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SALT LAKE CITY — Cody Laycock admits he was "driving stupid," speeding and drifting in his Audi TT RS before colliding with oncoming traffic.
"I thought I was invincible. I thought I could be untouched," Laycock, 25, said in a message recorded from the state prison in Gunnison, where he is serving time for killing two women and leaving another with significant permanent injuries.
"That's not the case," he said.
Utah's 100 Deadliest Days of summer begin this week, and Laycock and his mother want to help make the roads safer by sharing his story in a press conference Wednesday.
"Cody … would want to share with everyone that he possibly can to follow the laws of the road," Chelsie Laycock said. "There are laws in place to prevent these things from happening."
Cody Laycock lost many things on the day of the crash — his career path, his possessions, his fiancee — but acknowledged that this pales in comparison to the impact on the victims and their families.
The Laycocks and the Utah Department of Transportation are reminding Utah drivers to take full responsibility behind the wheel this summer by making good choices.
"Crashes are not accidents. Crashes are the consequences of bad decisions and bad choices that every single one of us is susceptible to," said UHP Col. Michael Rapich.
Many crashes are preventable. Big issues that UHP troopers see on the road include impaired driving, distracted driving, driving without seat belts and most of all, speeding.
Most of these issues are decisions of a single moment that can have consequences that affect entire families and communities, Rapich said. UDOT research shows that men between the ages of 18 and 36 are most to blame for these crashes.
This year, there have been 79 fatalities on Utah roads so far. That might sound like a lot, but it's actually the lowest year-to-date number in the last six years. And it's still far from UDOT's goal of zero fatalities.
UDOT and UHP are bracing themselves for the 100 Deadliest Days, the period from Memorial Day to Labor Day when most road fatalities tend to occur.
During the summer months, more people are traveling, and many get complacent behind the wheel because of ideal driving conditions.
"As weather warms up, we encourage everyone to make an improvement in their driving behaviors," said Kristen Hoschouer, UDOT's safety outreach administrator.
And if drivers don't make the improvements themselves, troopers will make sure they do. About 4,000 officers will be working extra shifts to monitor roads across the state this Memorial Day weekend.
"They will be out there specifically looking for people that are making bad decisions," Rapich said. Troopers will be especially concerned about distracted driving, impaired driving and speeding.
In the last year, Utah officers made 40,000 contacts with drivers who were going too fast. Of those pulled over, 2,000 were going more than 100 mph, he said.
"You are obligated to follow the laws and make smart decisions when getting behind the wheel," the colonel said. "Do it for yourself, for your family and friends, and for everyone else on the road."
