Before you get behind the wheel, make Zero Fatalities your goal.
2013 Utah Traffic
Fatalities to date:
According to a Utah Department of Public Safety poll, 40% of adult drivers in Utah - about 642,000 people - say they have fallen asleep or nodded off for even a moment, while driving.
You are 23 times more likely to crash if you text while driving (USDOT).
Alcohol is not the only thing that can impair your driving. Illegal drugs, prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines and lack of sleep can impair your ability to drive safely.
Aggressive driving means operating a vehicle in a way that endangers or is likely to endanger people or property. Most behaviors associated with aggressive driving are illegal.
Failing to buckle up contributes to more fatalities than any other traffic-safety-related behavior. Not buckling up accounted for 72-nearly one-third-of traffic fatalities in Utah in 2011.
Seat belts were designed for adults, not children. They can place a young child at risk of serious injury. Booster seats elevate the child so that the shoulder belt fits snugly over the middle of the shoulder and the center of the chest; the lap belt fits across the child's upper hips or upper thigh, not the stomach.
Even the toughest guys get broken. Teens are dying in truck crashes every day from not wearing their seat belts. Maybe this even happened to one of your friends. The fact of the matter is that if you live in a rural area, are a male, are a teen, and drive a truck, then you're in the group most likely to DIE in a car crash from not buckling your seat belt.
It's the law! Utah's Safety Belt Use Law states that drivers and passengers must wear a safety restraint. The law provides for primary enforcement for individuals up to 19 years of age, which means an officer can stop the vehicle if he/she observes an unrestrained occupant under the age of 19.
Motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 cause of teen deaths nationwide. Teen drivers represent a small percent of all licensed drivers, but cause more than three times as many crashes as the average driver. To address this concern, Zero Fatalities came up with a program for teens called 'Don't Drive Stupid.'
Highway safety is everyone's responsibility; truck drivers, auto drivers and even passengers all play vital roles in ensuring everyone arrives safely at their destination.
In Utah, pedestrians are 11 times more likely to be killed in a motor vehicle crash than occupants of a motor vehicle, while 92 percent of pedestrians in pedestrian/motor vehicle crashes are injured.
Between 1998 and 2010, 524 children died as a result of being left alone in a car. Never Leave Your Child Alone is a campaign designed to reduce the amount of vehicle-related fatalities among children by increasing precautions that parents and adults can take when driving children.
To promote safety and increase awareness about Utah's laws for cyclists and drivers, UDOT, Zero Fatalities and the Utah Department of Public Safety recently introduced the education program, "Road Respect. Car & Bike Rules To Live By."
Drowsy driving is a concern nationwide and Utah has developed effective programs to educate drivers.
You may be too tired to drive when:
SNAP is a fun and comprehensive program for walking and biking safely to school that engages and educates students, parents, school administrators, crossing guards and communities. SNAP's first priority is student safety, with the goal to help make the roads around schools safer.
Over the past 10 years, more than 60 Utah children were killed and more than 500 injured by backovers. Spot the Tot reminds you to always check around your vehicle before driving.
Driving Truck Smart is no accident. Take care when driving around trucks. It may be the most important thing you do. It's a basic concept: a truck simply does not drive like a car. It can't make the same sudden moves a can, it has much larger blind spots and it needs a lot more room to stop.
Construction areas may look like fun playgrounds, but there are hazards such as holes, construction materials and large trucks that make them unsafe. The Think Safety program teaches kids about the dangers of playing in or near construction areas and encourages them to have fun in safe ways.
The Click-It Club program aims to teach kids about the importance of wearing their seat belts properly (including booster seats), teach parents that they need to buckle kids before they leave the school property and whenever they are in a car, and use kids' influence to get their parents and other family members to buckle up.
One out of three fatalities on Utah's roads could be prevented by properly wearing a seat belt. The most comprehensive seat belt resource on the web, Click it Utah, is a one-stop resource with all the information you need to correctly buckle you and your family.
Utah is fortunate to have many organizations dedicated to improving safety. The most effective way to improve safety is through a comprehensive and integrated approach. By combining efforts and resources of all safety partners, and the public, Utah has experienced a downward trend in fatalities.
Riverton High Parent Night Presentation, 6 pm, June 18, 2013
KSL Chalk the Walk Event, June 15, 2013
Westlake High School Parent Night Presentation, 6 pm, June 4, 2013
Big D Construction Safety Fair 10 am-2 pm, June 1, 2013
Roy High Parent Night Presentation, 6 pm, May 28, 2013
Logan High School Parent Night Presentation, 4:15 pm, May 21, 2013
