UHP plans crackdown on DUIs over holiday

TAYLORSVILLE — The Utah Highway Patrol is saturating Utah highways with troopers to catch drunken drivers during the Labor Day holiday.

For the next week, troopers will work overtime during the early morning hours to catch impaired drivers and take them off the highways.

It's frustrating for Mothers Against Drunk Driving that about 17,000 people die each year in alcohol-related crashes.

MADD says it doesn't want to take the thunder away from the atrocity that was 9/11, but more than five times as many people who died in the terrorist attacks are killed each year by a completely preventable act.

It just doesn't seem right to Art Brown, Salt Lake County MADD's president.

"I speak for those who no longer have a voice," he said Friday at a news conference at Taylorsville City Hall.

He talked about Enid and Harry Hudson, whose grandson was killed in a violent crash when the Jeep he was in was rear-ended by a drunken driver going about 70 mph.

The Jeep burst into flames, killing two of the three boys inside.

Nationally, the rate for alcohol-related fatalities has fallen over the past three years, according to statistics provided by MADD.

In 2002, there were 17,524 fatalities, followed by 17,013 in 2003 and 16,694 in 2004.

But in Utah, which has the lowest rate of DUI fatalities, the number has gone up, which Brown said is disappointing.

"We're disappointed with one death," he said.

The Deseret Morning News reported Wednesday that 2004 saw 65 DUI fatalities, compared to 2003's total of 36.

Utah still ranks at the bottom of the list of state-by-state totals, but there is no excuse for the rising numbers, Brown said.

"We will not rest until there are zero alcohol-related fatalities," said UHP Capt. Jeff Graviet during the news conference.

He said people who plan to go drinking need to have a plan. Will you need a designated driver? What about a taxi? What about a hotel?

"Do that before you get into the situation," Graviet said.

Taylorsville Police Chief Larry Marx said his department has received resources from the UHP, resources that will help his department catch impaired drivers.