100 Deadliest Days on Utah Roads Starts This Weekend
May 22, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) – The period between Memorial Day and Labor Day marks the deadliest time on Utah’s roads (as well as many roads across the nation) and law enforcement partners all over the state are encouraging safety by reducing your speeds, wearing your seatbelts and not driving drunk, drowsy or distracted.
In an effort to make the #100deadliestdays as safe as possible, strong warnings are being posted all over the country.
Nikki’s Foundation, an organization that was founded for Nikki Kellenyl, a teen who was killed when the car driven by one her friends collided with a pick-up truck, is doing all they can to warn others of the dangers of distracted driving, including posting how to talk to your teens about the dangers of different kinds of distractions.
According to their Facebook page, “Many of our supporters may not know about how facetious the next three months are for teens and young adults. You will see the tag #100deadliestdays often from Memorial Day to Labor Day.”
The hashtag, #100deadliestdays, represents a time when more kids are killed on highways then in any other time during the year. They encourage parents to take a minute to talk to their child about the reality of the dangers of distracted driving. “It doesn’t have to be your child who is the one distracted, it could easily be the one they’re driving with our the driver in another vehicle,” said a post on their page.
There is now a mobile app, www.drivebeehive.com, that is helping with the national campaign to change the mindset of distracted driving.
The app allows you to pair with another user as either their sponsor or their driver. The sponsor enters a reward and a total number of miles needed for the driver to reach that reward. A lock screen appears on the phone and will count the driver’s “Safe Miles”. As long as the phone isn’t used behind the wheel the driver will earn those miles for that trip.
USA TODAY reports that this weekend will see more 33 million travelers on our roads, the largest number in a decade, according to AAA.
According to Deborah Hersman, the National Safety Council CEO, cell phone-related crashes, which include drivers who are texting or talking on hand-held or hands-free devices, have increased for the third consecutive year and now account for 27 percent of all crashes.
The Council is further estimating nearly 400 fatalities and over 46,000 medically consulted injuries due to motor vehicle collisions over the long weekend and they are also urging all drivers to buckle up every time, for every trip and to exercise extra caution behind the wheel this Memorial Day.
