Study: Traffic Deaths Rise in 2012

    Firey Crash-Georgia

    After years of decline, the number of fatalities attributed to traffic accidents are on the upswing.

    FOX News Radio’s Kerin McCue has the statistics:

    The National Safety Council reports that the number of traffic deaths surged 5% last year, ending a seven-year decline that had pushed those numbers to their lowest levels in six decades.  They estimate that 36,200 people were killed in car wrecks last year; compare that to 34,600 in 2011.  Plus, crash injuries requiring medical care jumped 5% in 2012 to nearly four million.

    They report than an improving economy plus a mild winter could help explain those higher numbers.

    Kerin McCue, FOX News Radio.