SALT LAKE CITY — Labor Day weekend is here and the Utah Highway Patrol hopes a heavy presence will result in no highway deaths like it did last year.
With traffic expected to be heavy, UHP troopers will be out in force looking for speeders and anyone not driving safely.
One area they’ll pay particular attention to is I-15 at Point of the Mountain and northern Utah County.
“The tech corridor construction zone is a little bit more hazardous than what your average roadway would be,” UHP Cpl. Mike Alexander said.
That’s because there are still areas with lane splits, narrow lanes and changing speeds.
If you’re towing anything like an RV, boat or a trailer with toys it can be even more daunting.
Combine that with increased speeds and it can be a recipe for disaster.
“The average speeds on the freeway are definitely up and the number of citations for people traveling over 100 miles an hour is up significantly over last year,” Cpl. Alexander said. “And fatalities over last year -- over the 100 deadliest days -- are startlingly up significantly as well.”
The stepped up enforcement began Friday morning and will continue throughout the holiday weekend.
“Our whole goal this entire weekend is to keep Utah roadways safe and we’re out here with Utah County Sheriff’s office motors as well and the goal isn’t necessarily to give a whole bunch of tickets to people,” Cpl. Alexander said. “It’s to make sure we can correct dangerous driving behavior and make sure everyone gets to where they’re going safely and repeat what we had last year when we had zero fatalities over the Labor Day weekend.”
Even though a major focus will be on areas with construction zones, UHP troopers and others will be on roads all over the state in an effort to keep everyone safe.
