North Dakota Traffic Fatalities Surpass 2010 Total

The number of fatalities on North Dakota roads this year has surpassed last year’s total, with 1 1/2 months still to go.

Highway Patrol Lt. Jody Skogen tells The Bismarck Tribune that through Tuesday, 125 people had died on North Dakota roads in 2011. In all of 2010, there were 105 fatalities.

The 113 crashes so far this year also have eclipsed the 2010 total of 92.

Neither the patrol nor the state Transportation Department has a geographic breakdown of crashes, but heavy traffic and accidents have become a concern in western North Dakota’s booming oil patch. The Legislature this year has approved the addition of about a dozen patrol troopers in that region.