SALT LAKE CITY — For the first two months of the year the Utah Highway Patrol counts a 23.3 percent increase in motor vehicle crashes it’s handled compared to last year in the same time frame.
That’s 3,256 versus 2,640. And 17 involved fatalities, compared to 16 in January and February last, according to the patrol’s post on social media of year-to-date statistics.
The heavy winter snowfall dating back to late December has obviously added to the crash figures, UHP PIO Sgt. Cameron Roden said. “We had more than 300 of the crashes come during that major storm we saw in mid-February.”
The load is clearly on the state’s Troopers, as statewide, adding municipal and county law enforcement agencies, the same categories are less imposing: 10,354 total crashes compared to 8,954, a 15.6 percent increase, with 34 fatalities, down from 38.
Troopers have logged 44,750 contacts with motorists as of the end of February, with 500 resulting in DUI arrests and 16,096 speeding citations. The report did not include comparisons to last year’s numbers for that batch of statistics.
Among the speeders, 660 topped 100 mph, which included 242 hitting 105 mph or more. At 105 mph, state code automatically adds a reckless driving count to any citation, Roden explained.
Officers have the discretion to hit an offending motorist with a reckless driving charge whenever aggravating circumstances allow, Roden said, such as other traffic violations, property damage or injury.
But at 105 mph none are needed, he said, and the speeding citation coupled with the reckless charge move the offender close to the 200 points needed to lose their drivers license.
The year-to-date numbers include a reference to the increase “from the last report,” which Roden said should have included the notation that the last report was Feb. 13.
So the speeding numbers count 245 topping 100 mph since Feb. 13, and total contacts include 12,086 since that date — and 124 more DUIs.
