Utah · Handbook chapter 7 · 3 min read

Phones and texting, road rage, animals, desert and mountain driving, fatigue, flooding, work zones, lightning, night driving, rural roads, skids and black ice, submerged vehicles and hot and cold weather in Utah.

Why this chapter matters

Utah's landscape brings deserts, mountains, flash floods and black ice. This chapter covers how to handle each, and the phone rules every driver must know.

Distractions and phones

• Set navigation and put devices away before driving. If something distracts you, pull over.
• No driver may hold a phone to text, email, dial, browse, take photos or enter data.
• Drivers over 18 may make calls using voice commands.
• Drivers under 18 may use a phone only for a medical emergency, to report a hazard or crime, or to talk with a parent or guardian.
• Texting is a class C misdemeanor (up to $100) and carries 50 points.

Road rage

Road rage is a crime committed by a driver to endanger or intimidate someone in another vehicle. A court may suspend your license for one year on the first conviction.

Animals, desert and mountains

• Animals are most active at dawn and dusk. Do not swerve; stay in control in your lane.
• In the desert, carry plenty of water and fuel, and stay with your vehicle if it breaks down.
• In the mountains, use low gears downhill, never coast in neutral, and yield to uphill traffic on narrow roads. Sound your horn at sharp blind curves.

Fatigue

Sleep 7 to 9 hours before a trip, stop every two hours, and if tired take a 20-minute nap. Warning signs include drifting from your lane, hitting rumble strips and not remembering the last few miles.

Floods and lightning

• Six inches of water reaches the bottom of most cars; two feet of moving water can carry away most vehicles. Turn around.
• Only a hard-topped vehicle protects you from lightning.

Work zones

Slow down even if no workers are present. Fines are at least double. Over 80 percent of work zone deaths and injuries are drivers, passengers and pedestrians.

Night and rural driving

• Headlights on from sunset to sunrise and whenever you cannot see 1,000 feet.
• Dim within 500 feet of oncoming vehicles and within 300 feet of a vehicle you follow. Add at least two seconds of following distance.
• At narrow or one-lane bridges, the first driver to arrive goes first.

Skids and black ice

Cars can hydroplane above about 35 mph. Black ice looks like a wet spot. If you skid, ease off the gas, steer the front wheels the way the rear is sliding, and do not slam the brakes.

If your car goes into water

A car floats only 30 to 60 seconds: unbuckle, open the window and climb out.

Hot and cold weather

• Hot: do not let air out of hot tires; watch coolant and oil; beware of slippery bleeding tar.
• Cold: fit winter tires on all four wheels of a front-wheel drive car. Studded tires are allowed October 15 to March 31. Bridges and ramps freeze first.
• Stranded: stay with the car, keep the exhaust clear, run the engine about 10 minutes an hour with a window cracked, and keep someone awake.