Utahns encouraged to 'Drive Good' as 100 deadliest days of summer begins

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Utah Highway Patrol urges safe driving during the "100 deadliest days of summer."
Maj. Jeff Nigbur emphasizes preventing fatalities through safe driving discussions.
State enforces DUI blitzes, speed checks and "slow down, move over" law.

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Most Utahns are looking forward to the holiday weekend.

And while the Utah Highway Patrol wants the public to have fun, it also want drivers to practice safe habits while traveling to their destinations. Thursday marks the start of the "100 deadliest days of summer."

"There's a big reason we call it the 100 deadliest days of summer, because it's exactly that. The vast majority of our fatalities happen between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend," said UHP Major Jeff Nigbur.

On Thursday, UHP and the Utah Department of Transportation issued their annual reminder for people to practice safe driving habits while traveling this summer. This year's campaign slogan is "Drive Good."

"Utahns are known for their kindness and community spirit — the campaign asks residents to extend those values to their driving habits," the Department of Public Safety said.

Utahns are known for their kindness and community spirit — the campaign asks residents to extend those values to their driving habits.

–Utah Department of Public Safety

Last year, 92 people were killed on Utah's roads during the 100 deadliest days of summer, which Nigbur said was actually 102 days, meaning the state averaged nearly one fatality per day.

"We want people to have a discussion at the dinner table, have families talk about safe driving. All of these crashes, the vast majority of them, are preventable and they're avoidable. Maybe I need a little bit more time buckling in my seat belt, take that extra two to three seconds just to buckle that in. Maybe I need to lower my speeds a little bit, maybe I travel too fast. Maybe I drive distracted," he said of the questions families should be asking.

A total of 82 people have been killed on Utah's roads this year leading up to the Memorial Day weekend. Nigbur says the biggest contributors to those crashes that troopers are seeing are speed, not buckling up and distracted driving.

That's why he says this year the state wants people to focus on "good driving overall."

"That means putting phones down, driving sober, buckling up and practicing courtesy, like letting others merge or resisting road rage. It also means being patient in traffic, watching for pedestrians and cyclists, and setting a good example for young passengers," the department said.

Nigbur says from now until Labor Day weekend, law enforcement agencies across the state will have an additional 4,000 shifts to make sure drivers are staying safe. That includes several DUI blitzes this weekend by the UHP. Troopers will also conduct speed and distracted driving operations later this summer, he said.

Nigbur also reminded drivers on Thursday about Utah's "slow down, move over" law.

"You are required to move over a lane and give us the space we need to investigate a crash or deal with an incident. And unfortunately, I guess people are distracted and not paying attention and they drive really really close to us, and sometimes it ends up in pretty significant injuries," he said.

If a driver is unable to move over a lane, then they are required to slow down significantly while passing a trooper, tow truck or anyone else stopped on the side of the road.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.