Traffic deaths in 2009 down 11% from 2008

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Utah recorded 245 traffic deaths in 2009, its lowest total since President Richard Nixon was in office.

The deadly tally represents an 11 percent decrease in traffic fatalities from 2008, according numbers released Tuesday by the Utah Department of Transportation, and a 34 percent decrease from 2000. Still, UDOT director John Njord said the drop cannot be viewed as "great news."

"It's still 245 individuals that lost their lives, and that will never be good news," he said. "The only way I could really stand in front of you and say, 'This is great news,' is if I could say, 'Nobody died.'

"That's really the goal we're working toward," Njord said, "and we'll never be satisfied until we can get to zero fatalities on our highways."

Njord said UDOT officials meet each month to review the 11 to 29 traffic fatalities from the prior month in an effort to prevent future crashes.

"As you might imagine, this is a very somber gathering," he said. "What we often find in reviewing these accident reports is that there are several behaviors that sometimes contribute to a fatal crash."

Some of those behaviors include drunken driving, distracted driving, drowsy driving, speeding and failure to use a seat belt or child car seat. The state has worked for years, through enforcement and education, to try to reduce the number of traffic deaths related to those contributing factors, Njord said. Traffic engineers use the information from their monthly meetings to find ways to improve safety on Utah's roads and highways, he said.

In recent years, UDOT has installed rumble strips on many roads to alert drivers who drift onto the shoulder or across the center line, Njord said. There has also been an increase in the number of barriers between opposing lanes to reduce the potential for head-on crashes, he said. And crews are making progress on improving the shoulders of the state's roads, Njord said, to offer a safer place to slow down for those who find themselves off the road.

Utah Highway Patrol troopers joined Njord on Tuesday to promote a new effort to educate drivers about the danger of overcorrecting — a "common thread" in fatal crashes — should they drive off the road.

"The problem is that most people, once they hear that or feel that they've drifted off the road, they jerk the wheel to get back on, and that can cause you to overcorrect," trooper Shawn Thomas said while driving around the Department of Public Safety's emergency vehicle operations course in order to demonstrate how to properly get back on the road.

Troopers say to avoid the potential of overcorrecting, drivers should "be alert and focus on driving." Those who find they've drifted off the road should grip the steering wheel firmly, let off the gas and reduce their speed with easy braking.

"We all get distracted," said UHP Sgt. Greg Holley. "It's OK to be off the road (on the shoulder), and you minimize the damage to your car and yourself by not panicking and overcorrecting."

Following the instinct to jerk the wheel and slam on the brakes will most often have fatal results, Holley said.

"Once the car is rolling, you're just another piece of debris inside your car," he said.

e-mail: gliesik@desnews.com

TWITTER: GeoffLiesik