How bad are Utah Drivers?

You hear it so often that Utah has terrible drivers but what dictates “bad driving”? 

Our followers gave us the main reasons why they think the drivers in Southern Utah are so awful. The reasons seem to vary from forgetting to use one's blinker to just exhibiting continuous road rage. One thing is for sure though, no one seems to agree on what's the worst bad driving habit.  

Lots of people complained about the use of blinkers or lack of use. Some complained that drivers used their blinkers moving at a slow speed and then didn’t turn. Others swear some Utah drivers don’t even know how to use their blinkers. 

One common theme is that Utah drivers are inconsiderate. Several followers commented that being cut off and having other drivers use the space in between cars to merge is a regular occurrence.  

There were also several complaints of Utah driving laws not being enforced as much as they could be. One person said the Highway Patrol could be giving out a lot more tickets to help with all the driving issues they see.  

Most commented that people drive too slowly and that the drivers don’t know the proper use of the lanes. 

The 2021 Utah Highway Patrol and Department of Public Safety Annual Report showed that there were 42 speed-related deaths. There were four distraction-related death as well. 

Compared to 2020, there were 57 speed-related deaths state wide while there were 17 deaths that year involving distracted drivers.  

Those numbers show that maybe there has been some improvement however, with other factors like DUI’s taken into consideration, the report says that there were more fatalities in 2021. There was a total of 141 fatal crashes which was a 37 percent increase from 2020. The fatality rate also increased by 47 percent in 2021 with a total of 166 fatalities. 

There could be a myriad of reasons why Utah drivers are considered terrible and it only seems to be getting worse.  

To learn more about how the UHP is dealing with bad drivers in Utah visit https://highwaypatrol.utah.gov/publications/