2nd Lowest Number Of Traffic Deaths On Tennessee Roadways Since 1963

State officials say 961 people died on Tennessee roadways last year, the second lowest number since 1963 and only the fifth time traffic deaths have dipped below 1,000 since that year.
It is also a 3.4 percent decrease in traffic-related deaths from 2013 when 995 people were killed.
THP Col. Tracy Trott credits DUI and seat belt enforcement for the decline in traffic-related deaths. Troopers arrested 2,000 more people in 2014 than in 2013 for suspicion of DUI. Alcohol-related fatalities dropped 18.6 percent from year to year.
Last year, troopers issued 102,758 seat belt citations, around 28,000 more than the previous year.
Col. Trott said unrestrained motorists still accounted for 50 percent of vehicle occupants killed in 2014.
Speed accounted for 132 of the deaths, and distracted driving accounted for 41.