Vt. sees drop in highway deaths in '09
Toolbox
Staff Report - Published: July 4, 2009
Vermont is on pace to see a drop in highway deaths this year, which parallels the national trend.
Thirty-one people have died on Vermont's highways through June compared to an average in the last three years of more than 42 for the same period, according to Steve Reckers of the Governor's Highway Safety Program.
A low number of fatalities in the first quarter of this year has led to the decrease. There were only six highway deaths this year in January, February and March compared to an average of 19 during those months the previous three years, Reckers said.
Eleven people died on Vermont roadways in June, however, bringing the total closer to the average.
Nationally, highway deaths are continuing to fall in 2009 from their lowest levels in nearly a half-century, the government says.
The government reported Thursday that an estimated 7,689 people were killed on the nation's highways in the months of January through March of this year. That's a 9 percent decline from a year ago.
In 2008, the government estimates that 37,261 people died on the highway. That's the fewest since 1961. If the 2009 fatality trends continue, fewer than 31,000 people would die.
Experts have attributed the declines to the recession, record-high seat-belt use and fewer people driving.
31