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Whit Johnson reporting Storms are headed to Utah tonight bringing the first real wave of dangerous road conditions.
Even though slick roads are nothing new for most Utahns, year after year the elements seem to get the better of us.
Rain, snow, black ice - living in Utah you've surely seen it all before. Yet every winter our careless driving makes for a dangerous commute. This morning we proved once again, we're not ready for the storms.
Slick winter roads: Many of us have been there before and most of us know how to drive them.
Dan Duce: "Not follow to close. Make sure I'm not talking on the phone."
Jackie Sayward: "Especially speeding. You just, you need to be smart about it."
The Highway Patrol would agree that those are the basic slick road guidelines. But once the cold weather hits, it takes even Utahns time to adjust.
Lt. Mark Zesiger / Utah Highway Patrol: "The problem we have is that we get this perception as we drive down the road we see all these accidents and it happens to other people it's not going to happen to me."
This morning was a prime example. In Lehi people sliding off the roads. Bangerter Highway: Closed for a half hour after several accidents. And there were more accidents on I-15.
Lt. Mark Zesiger / Utah Highway Patrol: "That's kind of a standard for morning rush hour commute. We get the moisture over the night time and it tends to freeze up as traffic starts to pick up"
Some chilly storms are in the forecast. They are expected to bring rain and overnight freezing temperatures, the perfect recipe for black ice.
This year there is a new obstacle: A booming economy is putting more semi trucks on the roads.
Combine that slick conditions, and you have a potentially deadly combination.
Selena Anderson: "There's always that occasional crazy driver who makes it a little bit dangerous for the rest of us."
. UHP says take what you may already know - watch your speed, leave plenty of room in front of you, be careful when changing lanes - and our Winter driving season will be much safer.
UHP says last year one storm was so bad, they handled more than 300 accidents with in a 24-hour period.
They say every year the number of accidents always goes up during the colder months, so be careful out there.
