Fewer people have died on Iowa’s roads this year than in the last several decades.Scott Falb, state DOT driver safety specialist, says the statewide traffic fatality numbers are very low. Falb says 396 people have died on Iowa roads this year, compared to 447 deaths last year. Predictions show the state may end up with 420 or so deaths during 2002. Falb says that’d be the lowest traffic death number in almost six decades. Falb says Iowa’s on track to have the lowest traffic death rate since 1945 when 366 people died. He credits several factors with the low numbers. The high seat belt usage rate in Iowa of 81 percent gets part of the credit for the state’s low traffic death rate. Falb also says the strict drunk driving laws, the graduated driver’s license program for younger drivers and the 65-mile an hour Interstate speed limit help keep fatality numbers down.
