Minnesota traffic deaths last year at lowest rate in more than 50 years
The Department of Public Safety (DPS) reports that last year there were 455 traffic deaths on Minnesota roads, the lowest number of deaths since 1945 and representing an 11 percent decrease from the 510 deaths recorded in 2007.
The state recorded the lowest number of alcohol-related deaths ever, 163, DPS reports, but the percentage in regard to the overall death rate, 36 percent, was typical.
Some 72 motorcyclists lost their lives last year on state roads, the biggest rider death count since 1985, DPS notes.
But the teenage traffic accident deaths continued to decline — something DPS ascribes to better teen driver licensing laws and the ban on some cell phone use — with 31 teen deaths being recorded in 2008, down ten deaths from the year before.
DPS officials indicated that unemployment and high gas prices could have impacted the lower death rates seen on Minnesota roads last year.
But the they do not consider these variables huge factors.
