Fewer motorists, more seatbelts lead to cut in highway deaths

(CNN) -- Traffic fatalities nationwide are expected to decline about 10 percent this year, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said Thursday.

Projections show about 31,110 people died on the nation's roads from January to October, compared with 34,502 in the same period in 2007, Peters said in Missouri, where she was speaking about transportation safety benchmarks.

"While we are encouraged by these declines, our work is not nearly complete in making our safe transportation network even safer," Peters said.

There were fewer drivers on the roads in 2008 because of rising gas prices, accounting for some of the decline, a spokeswoman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

Even without the decline in motorists, the deaths per miles traveled dipped about 6.6 percent, according to preliminary statistics from the agency.

From January to November this year, there were about 1.28 fatalities per million miles, compared with 1.37 in the same period last year.

"If you're traveling less, you'll have fewer fatalities. But if you take into account fatalities on a per mile basis, it means that the people who are driving are having fewer fatalities," said spokeswoman Ellen Martin.

Martin also attributed the decline in fatalities to record highs of seatbelt use -- which is at 85 percent -- safer vehicles and stricter law enforcement efforts.

Alcohol-related deaths have fallen even more dramatically, from 60 percent of all traffic fatalities in 1982 to fewer than 40 percent in 2004, according to Transportation Department statistics.

Traffic deaths have declined steadily for the past 20 years after reaching a high of more than 47,000 in 1988, according to Transportation Department statistics.

CNN's Emanuella Grinberg contributed to this report.

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