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KIRKSVILLE, MO --  

Fact Finder learns that Missouri's highways are safer than in the past. This means less fatalities in both vehicle and motorcycle crashes.

“Last year in the state of Missouri we saw a dramatic decrease in the number of traffic fatalities. As a part of that we saw the number of motorcycle related traffic fatalities decrease to over 21 percent in our state,” said Sgt. Brent Bernhardt, Missouri State Highway Patrol.
    
85 people were killed in motorcycle crashes last year in Missouri. Nationally, the number of motorcycle related deaths are down ten percent. Bernhardt says fatalities are way down because people are becoming better drivers, and new highways and four-lane roads are much safer for traveling.
    
Before 2009, the number of motorcycle related deaths had increased for eleven years.