Estimated read time: 1-2 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
WEST JORDAN — The Utah Highway Patrol, along with officers from the West Valley City and West Jordan police departments, conducted an enforcement blitz along a new section of Mountain View Corridor.
It's a stretch of road that's had more fatalities in six months than troopers typically see in a full year — data from the Utah Department of Public Safety shows so far there have been three fatalities on Mountain View Corridor in 2021, while the previous four-year average has only been two fatalities per year.
Twelve motor officers were on the road Thursday making sure drivers obeyed speed limits and stopped for red lights.
"The more people we can educate, the better," said UHP Sgt. Cameron Roden.
Roden said the number of deadly crashes has been trending up in past years.
In 2020, Utah saw 102 deaths on its roads between Memorial Day and Labor Day, an increase of 61 deaths compared with the same period in 2019.
"Ultimately we want to reduce crashes, and in reducing crashes, we reduce fatalities," Roden explained.
Officers focused their attention on the newly completed section of Mountain View Corridor, which runs from state Route 201 to 4100 South.
This part of the corridor was selected because it's considered a "hot spot" for people who speed. Roden said there's been a trend in recent years of more reckless drivers, and that recklessness has been leading to an increase in fatal crashes.
"Any high-speed roadways where traffic is — there's cross traffic and red lights. We want to make sure people are paying attention. They aren't driving distracted. They're not driving too fast," Roden said.
UHP said officers made about 150 stops between 7 a.m. and noon Thursday.
