Vt. Public Safety officials to talk traffic deaths - NEWS10 ABC: Albany, New York News, Weather, Sports

Vt. Public Safety officials to talk traffic deaths

WATERBURY, Vt. (AP) - Vermont Public Safety officials say the number of people who died on the state's roadways last year was the smallest since 1944.

New statistics released Tuesday by the Governor's Highway Safety Program showed that 55 people died on Vermont highways last year, down 22 percent from 2010.

The Vermont figures follow national numbers that showed fatalities and injuries at their lowest level since 1949.

Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn credits a combination of factors such as more people wearing seatbelts, safer cars and safer roadways and public safety campaigns to encourage safe driving and to keep impaired drivers off the road.

But of the Vermont fatalities, there was an 11 percent increase in fatalities in which one of the drivers was impaired by alcohol or drugs.

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