2017 traffic fatalities in South Dakota up 11 percent

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Highway traffic fatalities in South Dakota last year were up about 11 percent over 2016.

The Department of Public Safety says there were 129 fatalities in the state in 2017, up 13 from the previous year.

Office of Highway Safety Director Lee Axdahl says the state was on target to finish the year with fewer than 100 traffic fatalities for the first time in history, but there were 42 fatalities in the last three months of the year - about one-third of the yearly total.

Axdahl says South Dakota still has one of the lowest traffic fatality rates in the nation.