A woman struck twice and left dying in the middle of State Street has forced Murray residents and Utah officials to confront an uncomfortable truth: the intersections of 4500 South and State Street are among the most treacherous in the Salt Lake Valley. The July 31 double hit-and-run, captured on video and released by police, did not just shock the community—it underscored what state crash data and years of local complaints have long made clear.
On that late summer night, 53-year-old Kimberley Jespersen was hit by a car making a left turn from State Street onto 4500 South. She fell in the crosswalk. A pickup then swerved around the stopped vehicle and struck her again, fleeing without stopping. Both drivers left the scene. Police later released CollisionCam footage of the incident, appealing for tips from the public.
The tragedy brought renewed attention to a corridor already notorious for crashes. A Deseret News analysis of state crash records found 12 auto-pedestrian crashes at 4500 South and State between 2010 and 2016, the second-highest total in Salt Lake and Utah counties during that period. In broader crash counts, the intersection has consistently ranked among the county’s leaders. Data from the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) shows that State Street through Murray is a dense cluster of collisions, stretching from Edison Street—just north of 4500 South—down through the 4500 South junction.…