- Sandy traffic accidents decreased by 21% so far in 2025, reaching an all-time low.
- Raised medians significantly contributed to this decline, says Sandy Police Sgt. Greg Moffitt.
- City engineer Britney Ward highlights reduced left turns as a key factor in safety improvements.
SANDY — Sandy police said traffic accidents so far in 2025 are down 21% compared to the 10-year average and that the city is at an all-time low for crashes.
Data furnished by Sandy City shows 473 traffic accidents from January to April, compared to the 10-year average of 596 crashes.
"We are at an all-time low now," said Sandy Police Sgt. Greg Moffitt. "Twenty-one percent (under) the previous 10-year average. It's pretty significant."
Officers and engineers said a significant contributor to the decline is raised medians installed throughout the city.
"It does help reduce the number of accidents," Moffitt said. "I think what we've seen over the last 10 years caused a pretty consistent reduction in the number of accidents as we introduced those into our city more frequently."
City engineer Britney Ward said she has seen significant changes in areas like 10600 South just east of State Street.
"Several years ago, I found that there were a higher number of accidents at this intersection in particular," Ward said.
Ward said too many points to turn left simply created too many problems, and the solution was a raised median.
"We were able to reduce the number of left turns and concentrate where those left turns would happen," she said.
According to Ward, similar results were seen when the city over a decade ago installed raised medians along the 1300 East corridor in sections where there were higher accident rates.
"What that did was concentrated the vehicles to make turn movements at designated locations where those turn movements were more so expected," Ward said.
(Crashes) are at an all-time low now — 21% (under) the previous 10-year average. It's pretty significant.
–Sgt. Greg Moffitt, Sandy police
Moffitt said the raised medians worked because, for example, they made it impossible to use the middle of the road as an extra lane of travel, as is often done illegally where there are two-way turn lanes.
He also said reducing the places where drivers can turn left makes a significant difference.
"Of the accidents I've investigated, I've noticed a large majority of them occur because of people failing to yield for left-hand turns," Moffitt said.
Ward said more raised medians will likely be installed in the future and it is the new proposal to improve a section of State Street near 8700 South. Previously, Sandy City and the Utah Department of Transportation had proposed to move the traffic light from a four-way intersection at 8720 South to a three-way configuration at 8680 South.
According to Ward and city data, traffic accidents have been successfully reduced in Sandy by more than half over the past 25 years.
"That's even more significant if you take into consideration the amount of traffic volume that has grown over the past 25 years," the engineer said.
Ward said she is grateful to see her efforts and the efforts of other city workers pay off in increased safety.
