Holiday deaths decrease

Five people lost their lives on Virginia roads over the Memorial Day weekend, the lowest number of traffic deaths in the state in 10 years.

Five fatal crashes have been reported to Virginia State Police as of noon Monday.

One of those crashes was in Loudoun County—the rest were in Bland, Tazewell, Pittsylvania and Clarke coun-ties.

Four of the five people killed were not wearing their seatbelts.

Alcohol appears to be a factor in at least one of the fatal crashes, said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.

In addition to the five fatal crashes, Geller said state police were called to 653 car crashes statewide.

In 2008, 18 people were killed in vehicle crashes in Virginia.

Each year the state averages about 13 traffic deaths over the Memorial Day holiday, said Geller.

The nearly 28 percent decline in traffic fatalities over last year caught the attention of Virginia State Police Col. W. Stephen Flaherty.

"To experience such an extreme decline in traffic fatalities over such a heavily traveled holiday weekend is truly encouraging," said Flaherty in a released statement.

The drop in fatal crashes is also welcome news for Sagair Ayub, who teaches at the Prince William Driving School in Manassas.

"We tell our students every day that there is a 30 percent chance they will get into an accident each time they get behind the wheel," said Ayub.

His school offers classes for people who are working to obtain a driver's license for the first time to those who want, or have been ordered by a court, to improve their driving skills.

One of the assignments he gives to would-be drivers: sit near a stop sign and count the number of drivers who stop versus the number of drivers who ignore the warning sign.

"About nine out of 10 drivers do not stop at stop signs, and most crashes happen at intersections," said Ayub.

His students then present their findings from their stop sign observations to the class.

The numbers, he said, always surprise them.

Virginia's low fatality numbers come less than a week after a GMAC Financial Services survey said the state ranked only 21st in the country in knowledgeable drivers.

The survey polled more than 5,000 drivers in all 50 states, including the District of Columbia, and found that Vir-ginia drivers scored an average of 78 percent on a sample driving test.

The questions for the test were taken directly from a sample Department of Motor Vehicles driver's test, said a GMAC spokesman.

Just over 16 percent of Virginians polled for the survey failed the test.

Last year Virginia ranked 40th on the list.

This year Wisconsin and Idaho drivers tied for first place, and New York ranked on the survey as having the least knowledgeable drivers in the nation.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.