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Utah drivers get a bad rap. Do we deserve it?

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Utah drivers get a bad rap. Do we deserve it?


Estimated learn time: 3-4 minutes

SALT LAKE CITY — On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst, how would you charge Utah drivers?

For some drivers, it doubtless will depend on the day, our temper, if the motive force is working late, and whether or not or not different drivers are obeying site visitors legal guidelines.

In all probability honest to say, some days Utahns might rank one another excessive or pretty low.

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The larger query is that this: In comparison with the remainder of the nation, are Utah drivers the worst?

What do Utah drivers say?

To begin with, all people appears to have an opinion on this one.

Christmas Jones has one: “They’re impatient.”

One other Utah driver, Derrek, has one: “They’re dangerous. They’re dangerous. They’re actually dangerous.”

Cameron has one: “They’re horrible. It is fairly gnarly. Not enjoyable.”

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You get the image.

The one individual KSL-TV discovered with good issues to say about Utah drivers was Michael Gibner from Florida. He’d pushed in Utah for a grand whole of 24 hours after we spoke with him.

“It was an excellent expertise,” stated Gibner.

Nice first impression, everybody!

However for Utahns driving these roads on the day by day, whether or not within the cab of a truck, on the seat of a motorcycle, or simply enjoying taxi throughout the valley, defining what precisely makes or dangerous driver is slightly subjective.

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What do the consultants say?

Even analysis rankings present completely different solutions.

Every year, insurance coverage and enterprise websites create a components utilizing a numerous mixture of metrics, akin to DUIs, fatalities, insured versus uninsured drivers, citations, accidents, dashing tickets and extra. They do some calculations after which give every state a rating. For instance, the web site Quote Wizard ranks Utah drivers No. 6 on the “worst within the nation” checklist.

And whereas many within the Beehive State would concur, simply take a look at Utah’s standing from these different websites utilizing their very own math:

  • Sensible Asset ranks Utah fourth finest.
  • Financial institution Fee has Utah third finest.
  • World Inhabitants Evaluation claims Utah has the second finest drivers within the nation.

And if these rankings are extra reflective of the nice, why achieve this many Utahns imagine we’re so dangerous?

“I do not know if it is fairly as dangerous because the status that now we have,” stated Andy Farnsworth, the voice of KSL NewsRadio morning site visitors.

For the previous twenty years, he has seen, reported and skilled nearly each kind of driver on Utah roads.

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With that have, Farnsworth believes notion isn’t at all times actuality.

“I simply do not understand how you quantify, like in a very measurable method,” Farnsworth stated, “different than simply your individual private emotions, how dangerous the drivers are.”

Farnsworth says wrong-way drivers and people throttling over 100 miles per hour have been a number of the largest issues as of late.

Street rage

A fair greater concern is the craze now we have seen on Utah roads. Prior to now month, driving offended has been within the highlight. In a single case, home windows shot out with a pellet gun. In one other, 41-year-old Chris Mortensen, husband and father of 4, was shot and killed.

Forbes Advisor presents a extra sobering survey. Throughout the nation, it ranked Utah No. 1 for probably the most confrontational drivers. From honking the horn (76%), to giving the hen (58%), to driving somebody’s tail (73%).

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The survey reveals 1 in 4 Utah drivers stated they know of somebody injured due to street rage.

Whether or not you purchase into these numbers or not, it ought to give all Utah drivers motive to pause, as a result of tomorrow morning whether or not you are driving, scootering, strolling or driving, blinkers is not going to be used. Speeds is not going to be adopted. And the frustrations is not going to go away.

Sure, Utah drivers are at all times going to drive like Utah drivers.

And it is as much as all drivers to resolve which sort of Utah driver they wish to be.

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Utah

Amid traffic, Utah walked to Leafs’ arena pregame

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Amid traffic, Utah walked to Leafs’ arena pregame


TORONTO — The Utah Hockey Club said players were forced to walk to their game against the Maple Leafs after their bus got stuck in Toronto traffic Sunday night.

The team posted a video on social media of team members walking to Scotiabank Arena, with player Maveric Lamoureux saying the bus was “not moving at all.”

Several city streets had been closed during the day for an annual Santa Claus parade.

The Maple Leafs earned their fourth consecutive win by defeating Utah 3-2.

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The viral incident prompted Ontario Premier Doug Ford to call the congestion “embarrassing” and “unacceptable,” highlighting his government’s plan to address the city’s gridlock through bike lane legislation.

It wasn’t the first time a Toronto visitor had to ditch their vehicle to make it to an event on time.

In June, former One Direction band member Niall Horan had to walk through traffic to get to his concert at Scotiabank Arena.



