MoDOT: Rumble strips have helped prevent accidents

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Transportation officials say rumble strips on the side of Missouri highways have helped reduce the number of fatal accidents that result from people driving off the road.

The Missouri Department of Transportation says fewer than 250 people died from those kinds of accidents in 2010, down from 400 such fatalities in the 2005.

MoDOT says the rumble strips, sometimes painted over with a yellow line, help drivers see and feel where the edge of the road is when the weather is bad or when it is dark. They can also jolt drivers awake if they are falling asleep at the wheel and drift toward the edge of the road.

Overall, MODOT says 818 people died on the state's highways last year, the lowest figure in more than half a century.