SALT LAKE CITY — A brand new campaign and public service announcement by the Utah Department of Transportation was sparked by a family who experienced tragedy on the roads.
Peter Salm lost his brother Rodney last summer in a fatal crash that police reported was caused by road rage.
Rodney and his girlfriend, 47-year-old Michaela Himmelberger were not involved in the initial road rage incident but were hit head-on while traveling in Eagle Mountain.
Having recently assumed control of a successful family business, Salm said his brother Rodney was enjoying a casual drive that day as part of his Porsche club when tragedy struck.
"The individual in the emergency lane lost control of his vehicle, went across the center line and hit my brother," Salm explained. “They were both killed in the accident, the driver was injured but survived.”
Ripple effects of the tragedy are still being felt in the community, Salm said.
“Everybody sees the headlines; two people killed, they don’t see, or understand the hundreds of people who are impacted outside of those two people," he reflected. "You know the families, the workplace, the community, the people they’re plugged into.”
Fellow club members and other friends wanted to start a GoFundMe for the family in the aftermath of the tragedy and Peter agreed to the fundraiser with one stipulation. That the money would be used to help educate others about the permanent impacts of road rage.
“So they started the GoFundMe and raised over $23,000," Salm explained. "We approached Zero Fatalities, the nonprofit component of that took the funds, UDOT graciously matched those funds and created this commercial that they ran today, which we are very happy about.”
The commercial walks through the lifelong consequences of road rage.
“It won’t bring Rodney back, but if some positive things can come from what happened to him, and if we can prevent other families from dealing with the same issues, I think that would be great," Salm reflected.
The Salm family is also hoping laws will change to reflect the seriousness of road rage incidents as many times drivers are simply charged with reckless driving. Peter Salm said road rage is an aggressive act against somebody using an 8 to 15,000-pound vehicle as a weapon and believes a more severe punishment is required.
While the pain of losing his brother is still fresh, Salm says he and his family are happy to do whatever they can to prevent future tragedies from happening on Utah's roads.
