UHP asks drivers to slow down and be safe during the holidays

SALT LAKE CITY — Rain, shine or snow, Utah Freeway Patrol troopers maintain pulling over drivers going greater than 100 miles per hour.

“There’s no actual good reply for it,” mentioned Trooper John Morgan. “Nobody ever appears to have a great excuse for it. It’s simply, ‘I’m in a rush,’ ‘I’ve locations to be’ or ‘I didn’t understand.’ Sadly, these should not good excuses as a result of you will slide off the street in these climate circumstances and trigger extra points for site visitors.”

The vacation season can carry out the worst driving behaviors.

“Persons are nonetheless in hurries, it’s last-minute holidays to select up these items, everybody will get a bit of anxious,” Morgan added. “So we’re beginning to see even nonetheless, extra street rages.”

This yr, there have been greater than 55,000 crashes on Utah’s streets and highways, a 1 p.c lower from final yr, in accordance with UHP. Of these, 284 had been deadly, which is a 3 p.c improve.

From a deadly crash on I-215 in October to a five-car crash in West Valley Metropolis final week, Trooper Morgan hopes drivers can carry some vacation cheer to the roads and take a look at to not be aggressive and reckless.

“All of us wish to return residence to our households on the finish of our shift simply the identical approach everybody else does in the event that they’re engaged on these holidays as effectively. So so long as individuals can decelerate, drive secure and get to the place they’re going safely, we’ll be capable to do the identical.”