Highway Patrol sets record straight

Despite people's fears of snow-covered roads and head-on collisions, Montanans are most likely to be killed in single-car wrecks on dry pavement during daylight hours, the Montana Highway Patrol said.

In total, 23,529 car crashes on Montana roads claimed 269 lives last year, up 17 percent from 2001.

That total averages out to one traffic fatality every 33 hours, one traffic injury every 52 minutes and one car wreck every half-hour, according to an annual report for 2002.

The Highway Patrol report, which profiled fatal crashes from last year, identified some of the factors responsible for most...