The Missouri State Highway Patrol says alcohol may have played a factor in a utility task vehicle crash outside Fayette on Saturday, July 26 that injured its driver.

The patrol responded to the crash on Route CC about eight miles southeast of Fayette around 10:45 p.m. Troopers report that a 24-year-old man from Harrisburg was driving the UTV west when it struck a deer. The vehicle then went off the right side of the roadway and struck several trees. The driver suffered moderate injury and was treated at a Columbia hospital. A 26-year-old passenger had no reported injuries and refused treatment at the scene. Troopers say both men were not wearing the proper safety gear at the time of the crash, and “were found to be intoxicated”.

Earlier Saturday, troopers responded to a crash in Randolph County where three people had incurred moderate injuries.  The patrol reports that this accident occurred at 9:25 a.m. on U.S. Route 63 just outside Clark, when a van driven by a 35-year-old from Mexico turned onto the southbound lanes of the highway, into the path of an SUV driven by a 59-year-old Moberly man. Both drivers, along with a 57-year-old passenger in the SUV, were all taken by ambulance to a Columbia hospital. Troopers say both drivers were wearing their seat belts at the time of the crash, while the passenger had not.