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Show Accidents claim 2 on Memorial weekend By MARK EDDINGTON Staff Writer SALT LAKE CITY Accidents on state roads and interstates have claimed two lives on Memorial Day weekend, according to Utah Highway Patrol officials. offi-cials. A 23-year-old man was killed near Coalville when his motorcycle slid off the road into a stand of trees. A 31 -year-old Salt Lake City woman was killed when her car smashed into a semi-truck after being struck from behind by another vehicle. Names of the accident victims vic-tims are being withheld pending notification of relatives. Lt. Ken Bryant, field commander at the UHP Davis County office, said as of Monday afternoon patrolmen had reported traffic to be fairly normal, with only a few minor incidents reported. Police had been expecting a significant increase in speeding, drunken driving and traffic accidents because of the holiday weekend, but the worst of their fears never materialized. Patrols along the highways and Interstates were beefed up by over 200 extra shifts over the Memorial Day holidays to handle the traffic. A federal grant from the "Federal 55" program, administered by the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration, made the extra shifts possible. Traffic enforcement in Davis and Weber counties increased in-creased by 15 four-hour shifts each. Salt Lake County was authorized another 36 shifts. "We try and keep visibility up and speeds down. Hopefully by doing that we avoided some fatalities," said Sgt. Jim Matthies, a public information and education edu-cation spokesman for UHP. People traditionally like to let their hair down and get in the party mood for holiday weekends, he said. That, combined with the increase in the volume of traffic, can make driving during the holidays a risky business. Matthies advises holiday motorists to leave earlier rather than speed to get to their destinations on time. "Arriving at your destination 10 minutes early isn't worth your life," he said. Motorists are also advised to avoid driving in the late evening or just past midnight during holiday weekends Most arrests are made during those hours. If motorists avoid driving during those horns, it makes the policeman's job of identifying those who are driving intoxicated in-toxicated or speeding that much easier. "The most important advice I can give is don't drink or drive. Get a designated driver ' Matthies added. Motorists who choose to ignore the warning during holidays do so at their peril, because police officers patrol the roads in large numbers. |