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WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says highway deaths are continuing to fall in 2009 from their lowest levels in nearly a half-century.
The government reported Thursday that an estimated 7,689 people were killed on the nation's highways in the months of January through March of this year. That's a 9 percent decline from a year ago.
In 2008, the government estimates that 37,261 people died on the highway. That's the fewest since 1961. If the 2009 fatality trends continue, fewer than 31,000 people would die.
Experts have attributed the declines to the recession, record-high seat-belt use and fewer people driving.
