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SALT LAKE CITY — More people in Utah and across the country are dying in car accidents where a driver has run a red light. That’s according to a new study from the American Automobile Association’s Foundation for Traffic Safety.
Those car accidents have risen 28% since 2012 and reached their highest level in 2017.
The study looked at all car accidents between 2008 and 2017.
AAA spokesman Sergio Avila thinks drivers are most at fault for these crashes in Utah.
“Especially in Utah, half of the people who died in the last 10 years were in the non-offending vehicles. A person going through a green light [was the one] being killed,” Avila says.
112 people died in those crashes in Utah, which is lower than many other states. But Avila says every one of those accidents were preventable.
“Distracted driving, people just being impatient, rushing to get to one place or the other,” Avila says.
Drugs and alcohol were also factors in some of the incidents. Distracted or impaired bike riders and pedestrians were as well.
The Utah Department of Transportation sponsors KSL’s effort to reduce highway deaths. You can take steps to make today a Zero Fatalities day.