LAYTON, Utah — Dozens of people committed to traffic safety are gathering for discussions on how to end fatal crashes on Utah roads.
The Zero Fatalities Safety Summit encourages those in attendance to exchange ideas on improving safety. Those ideas are then shared with local communities.
Attendees include first responders, law enforcement, road engineers and others.
“We are all working together and care about each other,” said Carlos Braceras, the executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation. “That will make a big difference.”
The Zero Fatalities initiative began in Utah in 2006. After years of steady declines in traffic-related fatalities, the state saw a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to statistics provided by Zero Fatalities, 248 people died on Utah roads in 2019.
That was the lowest number since 2013.But in 2020, the number increased to 276 deaths and spiked to 332 in 2021.
“It's hard to see numbers going in the wrong direction, but hang in there,” Braceras said. “The work we do is important. We are here to save lives and we got to keep at it.”
2022 saw a modest decline as 319 people died in crashes.
“A lot of the behaviors we are seeing – they are not accidents,” said Robyn LaLumia, the deputy director of the Utah Highway Safety Office. “They are choices people are making not to be aware of what they are doing.”
Five pillars of safety like wearing a seatbelt and avoiding distracted, impaired, aggressive and drowsy driving are things every driver can do to improve safety.
“Wear your seatbelt every single time,” Braceras said. “92 percent of Utahns wear seatbelts. The 8 percent who don't are part of 30 percent of the fatalities in the state of Utah.”
Braceras and others hope the message of driving with kindness – and drivers being concerned about their own safety and the safety of their neighbors – will inspire people to change their habits and lower the number of lives lost in crashes.
“To change a behavior, you have to have that awareness that you need to change,” LaLumia said.
