What highway patrol says is ridiculous, and how they plan to stop it

Extreme dashing and deadly crashes are means up in Utah this yr.

So Utah Freeway Patrol Maj. Jeff Nigbur stated the general public ought to take this as their warning: Decelerate and cease the intense driving behaviors.

“It’s getting, actually, just a little bit ridiculous,” he stated Thursday. “We’ll take zero tolerance on this. We have to cease it.”

The UHP and members of the Utah Division of Transportation introduced Thursday they’re partnering with 11 Western states for a pace enforcement marketing campaign this weekend. The Western States Visitors Security Coalition’s Extreme Pace Enforcement Security Marketing campaign runs Friday by means of Sunday.

Nigbur stated officers statewide can be working 150 further shifts on the freeways, by means of construction zones and on metropolis streets on the lookout for “excessive driving behaviors.”

“As soon as upon a time, we have been speaking 5 to 10 mph over the pace restrict. We now have seen a major enhance in folks touring 30 mph over the pace restrict. And on the freeway (touring)… we now have seen that go completely by means of the roof this yr,” he stated.

In 2020, there was a 29% enhance in citations issued to drivers going greater than 100 mph, in accordance with the UHP.

Extra disturbingly, to date in 2021 by means of Monday, there have been 114 crashes leading to 136 deaths in Utah. That’s in comparison with 101 crashes and 110 deaths throughout the identical time in 2020. Of these crashes, the UHP has responded to 57 of them in 2021 that resulted in 63 fatalities, in comparison with 34 crashes and 37 deaths final yr.

From January by means of Could, the UHP responded to 31 deadly crashes that have been decided to be “pace associated.” And dashing or touring too quick for situations was cited as the primary contributing think about 28% of all deadly crashes in Utah sine January 2020.

What’s prompting the dramatic uptick in extreme dashing? Nigbur admits that after quite a few conversations with different UHP troopers and directors, they nonetheless can’t slim it down to 1 factor. He gave examples of drivers pulled over simply this week who have been going over 100 mph who provided quite a lot of excuses to troopers.

One man was stopped on I-80 going 109 mph whereas driving a truck that was pulling a trailer, Nigbur stated.

“We had a really heart-to-heart contact with that particular person, and he didn’t appear to see what the difficulty was. He felt like he was secure. And we assured him that if he crashed, his probability of surviving or receiving critical bodily accidents considerably elevated,” the foremost stated.

One other girl who was pulled over for touring 105 mph on I-215 advised the trooper who stopped her that she was simply having a “actually unhealthy day.”

“We assured her she was going to proceed having a considerably unhealthy day with the enforcement we’re going to take and the quotation we’re going to concern,” he stated.

Kristin Murphy, Deseret Information

On Wednesday night time, troopers arrested one of about seven bullet bikers believed to have been touring quicker than 150 mph on I-80 in Summit County, weaving out and in of visitors.

One widespread denominator troopers have seen with drivers going actually quick is lots of them are 30 or youthful.

To date in 2021, 29% of speed-related crashes concerned teenage drivers, in accordance with the UHP, and 72% concerned drivers beneath the age of 30. In 2020, 68% of speed-related crashes concerned drivers beneath 30.

Nigbur stated he doesn’t need the general public to view the enforcement effort as “punishment.” However slightly, he hopes the general public will work with troopers to cut back unhealthy behaviors akin to extreme dashing, consuming and driving and never sporting a seat belt.

Ultimately, Nigbur stated it isn’t in regards to the numbers, however slightly the victims that generally a driver going quick doesn’t take into consideration.

“The probability of you leaving that crash with out vital harm and/or loss of life — and by loss of life I imply not solely you however taking a member of the motoring public with you in that crash — will increase considerably,” he stated. “These are husbands, they’re wives, brothers, they’re sisters. That is actual. … It isn’t a victimless crime.”

Nigbur hopes this weekend’s enforcement effort will get folks to follow safer driving habits going into the Fourth of July weekend when a report variety of vacationers are anticipated to hit the street.

“We will’t do that. We’ve received to cease,” Nigbur pleaded with the general public. “We now have to reel this in fairly a bit.”

Kristin Murphy, Deseret Information