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Utah Highway Patrol responds to your suggestions on making Utah roads safer

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Utah Highway Patrol responds to your suggestions on making Utah roads safer


SALT LAKE CITY — FOX 13 News is Driven to Change and that includes bringing you reports on important topics like road rage, construction, and wrong-way drivers. During our coverage, we continually ask for any questions or concerns you may have along Utah’s roadways.

The feedback has gotten an enormous response, so FOX 13 sat down with Lieutenant Cameron Roden on Good Day Utah to help address input we have been getting, from the perspective of Utah Highway Patrol.

Speeding in Utah, there’s so much of it, and then you can sometimes say that that leads to tailgating, which may lead to road rage incidents. What are you seeing out there in terms of speed and what can we do to lessen the effects of that?

Lt. Cameron Roden: Speed is our number one thing that we see. That’s our number one traffic stop that we make, and we know that it leads to the majority of crashes in the state of Utah. So we definitely put an emphasis on speed and it does lead to other things. Not just crashes. It leads to road rage and other things .So, as far as what changes can we make, we need to start with ourselves, and really say, ‘Hey, do I have a problem?’ You know, we just need to start with ourselves and not think that it’s something else’s problem. If we slow our speeds ourselves, and then it’ll start to to catch on and people will do that speed limit. So, but the legislature has definitely taken some steps to help us address, especially the the speeds that are those excessive speeds where we have that one zero five law now that addresses those speeds and increases fines and and hopefully discourages people from those extreme speeds.

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Some of our viewers talked about maybe capping some of the speed limits for truck drivers. Is that something that’s even feasible?

You know, that would be something that would have to go through that, that legislative process to see whether we that would be something that would help. But ultimately, if we we start with ourselves, hopefully that will make that change and reduce crashes and fatalities.

There are things being done to try and intervene and stop wrong-way drivers before they happen. But some of our viewers propose things like spikes. What are your thoughts on implementing something like that?

We’ve had over the last several years, a rash of wrong-way drivers, and it’ll come in onesie twos, and then we’ll go for a period of time without that. And so, but this spike over the last couple of years has caused us to to create a task force to look at wrongly driving what things can be done. And so getting all these stakeholders together between UDOT and Highway Safety, looking at what technologies and things that could be implemented, and and things like, wrong way detection cameras. Those are some things that are being actually used in the state of Utah right now to help us spot those and and advance signage, getting people to realize they’re going the wrong way and turn around. The the spike strips have actually been talked about in our task force a little bit. And if something like that would even be, it is that technology available right now. And as what we could actually implement in the state of Utah, there’s nothing that really fits the bill right now because of our environment. We have our snow plows. We have snow and things like that. Something like that really wouldn’t be practical right now.

Probably the most talked about topic that we’ve received was distracted driving, texting while driving. You went out, I saw on the UHP social media page, that you guys just driving and you look to your right and left and you can find someone texting. What kind of enforcement do we have against distracted driving specifically on your phone?

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This is something that we like you said, we see it every day. We go out to crashes,and and we may suspect that a driver may be distracted. And so, it’s something that’s definitely under-reported. It’s it’s a bigger problem than than the numbers really show.And so not only do we address it during our normal patrols.Our officers are seeing it, and addressing it while they’re out there.But we’ll also do targeted patrols where the highway safety office actually gives out additional funds for that targeted enforcement, where we’ll get an unmarked vehicle. We go out driving down the roads where we try to spot these vehicles and and get them stopped because those are those are a big danger on our roadways where our attention and our focus needs to be on driving.

If you have ideas or suggestions for how to make Utah’s roadways safer click here to be taken to our Driven to Change form. There you can share your ideas or suggestions.

DRIVEN TO CHANGE

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Utah National Guard gets new, top-of-the-line Apache helicopters

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Utah National Guard gets new, top-of-the-line Apache helicopters


WEST JORDAN, Utah — The Utah National Guard has been serving the state since 1894 with roots dating back to the Minutemen of the 17th-century American colonies.

This weekend, they received quite the boost in the form of the Army’s most advanced attack helicopter.

“These aircraft are extremely fast compared to our other aircraft,” said Col. Patrick.

On Saturday, the Utah National Guard took their new Apache helicopters for a spin.

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“The flight went better than we could have hoped for. A little weather on the east coast, but after that, it wasn’t bad at all,” Patrick said.

The first four of 24 Apaches arrived early Saturday morning after they went under full inspection.

“They’ve got software on there that it’s like playing a video game. You just fly the video game and the airplane… is fast and smooth, which is the good thing, and so it’ll just hold the altitude and airspeed and just keep on trucking along. It’s pretty good,” Patrick said.

The first Apache helicopters arrived in Utah back in 1992.

“It just continues the legacy of the air pirates and what we bring to not only Utah, but really to the global fight and security, really,” Patrick added.

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The colonel calls it a major step forward.

“What a great day for Utah as we advance into the next couple decades of combat operations and what we can provide to, you know, the global security.”





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