ND approaches the record of highway deaths as the holiday travel season begins

(WDAY TV) - It's been one of the deadliest years on North Dakota roads in almost 30 years, but officers say many these devastating accidents could have been avoided. With the busy thanksgiving holiday closing in, officers are gearing up.

It's a week away. One of the four most traveled days of the year. Nationally, AAA projects 37.4 million people whizzing to mom, dad, and grandma's house. That's more than a million more than last year. That also means increased risk of something like this happening (crash). It’s a year when the state of North Dakota has seen its highest number of fatal crashes in nearly three decades, forcing some to take extra caution.

"Usually whenever it's a big, big traveling date like that I try to stay home."

"Sometimes it's higher volumes of traffic, maybe on a two lane highway that may spike your numbers."

This year, 124 people died on state highways. Approaching the 1982 record of 148 deaths with a month and a half left. Sergeant David Wolf says it's something that can be prevented: more than half of these deadly accidents were alcohol related.

"People are going to be attending more parties, more social gatherings."

Sergeant Wolf says the key to keeping roads and interstates like this safe and free of fatalities is education and enforcement."

"We’ve had officers going out to schools, different civic groups, talking to people, getting them ready for the winter driving."

So people heading home to their loved ones for the holidays can get there safely. In 2007 and 2008, 111 people died in car accidents each of those years on North Dakota roads.

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