BISMARCK (AP) - North Dakota has nearly 20 more highway deaths through the first six months of the year than in 2008, the Highway Patrol reports as troopers prepare for the long Fourth of July weekend.
The patrol said Thursday that 60 people have died in crashes on state roads through June, compared with 41 last year. Highway Patrol Lt. Jody Skogen said the crashes are scattered throughout the state.
"We might have more vehicles on the road, more people traveling with the lower gas prices (compared with last year)," Skogen said. "Or we're seeing an increase in just drivers who are making mistakes that are turning out to be quite costly."
Skogen said alcohol remains a problem, with around 50 percent of fatalities resulting from alcohol-related crashes.
Some roads have been in rough shape because of spring flooding, but Skogen doesn't consider that a factor in the rise in traffic fatalities. In Cass County, Sgt. DuWayne Nitschke said he hasn't seen an increase in crashes there, adding that road repairs might have even reduced the number of injury crashes.
"We've had a lot of road construction," Nitschke said, "and I think we've kind of dodged a bullet."
In Ward County, where oil-related traffic has picked up with an increase in drilling, Sheriff's Capt. Todd Keller reports 130 traffic accidents so far this year compared with 78 last year. The number of drunken-driving stops is about the same - 31 compared with 33 last year.
"I think it's probably driver error - drivers just not being aware of their surroundings and being distracted," Keller said.
Nationwide, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated Thursday that 7,689 motorists were killed in the months of January through March, a 9 percent decline from a year ago. North Dakota reported 16 traffic deaths during that period, and one crash fatality over the July Fourth weekend last year.