WOODS CROSS — Mariana Saplan can only remember bits and pieces of what happened when her car went off the road.

"All that I can really remember vividly is, I can feel, like, the moment that I lost control. I can feel the wheels just not taking my commands anymore. And I can remember at that moment I just repeated, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please stop rolling,’” she said.

The 2008 Mazda 3 that Saplan, 18, and her boyfriend were in rolled an estimated three times off state Route 73 somewhere between Tooele and Lehi.

When the car stopped rolling, Saplan's boyfriend asked her if she realized what had just happened?

"Yeah, we flipped," she replied. "He said, ‘No. We’re alive. And it’s because of seat belts. Seat belts just saved our lives.'"

On Wednesday, while standing by a giant poster detailing the so-called 100 Deadliest Days of Summer, Saplan could point to her day, July 21, and show off a "zero" written in the square, signifying there were no fatal crashes in Utah on that day, in part, because she had worn her seat belt.

Unfortunately, the Utah Highway Patrol says there were too many times over the summer that people did not buckle up.

On Wednesday, using an auto-collision yard filled with wrecked vehicles as a backdrop, the UHP and Utah Department of Transportation announced the results of the 100 Deadliest Days in 2018: 102 people lost their lives on Utah roads.

UHP Col. Michael Rapich admits it was a "rough year" and "frustrating" that despite the efforts of troopers and state officials, the number of traffic fatalities this summer was up 13 percent from last year. Ninety people were killed in 2017.

"You know, it would be really great if we could change that name and just call it the 100 Days of Summer,” he said.

But this year, he said the name was appropriate.

The 100 Deadliest Days are from the Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day weekend, or May 25 through Sept. 3. This summer, at least one person was killed in a crash on 59 of the 102 actual days, according to UDOT statistics. Both the Labor Day and Memorial Day weekends were particularly deadly this year. Rapich said all of the fatal crashes over the past Labor Day weekend were the result of impaired driving.

Fatalities that were the result of drowsy driving and aggressive driving were up, according to UDOT statistics. And the number of deaths involving "vulnerable highway users," such as motorcycle riders, bicyclists and pedestrians, were also up, as they have been for the entire year, Rapich said.

The colonel said it's "devastating" for troopers to have to explain to a family member that a loved one was killed in a crash that was completely preventable. Seat belt usage alone could have resulted in half of those killed being alive today, he said.

That's why Rapich said it's encouraging to hear a story like Saplan's.

Saplan and her boyfriend decided to do a day trip and drive from her home in Tooele to Lehi going the "back way." She said it was a route she was not very familiar with.

Ever since she was a little girl, Saplan said she has "been a stickler about seat belts. I knew forever they were important."

She would even call out to each family member individually to confirm they were buckled up. Saplan considers herself a safe driver, who in addition to seat belt usage, doesn't speed or use her phone while on the road.

Read more:

102 died during Utah's 100 Deadliest Days — a 17-percent increase from last year

One hundred and two people died in crashes on Utah roads during a 102-day stretch from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, authorities said. That’s a 17 percent increase from 2017 during the same stretch.

But on July 21, she said she was temporarily distracted while talking to her boyfriend and her car veered off the road.

"The accident is so fresh that I haven’t ever really sat down to process it, because every time I try to sit down and think about, it’s really hard,” she said.

Saplan remembers thinking "the world is upside down" as her car was rolling. But something else also went through her mind.

"Halfway through in the accident I realized this is pretty bad, you know. I could feel the back smash and the front smash. Also I knew, somehow, that I’m OK. In the middle of flipping I’m thinking, ‘I’m OK. This is strange,’” she said.

Saplan and her boyfriend had to get out of the car through the back window, which was no longer there.

And while she said she knows how lucky she is to be alive and looked fine on the outside following the crash, she wasn't fine on the inside.

"I couldn’t sleep for the longest time. I still can’t sleep very well now. I have to have, like, music in the background or someone talking to me to get me to fall asleep because it’s really hard. The emotional toll is unlike anything else,” she said.

Rapich said with the holiday travel season coming up, troopers will continue to work hard to get drivers to stop being distracted while on the road, slow down, wear a seat belt, and to not drink and drive.

Related topics