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.