Utah Crash Facts 2023

A Year in Review

  • Total Crashes: 60,021
  • Total Injuries: 26,637
  • Total Fatalities: 279

Crash Frequency

  • A crash occurred every 8.8 minutes.
  • A person was injured in a crash every 19.7 minutes.
  • A person died in a crash every 31.4 hours.

Where Crashes Happened

Crash Rates by County

The top five counties with the highest crash rates per 100 million vehicle miles traveled were:

  • 1. Cache
  • 2. Salt Lake
  • 3. Utah
  • 4. Weber
  • 5. Davis

Urban vs. Rural Crashes

  • The crash rate in urban areas was 197.7 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.
  • The crash rate in rural areas was 104.7 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.
  • The fatal crash rate was significantly higher in rural areas (1.01) compared to urban areas (0.57).

Crash Site & Conditions

  • Almost half of all crashes (47%) occurred at an intersection.
  • The vast majority of crashes (80%) occurred on dry roads.

When Crashes Happened

Day, Time, and Month

  • Busiest Day: Friday saw the most crashes, with 9,875 incidents.
  • Peak Time of Day: The evening commute, specifically at 5:00 PM, had the highest number of crashes.
  • Busiest Month: January had the most crashes for the year, with 6,197 incidents.

Why Crashes Happened

Top 5 Driver-Related Factors (All Crashes)

  1. Followed too Closely (19%)
  2. Failed to Yield Right-of-Way (18%)
  3. Failed to Keep in Proper Lane (13%)
  4. Too Fast for Conditions (10%)
  5. Unsafe Lane Change (5%)

Top 5 Driver-Related Factors (Fatal Crashes)

  1. Failed to Keep in Proper Lane (32%)
  2. Ran Off Road (12%)
  3. Failed to Yield Right-of-Way (12%)
  4. Too Fast for Conditions (9%)
  5. Over-Correcting/Over-Steering (7%)

Unrestrained Occupants

Failure to wear a seatbelt remains a critical issue:

  • There were 2,101 unrestrained occupants in crashes.
  • Of those, 760 were injured.
  • Tragically, 65 unrestrained occupants were fatally injured.
  • A concerning 115 of the unrestrained occupants were children (age 0-12).

On a positive note, Utah's seat belt use rate reached its highest ever in 2023 at 92.4%.


A Closer Look at the 279 Fatalities

Who Was Involved?

  • Drivers: 51% (143)
  • Passengers: 16% (45)
  • Motorcycle Drivers: 14% (39)
  • Pedestrians: 14% (40)
  • Bicyclists: 3% (9)
  • Motorcycle Passengers: 1% (3)

Demographics of Fatalities

  • Gender: Similar to previous years, for every 4 fatalities, 3 were male (72%) and 1 was female (28%).
  • Age: The 20-29 age group had the highest number of fatal crashes with 51 incidents.

Top Contributing Factors in Fatal Crashes

  • 34% of occupant deaths were Unrestrained.
  • 29% of deaths were Speed-Related.
  • 17% involved an Impaired Driver (BAC 0.05+).
  • 8% involved Aggressive Driving/Road Rage.
  • 7% involved Distracted Driving.
  • 2% involved a Wrong-Way Driver.