It's been a brutal year already on Utah's roads, with ice and snow wreaking havoc all over the state.

We even had a skiff of snow and some ice issues in St. George and parts of Washington County have been slick as can be (just ask anyone who's had to drive to Enterprise or Central lately).

But the extent of how crazy it's been out there takes on a grander scale when you look at the statistics put out this week by the Utah Highway Patrol.

Here are some of the numbers (there's also a chart below), and keep in mind that these numbers are just for the first two months of the year:

  • There have already been 10,354 crashes this year (approximately 179 crashes a day). That number is up 1,400 crashes from a year ago in the same time period.
  • Already, 34 people have died on Utah roads this year, about one every other day.
  • There have been 500 DUI cases, 16,096 speeding cases and 23 wrong-way drivers. Six of those wrong-way drivers resulted in crashes and three people have died in those crashes.
  • The police have ticketed/arrested 242 people this year for driving more than 105 miles per hour (reckless driving).
  • Four UHP officers have been struck by vehicles already this year.

To say that it's dangerous out there would be an understatement. UHP troopers take their lives into their own hands (and unfortunately a lot of other people's hands) every time they sit down in their cars.

Police officers and their families worry about guns and gangs and those are real concerns for sure, but the scariest part of the job might be navigating Utah's roads.

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