Traffic fatalities, statewide, continue to show an increase this year over the same time period from a year ago. That’s according to statistics reported by the highway patrol and the main reason the department of transportation continues to use signage urging drivers and passengers to use seat belts.
Central District Engineer Bob Lynch also says 60-percent, or 529 of the 882 people killed so far this year in traffic accidents, were not wearing seat belts. That figure has already topped the year-end total for 2015 which came in at 870. Here in the Lake Area, there have been nine fatalities on the roadways in Camden County, eight in Miller County and five in Morgan County.