By AP
Louisville, KY – The Kentucky State Police say the highway death
rate in the Commonwealth is on pace to become
the highest in nearly twenty years. Eight people
died on the state's highways during the four day
Thanksgiving holiday period, bringing the year-to-date
toll to 848.
Officials say that's an increase of eleven deaths from
the same period one year ago. The 2002 highway
death toll in Kentucky reached 915, which was the
highest since 1977. Kentucky's highest death toll
came in 1973, when 1, 117 people died on the
state's highways.
The State Police plan to step up road patrols this
month. Officials say more than half of the people
killed on Kentucky highways this year were not
wearing seat belts at the time of their accidents.