DMV to Spend More than $13 Million to Improve Driver Safety

According to today's Washington Post, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles is trying to reduce the increasing number of traffic fatalities on the commonwealth's roadways, dishing out more than $13.5 million in federal grants to improve driver safety.

Virginia's roads have become more dangerous in recent years, and the grants target some of the major factors in the deaths: aggressive and drunken driving and some people's failure to use seat belts. There were 1,026 traffic fatalities in the commonwealth last year, up 11 percent from 922 in 2004, according to DMV statistics.

In Northern Virginia, the numbers have remained steady: 117 traffic fatalities last year, compared to 118 in 2004. The 2007 totals comprise 53 deaths in Fairfax County, 27 in Prince William County, 21 in Loudoun County, six in Arlington County, five in Alexandria, three in Manassas and two in Fairfax City.

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