Traffic deaths fell sharply across the nation last year, dropping in at least 42 states and the District of Columbia as Americans battered by high gasoline prices and the sour economy cut driving by a record amount.
Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia registered double-digit percentage declines, sending death totals in some places to levels not seen in a half-century or more, according to preliminary data the states provided to USA TODAY.

The only states reporting increases were Delaware, New Hampshire, Vermont and Wyoming. Data have not been compiled yet for California, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Traffic safety experts acknowledge that last year's plunge in miles driven likely played some role in the drop, but they say it's too soon to know how much of the decline was because of that or other factors.

"High gas prices in the early part of the year and the poor economy in the second half of the year clearly played a major role," says Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association. "However, states are reporting that other factors such as better laws, record high safety belt use and reduced speeds played a role."

Some states are still collecting information on deaths and caution that the totals could rise.

Since 1995, the annual U.S. total has ranged between 41,000 and 43,000. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said in December that traffic deaths through the first 10 months of 2008 were down nearly 10%. The fatality rate per 100 million miles traveled also dropped during that period from 1.37 in 2007 to 1.28, she said. If the national rate stayed at that level for all of 2008, it would be the lowest since 1966, says DOT spokeswoman Karen Aldana. The rate for the full year has yet to be calculated.

In the 13 months ending Nov. 30, Americans drove an estimated 112 billion miles fewer miles than the previous similar period, a drop of about 3.4% and far outpacing the 49.9 billion-mile decline during the oil embargos of the 1970s, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

"There's growing evidence that declines in travel are leading to declines in deaths," says Anne McCartt, senior vice president for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "Beyond that, I don't think it's possible to pinpoint all the changes we see in deaths to different factors."

McCartt and others say that gradually phasing in driving privileges for young drivers as they gain experience, road engineering improvements and safer vehicles also have helped cut the death toll.

"New cars have a record number of airbags that mitigate frontal and side impact crashes," Harsha says. "Electronic stability control has contributed to the reduction in rollover crashes."

Some state officials say the link between fewer deaths and less driving is unmistakable.

"There are fewer people on the roads," says Rachel Kaprielian, registrar of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. "They're going slower to save fuel. Job layoffs have people driving shorter distances on local roads."

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