Road deaths decrease in Maine, New Hampshire

MAINE (AP):

Even as drivers are increasingly distracted by cellphones, email and texting, the number of highway deaths dipped to the lowest level in more than five decades in Maine and to an all-time low in neighbouring New Hampshire in 2011, officials said yesterday.

The downward drive continued in Maine, New Hampshire and several other states a year after highway deaths nationwide fell to levels not seen since 1949, with experts citing variety of factors, including high gas prices, better safety equipment on cars and increased safety belt usage, among other things.

In Maine, the 136 fatalities recorded through midnight on New Year's Eve represented the lowest figure since 1959, when there were also 136 highway deaths, and the second-lowest since 119 people died on roads in 1944, when gas rationing was in effect during World War II, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. Maine's records go back to 1935.

Ohio and Connecticut were also near record lows in 2011. All figures are considered unofficial because they could grow if people who were injured in crashes die.

Room for improvement

Lauren Stewart, director of the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety, said she's pleased by the downward trend as a professional, but she isn't jumping with joy.

In New Hampshire, the 87 fatalities represented the lowest in the state's history, beating the previous low of 105 in 1960, said Peter Thomson, coordinator of the New Hampshire Highway Safety Agency. New Hampshire's highway deaths data date back about five decades, he said.

Declining highway deaths represent a trend that started in 2009, according to statistics compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In 2010, 32,885 people died in traffic crashes in the United States for the lowest number of fatalities since 1949, the agency said.