For Utah, that means lawmakers must pass a primary-enforcement seat belt law, require booster seats for children up to age 8, require all people on motorcycles to wear helmets, ban teenagers from using cell phones while driving and tighten other restrictions on young drivers.
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety issued its fourth annual report Monday, grading Utah as a "yellow light" because of its gaps in safety laws, said Judith Lee Stone, the advocacy group's president. The report's release was timed to remind state lawmakers of the public health aspects of vehicle wrecks.
Advocates is a Washington, D.C.-based consumer, health, safety and law enforcement organization and lobbying group financed by property and casualty insurance companies. Its report said every state and the District of Columbia should have on its books 15 essential laws to guard motorist safety.
No state has adopted all 15 traffic safety measures, but some have done better than others, according to the report.
Utah was among 31 "yellow" states. Sixteen states and Washington, D.C., at "green," were closest to perfect, while "red" Arkansas, South Dakota and Wyoming flunked because they showed little to no legislative progress on the advocates' agenda over the past few years.
The group said 43,443 people died in nationwide crashes in 2005, more than any year since 1990, when 44,599 people died in wrecks. The 2005 deaths and injuries translated to more than $230 billion in economic losses, the report said, the equivalent of a "crash tax" of $792 on each U.S. resident.
Traffic wrecks are the No. 1 killer of people age 4 to 34, said Stone, likening the toll to a national public health epidemic.
"Public and government outrage seems muted given the scale of loss to our society," she said.
In 2004, there were 53,905 crashes in Utah, involving 29,638 injuries and 296 deaths.
In 2005 there were 54,938 crashes, 29,221 injuries and 282 fatalities. By mid-November 2006, the Department of Public Safety reported 259 fatalities, said Trooper Jeff Nigbur and the highway safety office. The 2005 numbers have not been analyzed, and the total number of crashes and injuries for 2006 have not been released.
Utah laws cover most of the concerns of the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. Teens have to be supervised while learning to drive, and there are restrictions on who can be passengers with them. Multiple laws cover driving under the influence of alcohol.
Bills already filed for the 2007 legislative session would cover some safety gaps. Sen. Pat Jones, D-Salt Lake City, is taking up where former Sen. Karen Hale left off in her efforts to make not wearing a seat belt a primary infraction, meaning that can be the sole infraction that prompts a law officer to stop a vehicle.
Rep. Tim Cosgrove, D-Murray, is sponsoring a bill that would tighten requirements on child booster seats and safety restraints. Rep. Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville, wants to outlaw teenage drivers' cell phone use except in emergencies or to report dangers.
But no one so far is sponsoring a bill that would require all motorcyclists to wear helmets (current law requires helmets only on minors).
One bill would repeal a law that the advocacy group likes: Rep. Craig Frank, R-Pleasant Grove, wants to upend the law that bans teenage nighttime driving except for work, emergencies, agricultural chores or with parental supervision. His 2007 bill also would repeal restrictions on who can be a passenger with a teenage driver.
Complete report
The complete "2007 Roadmap to State Highway Safety Laws" report can be found on the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety Web site: www.saferoads.org.
