After decade, traffic deaths rise

Of the 10,000 people alive today in Ohio, one will die in a traffic accident this year.

That’s 9% worse than a year earlier, according to traffic fatality statistics.

Safest place to be on the highways: Rhode Island. Not because it’s the smallest state, but because the deaths per 10,000 is lower than anywhere else. Maybe they commute by boats.

Wyoming has the worst per capita traffic deaths record.

Summit County ranked 9^th in Ohio in total traffic deaths last year. Franklin County, which includes Columbus, was No. 1 in an unwanted category.

The increase in traffic deaths, with signs on the roads keeping track of the climbing total, ends a decade-long trend of fewer traffic deaths from year to year.