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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Highway Patrol stepped up its enforcement efforts over the long Fourth of July weekend.
The Utah Department of Transportation also asked drivers to be extremely careful on what is the busiest holiday travel weekend of 2016 in Utah.
The good news, more Utahns are wearing their seat belts than ever before after the state’s primary seat belt law went into effect in 2015.
Over the past decade, the Fourth of July weekend has been the deadliest holiday on Utah highways even though there were no fatalities in 2015.
So far in 2016, there have been 127 fatalities on Utah roads. The same number as this time last year.
Again this year, troopers will be focused on reigning in drunk drivers, aggressive speeders and drivers “not” buckled up. “We’re going to have troopers out there in unmarked cars looking for those people that are just driving way too fast, making really aggressive lane changes and putting everybody else at risk,” says Col. Michael Rapich, superintendent of the UHP.
But we should all be focused on good driving habits. “We are all guilty of it. We can all become better drivers. It only takes a moment to take your focus off of what it needs to be on. Unfortunately, we don’t always get a second chance,” says John Gleason, spokeswoman for UDOT.
The goal is always Zero Fatalities on our roads, and we are all responsible for helping to meet the challenge. Jenniffer is a Special Projects Producer who heads up the Your Life Your Health, Zero Fatalities and High 5 initiatives. For questions, feedback or possible story ideas, please email jmichaelson@ksl.com.
