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Here’s one good side effect of high gas prices: drivers are slowing down and getting involved in fewer fatal auto accidents.

May 2008 was the safest May on Wisconsin roads of any year since World War II. Maybe it’s because consumers have reached their breaking point at $4 per gallon of gas and slowed down or even parked their cars. Or it could be in part because of the increased law enforcement activity through the “Click It or Ticket” campaign.

The one down side for May was the Memorial Day weekend, during which there were 10 traffic fatalities in Wisconsin, compared to four last year over the holiday weekend.

There have been 199 fatalities on Wisconsin’s roads since the beginning of 2008, including one bicyclist, 165 automobile drivers and passengers, 15 motorcycle drivers and 17 pedestrians. The year-to-date total is down from 281 for the first five months of last year.

“Traffic fatalities have dropped nearly 30 percent so far this year compared to last year,” said Dennis Hughes, chief of safety programs for the Wisconsin State Patrol Bureau of Transportation Safety. “Certainly, high fuel prices, which tend to decrease vehicle speeds and traffic volumes, have been factors in this reduction.”

Hughes also credits the Click It or Ticket safety belt education efforts. “We just concluded the Click It or Ticket safety belt enforcement mobilization with more than 350 participating law enforcement agencies backed by a public education campaign,” Hughes said. “Effective enforcement and education help motivate motorists to make better decisions.”

According to preliminary estimates from the Federal Highway Safety Administration, Wisconsin set a record for the lowest number of fatalities at 47 in 44 traffic crashes in the month of May. Traffic fatalities in May 2007 were 63 in 54 crashes.

La Crosse County has fared better than other counties in terms of fatal crashes. Preliminary data shows that there were no fatalities in May 2008 in La Crosse County.

State officials are noticing a reduction in speed on four-lane highways. According to State Patrol Maj. Dan Lonsdorf of the Bureau of Transportation Safety, “Wisconsin drivers on rural 4-lane roads appear to be on average slowing down slightly from readings in April 2007 based on initial traffic speed readings so far in 2008. In addition, State Patrol troopers and motor carrier inspectors report that they’re seeing speeding decline on most Interstates. Truckers especially are slowing down to conserve fuel. Motorists make millions of trips each day so even the slightest decrease in average speeds can translate into significant reductions in fuel consumption.”

“What we are noticing is similar to what is going on throughout the state,” said Lt. James Lind of the State Patrol’s Tomah post. “But our troopers are still detecting speed violations and other violations.”

Driving speeds on the local roads are not changing, however. Onalaska police Sgt. Tim Berg said neither he nor his officers have seen any change in driving behavior locally.

“I don’t think they are slowing down,” Berg said. “What we are seeing a lot more of is stealing gas. There’s a lot of drive-offs without paying.”

The same is being reported in the Holmen area.

According to national and state transportation statistics, drivers are reducing their miles driven. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Traffic Volume Trends Report for March 2008 show that total miles driven across the nation’s streets and highways, went down by 4.3 percent in March and down 2.3 percent from the beginning of the year.

Preliminary numbers for vehicle miles driven on Wisconsin roads in March went from just under 5 million miles in 2007 to almost 4.8 million in 2008, or a reduction of 4.4 percent. That’s 221 million fewer miles driven in Wisconsin than last year.

At roughly 15 miles per gallon, that’s 1.5 million gallons of gas being saved — for one month. That would amount to 3 million gallons of gas per year for each Wisconsin resident, based on 2007 preliminary census data. It also translates to hundreds of lives saved each year.