A preliminary count of Minnesota traffic deaths passed the 300 mark this past weekend, but the 303 road fatalities in 2011 are well below the 357 at this time in 2010.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Office of Traffic Safety projects 355 deaths for 2011 — which would mark a fourth consecutive annual drop in deaths and a 38 percent reduction in deaths from a decade ago. The projection also means the state is in reach of achieving its goal of 350 traffic deaths by 2014 three years early.

“Fewer people are getting killed, more motorists are buckling up, and there is a drop in alcohol-related incidents,” said Donna Berger, acting director of DPS Office of Traffic Safety. “But this progress is lost on the fact that preventable crashes are killing hundreds of people annually.”

In the three-year period of 2008-2010, 1,287 people were killed on Minnesota roads at an estimated economic impact of nearly $1.6 billion; thousands more suffered injuries during this same period, said the DPS. Traffic crashes are the leading killer of Minnesotans ages 2-34.

The 2011 deaths so fat this year include 36 motorcyclists, 27 pedestrians and three bicyclists — each lower compared to its 2010 counts. July (46 deaths) and October (43 deaths) have been the deadliest months of the year in 2011 to-date, with January (15) and March (19) the least deadly.

Read more: Shakopee Valley News - State road deaths pass 300 mark well below figure in 2010