Thursday, February 5, 2015

BRAVO! WISCONSIN: 36 TRAFFIC DEATHS MAKE JANUARY 4TH SAFEST IN DECADE





BRAVO! WISCONSIN: 36 TRAFFIC DEATHS MAKE JANUARY 4TH SAFEST IN DECADE


February 4, 2015

Green Bay, Wisconsin:

Thirty-six people were killed in traffic crashes statewide in January.

Preliminary numbers from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation indicate it was the fourth-safest January in the last decade. The lowest January death toll was in 2010 when there were 20 fatalities. The highest was 82 in 1964, according to the department.

A number of Northeastern Wisconsin counties recorded deaths last month, including Oconto County which had two, both from a head-on collision Jan. 11 near Oconto Falls.

Brown County had one death, according to preliminary numbers from the state.
With lower gas prices and a rebounding economy, state transportation officials expect an increase in travel this year.

“With more vehicles on the road traveling longer distances, the overall risk for traffic crashes increases,” David Pabst, director of the department of transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Safety, stated in a press release. “All of us need to do everything possible to maintain a steady decrease in fatal crashes until we reach the ultimate goal of zero preventable traffic deaths in Wisconsin.”

The department says 498 people were killed in traffic crashes last year, well under the five-year average of 551.