As the number of deaths on Kentucky’s roads has risen each of the last four years, Clark County’s numbers have remained consistent.

According to statistics from the Kentucky State Police, Clark County recorded seven fatal accidents in 2016 and 2014. There were five in 2015, four in 2013 and six each in 2011 and 2012, the last years available on the KSP website.

In that same time span, Kentucky recorded 720 deaths in 2011, bottomed at 638 in 2013 before climbing annually to 835 deaths in 2016.

Last year’s deaths were the third most in Kentucky since 913 were recorded in 2006 and another 864 in 2007, according to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration.

In a recent column, Dr. Noelle Hunter, executive director of the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety, said more than half of those killed in 2016 were not wearing their seat belt. Twenty percent of the total involved an impairment factor.

Teen drivers accounted for less than 6 percent of fatalities, Hunter said; Drivers age 25-64 accounted for 60 percent of fatal crashes, she said.

Simple ways to improve traffic safety, she said, are wearing seat belts, not using cell phones while driving and not consuming alcohol prior to driving.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Kentucky ranked eighth in 2015 with 17.2 deaths per 100,000 population. Wyoming recorded the most with 24.7 deaths per 100,000 people, followed by Mississippi, Montana, South Carolina and Arkansas.