The Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays were the safest on Michigan roads since 1983, the Michigan State Police reported Thursday.

Police reported 27 people died in traffic accidents during those three holiday weekends last year, compared to 56 fatalities during those periods in 1999.

State police Sgt. John Faccio attributed numbers to a decrease in drunken driving and good judgment by drivers during poor road conditions this winter.

“Motorists seem to be more careful when it’s slippery,” Faccio said. “There may be more crashes happening, but the severity is not as great as when the roads are good.”

Faccio said traffic fatalities have fluctuated since 1970, but have declined largely because of safety advances in vehicles and safety belt usage. According to the state police, nearly 68 percent of those killed during the holidays in 1999 were not using safety belts, compared to 38 percent not using them in 2000.

“As that goes on, we’re progressing toward less and less fatalities happening,” he said.

But not all areas of Michigan saw such a dramatic decrease in traffic fatalities. Lansing police Lt. Ray Hall said the number of area traffic deaths has remained about the same, but the department has noticed a decrease in fatalities due to drunken driving.

“We didn’t have any fatalities as a result of alcohol this holiday,” Hall said.

Statewide, the number of fatal crashes involving alcohol dropped from 34 percent in 1999 to 19 percent in 2000, according to the State Police.

Hall credits much of that decrease to increased education efforts by law enforcement agencies and news organizations.

Area law enforcement agencies will team up this weekend in an effort to further reduce drunken driving. Officers from the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office and the East Lansing, Lansing and Meridian Township police departments will work overtime as part of “Operation Nightcap.”

The program aims to saturate specific areas with patrols to find drunken drivers.