Missouri traffic deaths drop below 800 in 2011

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri State Highway Patrol reports the annual number of traffic deaths in the state continues to decline.

The patrol says 773 people died in 2011, a 5 percent reduction from the 821 people killed in 2010.

It was the first year since 1949 that Missouri has had fewer than 800 fatalities from traffic accidents.

In 2005, 1,257 people died in traffic accidents in the state. That number has decreased every year since then.

The patrol reports that seven people died in traffic accidents in Missouri in the first days of 2012.