SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Highway Patrol officials are calling on Utahns to use safe driving practices as Memorial Day weekend approaches.
On Tuesday, UHP troopers investigated several serious crashes around the state, including two fatal crashes in Box Elder and Utah counties.
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"We love Utah, we love getting out and recreating in this beautiful state, but we need to be much better drivers than we are. We're just seeing some really aggressive driving and that's just not going to be tolerated as we head into the Memorial Day weekend," said Trooper Chris Bishop, UHP. "Troopers, they have been told, we will have a zero-tolerance policy for aggressive driving. We're not going to tolerate texting, we're not going to tolerate road rage-type situations. There's no place for that on Utah roadways and we're not going to tolerate it.
Bishop also said drivers who exceed speed limits should expect to be cited.
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The holiday weekend marks the unofficial start of summer and the beginning of the "100 Deadliest Days" - the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day - when the likelihood of fatal crashes is nearly double the rate for the rest of the year.
Last year, 102 people lost their lives on Utah roadways during the 100 Deadliest Days.
According to Zero Fatalities, the five main contributing factors to fatal crashes are aggressive driving, driving while impaired, drowsy driving, distracted driving and not buckling up.
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Here are the statistics for The 100 Deadliest Days of Summer in Utah for 2011-2020:
- May 27, 2011 through September 5, 2011 (102 days) - 88 fatalities
- May 25, 2012 through September 3, 2012 (102 days) - 68 fatalities
- May 24, 2013 through September 2, 2013 (102 days) - 90 fatalities
- May 23, 2014 through September 8, 2014 (109 days) - 97 fatalities
- May 22, 2015 through September 7, 2015 (109 days) - 107 fatalities
- May 27, 2016 through September 5, 2016 (102 days) - 94 fatalities
- May 26, 2017 through September 4, 2017 (102 days) - 90 fatalities
- May 25, 2018 through September 3, 2018 (102 days) - 102 fatalities
- May 24, 2019 through September 2, 2019 (102 days) - 61 fatalities
- May 22, 2020 through September 7, 2020 (109 days) - 102 fatalities
Visit ZeroFatalities.com for further details on safe driving and preventing fatal crashes.
