In his years with the Utah Highway Patrol, Lt. Jeff Chug has seen a lot of preventable fatalities.

“It’s frustrating to us,” he said. “Every year, we see a crash people would have survived if they had just been restrained. We see accidents where the vehicle is fine. The only thing that kept that person from walking away is the fact that they were ejected from their car and crushed because they weren’t wearing a seat belt.”

According to a recently-released report from the Utah Department of Health, from 2003 to 2007 the three counties in the TriCounty Health Department's district had the highest rate of motor vehicle crash fatalities per population, as compared to other areas across the state.

The report — the Violence and Injury Small Area Report — divided Utah into a set of 61 different geographic areas with population sizes ranging from 20,000 to 60,000 people. Fatalities were tallied using information from the Utah death certificate database. Statistics were also based on the deceased’s county of residence and not necessarily the location of the accident.

According to the report, Duchesne, Uintah and Daggett counties had an age-adjusted crash fatality rate of 29.4 per 100,000 population, as compared with the state average of 11.9 per 100,000 population.

That’s a statistic that surprises many local law enforcement officials.

“I can think of other areas that I would expect to have more fatalities than us, but I guess it depends on how they divided up the state,” Chugg said.

Chugg, who oversees the UHP’s office for the tri-county area, said the number of overall vehicle crashes locally has actually decreased dramatically in the last couple of years. From 2008 to 2009, there were 300 to 400 fewer crashes on local roads, he said.

“It makes sense because we don’t have as many vehicles on the road as we did,” he said, a reference to the local oilfield downturn. “When you decrease the number of marbles in a barrel, they aren’t as likely to strike each other.”

Despite the fact that outdated data from the report may not paint an accurate picture of the number of fatalities on the Basin’s roads today, Chugg said he still thinks there are some relevant lessons to be learned.

For one thing, Duchesne, Uintah and Daggett counties had the third-lowest reported seat belt usage among the 61 small areas, according to the report.

Statewide, 92 percent of adults reported always or nearly always wearing their seat belts when they drove or road in a car. Usage within the three counties was reported at 81 percent.

“We do terrible with our seat belt usage,” Chugg said. “A lot of it is cultural. People just haven’t gotten used to using them.”

Jeramie Tubbs, public information officer for the TriCounty Health Department, said people often have the misconception that driving on rural roads is safer than driving in urban areas.

Statistics point out the opposite, though. According to www.zerofatalaties.com, a UDOT Web site that tracks fatalities and accident data, 106 fatalities were reported on Utah’s urban roads in 2009, as compared to 139 on rural roads.

“A common mentality that people have in rural areas, especially if they are traveling to more urban, busy areas, is to wear their seat belts when going to the "big city" because it is dangerous driving there, but not so much when they are home, in the rural settings,” Tubbs said. “This is a fallacy.”

According to the zero fatalities Web site, 2009 saw six motor vehicle crash fatalities on Duchesne County roads and six fatalities on Uintah County roads. Of those 12 fatalities, eight involved improper restraint.

Evidence of the Basin’s low seat belt usage also flows over into area hospitals and emergency rooms. UDOH’s small area report pointed out that from 2001 to 2005, the three counties had the highest traumatic brain injury rate of the 61 small areas.

Locally, the rate was 10.2 per 10,000 population, as compared with a state average of 6.7 per 10,000.

And while all of these traumatic brain injuries aren’t necessarily the result of vehicle accidents, Tubbs said there is a correlation. Motor vehicle and ATV crashes were a major cause of traumatic brain injury in young people between 15 and 24, she said.

In addition to low seat belt usage, law enforcement officials said collisions with wildlife, bad weather, drowsy driving and distracted driving are all key causes of fatalities.

The Utah Highway Patrol last week held a press conference warning against the dangers of drowsy driving. At the conference, UHP Lt. Lee Perry said fatigued driving is a contributing factor in about 12 percent of highway crashes.

Sergeant Jeff Nyburg, public information officer for the Utah Highway Patrol, said drowsy driving can be an even bigger problem in rural areas.

“You have a lot of people passing through on long trips who aren’t taking the breaks they need,” he said. “When someone is tired, their driving pattern is just like someone who is intoxicated. A lot of times, they won’t even remember the last few miles.”