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DES MOINES, IA (AP) -- Iowa's traffic death count continues to decline this year.

One factor is motorists cutting back on their driving in the tight economy.

Last year, traffic deaths in Iowa dropped to their lowest level since World War II.

So far this year, there have been 191 deaths on the state's roads as of Friday evening.

That's a drop of nearly 16 percent from a year ago.

For the same period in 2009, the Iowa Department of Transportation says the state had 227 traffic deaths.

AAA Minnesota-Iowa spokeswoman Gail Weinholzer says Iowa's numbers are consistent with other Midwestern states.

She says traffic deaths are generally down in Midwest states while traffic volumes still haven't bounced back to levels seen before gas prices peaked in 2008.

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Information from: The Des Moines Register,

http://www.desmoinesregister.com

(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)