Possibly THE WORST Drivers In This Country

On my last post I alluded to the fact that I would write an upcoming post on whom I believe to possibly be the worst drivers in the country; and they reside right here in Utah.

Why do I say that? Well, besides living here for the last 6 1/2 years, I was a first hand witness to my own kids going through the process of learning to drive; and let me tell you--it wasn't pretty.

Like I alluded to in my post regarding the State Legislature, the insurance rates (auto) are among the highest in the nation. This is due to the extraordinary number of at-fault accidents in this state. By at-fault, I mean accidents that could, and should, have been avoided simply through following the rules of the road in regards to yourself, and the drivers around you.

Now, I could go on and on in illustrating why the drivers here are so awful, so I'll try to constrain myself to a few real-life stories about accidents on Utah's roads.

1) Just last week, a 23 year old woman was killed in a roll-over accident which was caused by a semi driver going too fast, as well as cutting her off when he (the truck driver) made a sudden, non-signalled lane change, thereby causing the woman (who was driving a small car) to hit the trucks tires, lose control, roll across the median and onto the other side of the freeway, and was there hit by another driver.

2) A few winters ago a woman and her daughter were killed when they were driving in the commuter lane on I-15. They were legally obeying the speed limit when a man in a pick-up truck (who was alone in the vehicle) came up behind them in the commuter lane as well. Police estimate he was traveling at least 85 mph in a 65 zone). Right when he came within inches of this womans bumper (trying to intimidate her into moving out of the commuter lane), her car hit a patch of black ice. She swerved, the truck smashed into the back of her car sending it headlong into a guardrail then onto the median.
The pick-up sped right by and never stopped to assist (luckily someone got the plate #). The mother was killed instantly, the daughter survived. But as she was making her way to the side of the freeway to get help, another car hit the same black ice, and swerved right into the girl, killing her.

3) About a year ago I was driving with my daughter along I-15 when we came up to a line of cars approaching an exit. It was a holiday weekend, so there were lots of cars waiting to exit. I was in the middle of three lanes, and a solid line of cars to my right. As I approached the point of the freeway exit, a driver (in a camper and pulling a boat) was busy doing whatever because he didn't see the car in front of him stop. Well, instead of turning out to the side of the road, he turned into my lane.

I was going 65 mph.

I saw his thoughtless maneauver and instantly did all I could to avoid hitting him. I ended up swerving (on dry pavement, luckily) across two lanes, going back and forth several times before regaining control of my car (you could see my skid marks for a few weeks!). My daughter was in tears, and I was grateful to be alive.

In all three of these instances, there was a common factor that contributed to each. Can you name it?

Ok, here it is...They were ALL preventable.

It's a fact that 98% of all physical trauma (accidents, in whatever form) is the result of 1 or more bad choices by 1 or more people. That's huge! Think about it. Statistically, out of all the trauma out there, 98 times out of 100 it could have been prevented. That's a sobering thought.

So, what makes Utah drivers so bad? There are several factors. They start with the State Legislature. They refuse to raise taxes, therefore there is less money for educational programs. The fewer taxes are received in a particular area, the less state tax allocation the school receives (or something like that). Where my kids went to High School, they got very little funding from the state. One glaring point of this is Drivers Education.

Both my kids got exactly two weeks (that's right, two whole weeks) of classroom instruction, with each class taking approximately 1 hr 15 minutes. They never opened their drivers ed manual, and the instructor barely taught anything (this, according to my kids). Then, their "range time" consisted of three sessions in a car with an instructor, each of which lasted approximately 20 minutes. That's 1 hour folks.

According to State law, the kids are supposed to have 40 hours of supervised driving time with a parent. I can say with 99.9% assurety that this never happens. Even as adamant as we were, my kids only got about 30 hours in.

After that, a 16 year old can get a license. Is anyone out there frightened? You should be; because generation after generation of drivers in this state are not properly educated on the rules of the road. Forget advanced rules, I'm talking basic, common-sense things like signalling when you are going to make a turn; What signs mean; Obeying the Speed Limit; What is your responsibility in merging onto the freeway, etc, etc, etc.

This is downright scary stuff folks! And the state turns a blind to the perpetual problem it has created. Further, they do nothing to prevent more accidents by (once again) refusing to raise tax money to hire more troopers to patrol our freeways. Which brings me to another point...State Troopers who also break the laws of the road. How often in most states will you see a trooper holding up a line of cars on a freeway because no one dares to pass them? In most states you'd never dream of passing a police vehicle for fear of being the recipient of a moving violation.

In my time in Utah, I regularly see on-duty (and off-duty) officers exceeding the speed limit as a regular matter of driving. Why should anyone go the posted speed limit when even the police don't obey that one? Drivers here speed with seeming impugnity because they know that the odds of them actually being pulled over are slim to none.

