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Deaths on state roads may be headed for record low

Toll has dropped steadily since the state's "cornerstone traffic safety initiative," Toward Zero Deaths, began in '03.

Star Tribune

Last update: October 28, 2009 - 9:05 PM

Minnesota's roads are becoming less deadly -- and the state's traffic fatality toll may be approaching a historic low.

State public safety officials on Wednesday released an accounting of traffic deaths so far this year, showing that 337 people have died.

That compares with 352 at this point in 2008, a year that ended with the lowest fatality total since 1945.

The statistics were released in conjunction with a traffic safety conference being held in Duluth this week.

The Toward Zero Deaths conference annually brings together several state agencies and private organizations that advocate traffic safety.

The initiative was launched in 2003, when 655 people were killed on Minnesota roads and highways. Since then, the death toll has steadily decreased, approaching the goal of fewer than 400 by the end of next year.

State officials attributed the decline to a combination of things: lowering the blood alcohol concentration limit, the new primary seat belt law and a sputtering economy, which they believe has resulted in motorists conserving fuel by driving at slower speeds.

The officials called the Toward Zero Deaths program "the state's cornerstone traffic safety initiative."

The program encourages local law enforcement, engineers and emergency medical services to partner with state agencies to tailor solutions specific to local traffic safety needs. Those include targeted enforcement of traffic laws, beefed-up safety education and improvements in traffic engineering.

BOB VON STERNBERG

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