State official says highway deaths down during Fourth

This Independence Day weekend could go down as one of the safest in manyyears for Iowa, according to an official at the state Department ofTransportation. Scott Falb, an Iowa D-O-T traffic safety specialist, saysthere were only two reported fatalities statewide for the holiday weekend.The D-O-T considers the weekend to run from 6 p-m Friday through Monday. Hesays that’d be the lowest number of holiday traffic deaths in a decade.Falb says the type of sticky hot weather most of Iowa experienced over theweekend usually contributes more highway deaths as people get more fatiguedwhile driving. During the Independence Day weekend last year, four peopledied on Iowa roads. During three years over the past decade, the holidayweekend death tolls were in double digits.