Utah saw 12% decrease in traffic fatalities from 2022-2023
May 27, 2024, 8:00 PM | Updated: 11:31 pm
Vehicles travel on I-15 in Salt Lake City. Utah's roads are the sixth safest in the nation. (Kristin Murphy/ Deseret News)
(Kristin Murphy/ Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — As the 100 deadliest days of driving get underway in Utah, the U.S. Department of Transportation provided good news. Utah had the seventh-largest decrease in traffic fatalities in the nation between 2022 and 2023.
New data from the U.S. Department of Transportation showed that Utah saw a 12% drop in traffic fatalities during that time period.
Related: A Utah mother’s plea as the 100 Deadliest Days begin
The numbers reverse a peak set during the pandemic.
Utah Department of Transportation Safety Outreach Administrator Kristen Hoschouer said there was an increase in traffic fatalities in Utah in 2020. The trend continued for two years before declining.
And Hoschouer said the number of deadly crashes just keeps going down.
Around this time in 2022, there were 119 fatalities on Utah roads. And in 2023, there were 97. So far this year, we’ve had 80.
Hoschouer said she hopes it can be even lower this year.
“I’m hopeful that this summer people will be cautious.”
National numbers
The report from the U.S. Department of Transportation found that on average, the U.S. saw a 3.6% decrease in traffic fatalities.
Alaska saw the biggest decrease in traffic fatalities between 2022-2023. Traffic deaths in the state decreased by 30.5%.
The other states with the biggest decrease in traffic fatalities were Maine, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Delaware and New Mexico.
States like Rhode Island and Idaho saw increases in traffic deaths of over 38%.
