Traffic, Traffic Deaths | featured news

The two certainties in life - death and taxes - may be more intertwined than Ben Franklin ever imagined: A study found that deadly auto accidents increase on Tax Day.

Some 32,885 people died on the nation's roadways in 2010 -- a number that, while slightly higher than preliminary figures released in April, shows the downward trend in traffic deaths is continuing, now reaching low levels not seen since 1949, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported Thursday.

Motorcyclist deaths fell last year for the second straight year, but the small drop in fatalities might be masking troubling signs, according to a national highway safety organization.

Traffic deaths have hit their lowest level since 1950, the year fatalities behind the wheel began to be tracked, according to the latest government statistics.