Traffic deaths up in 2012 in Minn.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A preliminary report by the state Department of Public Safety shows that 378 people died in traffic crashes on the state’s roads in 2012, the first time the death toll has risen in five years.

In 2011, 368 people died in crashes on Minnesota roads. In the last decade, the state’s annual traffic deaths have trended downward from 657 deaths in 2002, with only a slight rise in 2007 deviating from the trend.

The Department of Public Safety projects the final total — available in early summer as additional crash reports are submitted — to be about 390, 6 percent above the 2011 figure.

Despite the increase, 2012 will be the second safest year (behind 2011) since 1944, when 356 died on the roadways.

Traffic safety officials say a warmer winter to start the year — leading to faster, unsafe speeds — and a spike in motorcyclist fatalities were the main factors for the increase in deaths. An early spring led to a longer and deadlier riding season as 53 motorcyclists were killed, a 26 percent increase from 42 deaths in 2011.

Tags: news, traffic, accidents