Some states have reported declines of 20 percent or more.

Assuming that traffic fatality numbers in Michigan are down because of gas prices is too presumptuous, said Michigan State Police Lt. Gary Megge.

“To start comparing gas prices and recent crash trends, there hasn’t been enough time,” Megge said. “It doesn’t give you a lot of statistical credibility.”

Michigan has been on a steady decline in traffic fatalities since 1997, with 1,446 in 1997 to 987 in 2007, Megge said.

Anne Readett, communications manager with the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, agreed that although other states might be making the connection between gas prices and fatalities, it’s too soon to tell.

“It takes a good couple of months once the year is over to get all of the information,” Readett said.

Readett said that it’s especially difficult to correlate gas prices with highway crashes during the summer months, when more people are traveling.

“Right now we’re in one of the high fatality months, which include June, July, August and September,” she said. “It’s very premature to speculate.”

Another issue that comes from tying in gas prices with driving is the assumption that driving slower is a good solution to save money, Megge said. Driving slower is not necessarily safer, he said.

“We need to separate financial issues of gas prices from the safety of driving,” he said. “They just don’t run hand in hand.”

Driving slower could also lead to aggressive or frustrated drivers and more accidents, Megge said.

Numbers have been decreasing in Michigan’s driving fatalities since the 1940s, when there were almost 13 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles driven, Megge said. Today, Michigan sees about one fatality per 100 million vehicle miles driven.

Other efforts such as increased road enforcement and drunken driving programs have an effect on fatality rates, said Michigan State Police Sgt. John Faccio.

“You mix it all together with high gas prices, and all of those things have a huge impact on the number of fatalities and crashes,” he said.

Law enforcement around the state is patrolling high-crash intersections to help prevent accidents and fatalities on the road.

A large percentage of crashes occur at intersections, Megge said.

“If we can concentrate on some intersection violations, that could have a positive effect on the number of crashes,” he said.