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ST. GEORGE — Utah officials say last week was the first in nearly three years to go by without a single traffic accident death on state-managed roads.
The Utah Department of Transportation announced the news in a Tweet Monday, in which it said:
If we did it once, why can’t we do it again? Let’s make this a Zero Fatalities week. We can do this. Keep up the good work, Utah."
So far in 2018, there have been 253 deaths on Utah’s roads, down from the preceding four years. But with two weeks left to go in the year and a record number of travelers expected to be traversing the state’s highways this Christmas, UDOT is urging drivers to play it safe.
In an effort to reduce traffic-related deaths, the state’s Zero Fatalities campaign aims to educate drivers about some of the deadliest driving behavior, including drowsy driving, impaired driving, distracted driving, aggressive driving and not buckling up.
Drowsy driving
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that drowsy driving results in 1,550 deaths, 40,000 injuries and more than 56,000 crashes each year in the U.S.