Get this one--In Salt Lake County I can actually get a ticket for driving the posted speed limit! Absolutely true. That county has an ordinance that states a car holding up the flow of traffic can receive a moving violation. This very thing happened a few years ago. The traffic flow was moving at around 75 mph (in a 65 zone), and a driver, legally obeying the federally posted Speed Limit, was pulled over and cited for impeding traffic. Can you believe that?! He got a ticket for obeying the law!!!

The city police really aren't any better. In my daily 10-minute commute to work I see traffic light violations, non-signalled turns, extremely close-up tailgating, driving through stop signs as if they weren't even there, etc, etc. When driving in a large parking lot (like at a Mall), drivers regularly zoom across the whole lot in order to get around the mall roads. They don't pay attention to anyone or anything as they go 35-45 mph or faster. I honestly don't know how many times I've been close to being involved to a T-bone accident while safely and legally driving in parking lots.

When you drive on Utah's roads, you have to be prepared to have a major catastrophe at any time. The drivers here are truly that dangerous. And no one at the local or state level seems to care one iota. I have written my elected officials, and no one has responded.

I could literally go on for paragraph after paragraph about things that drivers do on the roads in this state; and it would all be 100% true. The drivers in Utah (as a whole) are absolutely horrendous, and downright dangerous. Something needs--no, something MUST be done. How many more people will needlessly die for anyone in the state or local governments to take notice and start the change?

There are clearly no easy answers to this one, folks; but when even the men and women who are supposed to protect our roads are themselves breaking the basic driving laws, then we as a population should be very afraid for our lives every time we sit behind the steering wheel. And truthfully, I am. Every day.



(For those of you who might be wondering, I have been driving for 30 years. In all that time, I have gotten exactly ZERO moving violations, and have been involved in one accident-- which wasn't my fault...I was rear ended by a drunk driver at a stop sign.)

Effective Goverment In Action...?

Alright...I'm going to give up a little personal info here. But first, a question: What would you call a State Legislature that works approximately 15 weeks per year, is unpaid, and wastes most of its first 13 weeks endlessly debating bills, taxes, budgets, etc, then crams into two weeks what should have been done over the previous 13?

In Utah, its called Effective Government In Action--or, I should say, inaction. That's right. I've lived in Utah (unfortunately) for 6 1/2 long years. Enough time to know that the State Legislature is a joke of a "Legislative Body." The endless debates do indeed suddenly cease somewhere in the 13th week, then every Representative and Senator puts as many riders on as many bills as they can, and finally reach the end of their yearly session; each heading back to their regular jobs, knowing that they did their best.

Do you see what's wrong with this picture? If not, let me give you a little more info. Most of each years' session is filled in budgetary discussion. New laws are passed that have no real effect on everyday lives in Utah, while REAL issues are never addressed.

For instance, the Legislature (I don't think) has any real oversight on the state contracts issued to road repair work. There is a stretch on I-15 which is filled with pot holes. Repair crews (plural) head out, patch it up, then return (literally) 3-4 months later to repair the same holes. This has gone on the whole 6 1/2 years I have lived here! The state will pay the contractor multiple times for a repair job that could (and should) be done once. Why don't they? Where is the oversight?

The drivers in this state are perhaps the worst I have ever been around. (I've got a whole other blog I'll be doing on this, but let me touch on this briefly). Why? There are multiple reasons, so let me just start here. The lifelong citizens of this state are so paranoid about raising taxes ("I don't want the governmint tellin ME what to do!") that the State doesn't have enough $$ too pay for the much needed law enforcement increases. I wrote my State Representative and Senator about this issue, as well as the Governor. I got NOTHING of a response from any of them. They don't seem to care. A sad statement.

It's a fact that Utah has one of the highest per capita auto insurance rates in the country. Why? Because there are so many at-fault accidents. Now, I know that increased law enforcement wouldn't necessarily decrease the at-fault accidents significantly, but increased presence would indeed help to lower the number.

Then finally, here's the real doozie. The Legislature, in its infinite and misguided wisdom, in order to meet the budget, has decided that all State offices will have a 4-day work-work. Further, there is discussion that this will include the public schools! Instead of raising taxes to benefit education, the Legislature might essentially tell every parent that their children's future isn't important enough.

Additionally, the very concept creates other issues such as daycare for working parents who will suddenly have to either stay home (and miss out on income), or pay extra monies for another day of childcare. What non-core subjects will be lost because there is no longer enough time to teach everything (arts, music, etc)? Or how about the product vendors for all the school districts? How many workers would they have to lay-off in order to meet their budgets? How many taxes will be lost because the schools are closed one extra day?

How will one of the poorest funded educational systems in this country fare when an additional day of instruction is lost because the Legislature is afraid to raise taxes?

The Utah State Legislature is a joke. It won't do what it MUST in order to meet the basic needs of its citizens because it's too afraid that a pro-tax strategy will lose their next elections. When will they wake up an realize that the constituancy of this state deserve better than the "best" they (the Legislature) have done?
Taxes can indeed go too far; but when the basics of education and infrastructure are marginalized, then we have a prime example of government 'inaction.'