You Might Want To Hang Up Your Keys If You’re Doing One Of These 5 Things On Utah Roads

There were two more deaths yesterday on Utah's roadways, including a death in Washington Fields after a driver reportedly ran a stop sign and was hit by a trash truck.

More than 200 people have died on Utah roads in 2024.

A recent survey by AAA had some shockingly dangerous results.

From the wire: "Six in ten U.S. drivers admit to unsafe behaviors behind the wheel, according to a survey out this week from the Triple-A  Foundation for Traffic Survey.  Nearly 23 percent admitted (1) excessive speeding, with the survey finding that speeding has the lowest perceived social disapproval.  Other dangerous behaviors included (2) texting while driving, (3) running red lights, generally (4) aggressive driving and (5) driving while impaired."

According to Utah's page on the highway safety website reveal these scary facts:

• Utah crash data between 2017-2021 shows that 27,514 distracted driving crashes resulted in 15,004 injury crashes and 83 people dying in 74 distracted driver fatal crashes.
• Crash data indicates drivers under the age of 20 are involved in 31% of distracted driving crashes, more than any other age group.
• The highest percentage of fatal distracted driver crashes occurred on Fridays, followed by Saturdays and Tuesdays.
• 48% of all fatal crashes occur between 12:00 pm and 7:00 pm, with the most significant occurring between 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm

Some interpretation of these facts bring it home.

• Utah is driving distracted -- Need proof, just drive to Salt Lake City and back and count how many drivers you see that are on their phones while operating a 3,000-pound missile at 85-miles per hour.
• We know it's wrong, but do it anyway -- Sixty percent even admit to it, according to that AAA survey. Officials say only when we are confronted with the reality of death do we even think twice about it. Sad.
• Young people, especially teenagers, think they're invincible -- About 1/3 of the distracted driving crashes are by teenagers.
• Evening rush hour crashes are deadly -- Even though nearly as many crashes occur in the mornings, evening rush hour crashes account for nearly half of all deaths on the road. In a hurry to get home, I suppose.

Speed and distracted driving are the deadliest, but we also have a problem with running red lights, driving aggressively and there's even a percentage of those polled who admit (anonymously) to driving while impaired.

Those are some sobering (and deadly) numbers.

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