Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Highway traffic deaths from the first quarter of the year that Utah Highway Patrol responded to are down 40 percent from 2017, according to statistics released by Utah Highway Patrol Tuesday.
The agency reported 22 traffic fatalities on Utah highways from the start of 2018 through Tuesday, as compared to 33 at the same point last year. The numbers only account for fatal crashes in Utah Highway Patrol's jurisdiction, which is mostly state highways on unincorporated land.
Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Todd Royce said the main reason for the decline, however, is last year began with an “alarming” amount of fatal crashes.
“There was just a rash of fatal crashes and I don’t know why,” he said. “We’re just glad it didn’t happen again this year.”
Four of the 22 deaths were pedestrians. Seven of the 18 drivers or passengers killed were not wearing seat belts at the time of their crash.
The agency said 94 percent of crashes are due to human choice or error.
In all, the highway patrol said nearly 55,000 vehicles had been stopped as of Tuesday. On those, 55 percent were for speeding, 9 percent were not wearing a seat belt and a little more than 1 percent have resulted in DUI arrests.
Royce said the lower number of fatal crashes has been a welcomed sign for the department as they gear up for their annual “100 Deadliest Days” campaign that begins on Memorial Day, May 28.
Though drivers not wearing seat belts, driving drunk, distracted or are driving drowsy are among the key areas troopers look for on Utah’s highways, Royce said speeding remains the top problem the agency faces.
“It has been and still is the No. 1 reason people are dying on Utah roadways,” he said.
Editor's note: This article has been adjusted to reflect statistics are from Utah Highway Patrol's jurisdiction only and not from other agency numbers.
