SALT LAKE CITY — Several law enforcement agencies are ramping up their efforts across Salt Lake and Utah counties for distracted driving awareness month.
“It’s not something we think about every day,” said State Sen. Nate Blouin.
Utah Highway Patrol is working on educating drivers about Utah's distracted driving laws.
“We’ve all been out there, we’ve seen the devastating effects of distracted driving,” said UHP Lt. Cameron Roden.
UHP said they have seen dangerous driving behavior in the last week.
“Our officers have identified people brushing their teeth, eating their meals, even using their clipboards while trying to drive a vehicle,” said Col. Michael Rapich.
They explained how it takes seconds for a driving situation to take a deadly turn.
"Freeway speeds, 75 miles an hour, you’re traveling over 100 feet per second at 75 miles an hour,” said Rapich.
Blouin and his mom know that harsh reality that distracted driving can bring upon families.
Blouin's dad loved the outdoors. On a June day in 2018, his parents were out riding bikes near Delta.
"On one of the county highways, and you know we’re doing all of the right things as far as safety goes: had lights, we were riding single file on the inside of the road,” said Blouin.
But he said there wasn't anything they could have done about what happened next.
“I think the kid said he just saw something off in the distance and was looking over just at the absolute wrong moment, and he swerved a bit and hit my dad, and that was the end of it. Just got the worst phone call of my life from my mom telling me what happened. I was just devastated,” said Blouin.
He hopes people will hear the message loud and clear: Distracted driving is dangerous.
"It doesn’t take much to create an unsafe situation. People take cars kind of for granted, just drive and go about their daily business and don’t think about what the ramifications could be,” said Blouin.
UHP and other agencies are working toward encouraging better driving behavior throughout the state.
“Distracted driving crashes are preventable, 100 percent. All we need to do is put down the distractions,” said Rapich.
