no diesel or premium. Their trucks use a wheel lift, sometimes called a stinger, to pull a disabled vehicle a short distance out of the travel lanes to somewhere safer, where a tow service then recovers it. All-wheel-drive vehicles generally cannot be towed by IMT at all unless the situation is dangerous, so AWD drivers on I-15 should plan on a flatbed from the start.

Step 5: Decide Who Tows It Before Someone Decides for You

Calling your own tow operator is how you keep control of where the car ends up. An incident management truck will move you clear of traffic and a trooper will clear the scene, but neither delivers the car to your mechanic or your driveway off 700 East. That last leg is a tow, and the earlier it is dispatched the shorter the wait once the lane reopens.

Leaving the car and sorting it out later is the expensive version. A vehicle left on the highway can be towed as abandoned, and the Utah Highway Patrol points owners through a two-step recovery: the DMV issues a Letter of Impound Release first, and only then will the yard release the car against towing and storage fees. Arranging your own 24/7 towing in Sandy while you are still sitting on the shoulder avoids the whole errand.

Sources

UDOT Incident Management Team, Utah Department of Transportation
What to Do If Your Car Breaks Down on the Highway, Utah Safety Council safety fact sheet (PDF)
Find a Towed Vehicle, Utah Highway Patrol

Get Your Car Off I-15 and Where It Actually Needs to Go

Breakdowns on I-15 through Sandy do not wait for business hours, and neither does our dispatch. Tell us your direction of travel and the nearest exit and a truck heads your way, flatbed if your car is all-wheel drive.