Utah’s Alcohol-Related Traffic Fatalities Lowest in Nation
Thanks to its strict alcohol and DUI laws, Utah is the least-likely place to die from an alcohol-related crash, according to a report released last week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Only 24 percent of traffic deaths in Utah involved alcohol and 28 percent in Iowa. The NHTSA notes that both of these states have tough drunken-driving laws.
With 50 percent of its fatal accidents alcohol related, Rhode Island has the highest rate in the nation. Montana, Hawaii, Louisiana and Texas came in second with 46 percent.
Nationally, alcohol-related traffic fatalities have decreased for the past two years. Numbers from the NHTSA showed a decrease of 2.4 percent from 2003 to 2004. This decreasing trend is promising, but there can still be improvement.
“One life is one life too many. One life makes a difference,” Art Brown, president of the Utah chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said.
While alcohol-related fatalities have decreased nationally for the past two years, Utah’s alcohol-related fatalities increased from 47 deaths in 2003 to 72 deaths in 2004 – a 9 percent increase, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety and Utah High Patrol.
This may seem to be a sharp increase, but Brown attributes it to having an unusually low number in 2003, which means that there would most likely be an increase. One accident that contributed to these high numbers occurred between Tremonton and Plymouth.
“When you pile 10 kids in a car with four in the trunk and those four die, numbers increase,” Brown said.
Overall, the trend for the past 10 years is a decreasing number of alcohol-related traffic deaths.
Punishments in Utah for drunken driving range from tickets and administrative license revocation to a second-degree felony.
“If the crash involves a fatality, the driver can be charged with manslaughter,” Sergeant Tony Hutson of the Utah Highway Patrol, said.
These punishments are stricter than those in some states and that may be the cause of the lower number of fatalities in alcohol-related accidents.
MADD, UHP and local law enforcement are working to continue the downward trend and keep Utah leading the nation with the fewest alcohol-related traffic deaths.
-albaugh@cc.usu.edu