SALT LAKE CITY – With the Labor Day holiday looming, many Utah drivers are looking forward to hitting the open road next weekend to see family and friends one last time before the end of summer.
But local law enforcement officials are also looking forward to Labor Day as the end of what’s known as the “100 deadliest days” on Utah roads.
That grim moniker refers to the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day, when fatal traffic crashes increase significantly.
That time span is known for being particularly dangerous due to increased traffic volume, teen drivers spending more time on the roads and various other factors.
Despite that concern, a recent nationwide study has found that Utah is actually the third-safest state in which to drive on Labor Day weekend or any other time of the year.
That finding by Munley Law, a personal injury firm in Pennsylvania, is based on a comprehensive analysis of data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Census Bureau.
The researchers at Munley Law analyzed seven safety factors in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, included highway fatalities, driving under the influence, speeding and pedestrian fatalities per capita.
They found that Utah combines strong insurance compliance with very low alcohol-involved crash rates, largely due to the state’s predominance of Latter-day Saint drivers.
Utah also benefited from relative low incidences of motor vehicle traffic fatalities, fatal crashes involving speeding, pedestrian fatalities and traffic violations.
The Munley study also praised Utah for having a modest uninsured motorist rate of only 6.2 percent.
By contrast, the Munley Law researches found New Mexico to the least safe state in which to operate a motor vehicle.
With highway deaths involving speeding (5.59 per 100,000 residents) more than double that of Utah (2.28 per 100,000), New Mexico’s reputation is also stained with the nation’s highest pedestrian fatality rate (4.93 per 100,000) and an uninsured driver rate at a staggering nearly 25 percent.
Aside from July 4, Labor Day is the deadliest weekend to drive in America, according to data from the NHTSA.
In 2023, 511 U.S. residents were killed in car crash over the Labor Day weekend, up from 496 the year prior, and 36 percent of those deaths involved alcohol consumption.
Here in Utah, the state recorded 281 lives lost on its roadways in 2024, slightly up from 279 fatalities in 2023.
There were 101 traffic fatalities in Utah between Memorial Day and Labor Day last year, an increase in fatalities compared to the 81 deaths recorded during the same period in 2023.
The full text of the Munley Law study can be found at https://munley.com/safest-and-dangerous-states-to-drive/