http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...ck=3&cset=true

Year's road fatalities decrease

By Imran Vittachi
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 10, 2005

Traffic crashes in Illinois killed 113 fewer people last year than in
2003, according to preliminary findings released Sunday by state officials.

Early numbers indicate that in 2004, 1,341 people were killed in crashes,
compared with 1,454 the year before--a decrease of 8 percent, authorities
said.

A final report will come out later this year. But if the preliminary
numbers hold, the figure would mark the lowest number of traffic deaths
in Illinois since 1943, when 1,328 people were killed, state officials said.
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Just think about how low this number could be pushed with proper speed
limits, keep right except to pass enforced, and various other laws that
keep vehicles from crashing into each other in the first place.

Meanwhile driving no doubt continues to increase driving down the rate
numbers even further, while traffic speeds I observe on interstates
continue to increase.