Traffic deaths in U.S. up by 7.2 percent in 2015: Transportation Dept.

A red traffic light stands in front of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington September 30, 2013. REUTERS/James Lawler Duggan

Thomson Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Last year 35,092 people were killed in traffic crashes in the United States, a 7.2 percent increase over 2014 that ended a five-decade trend of declining fatalities, the U.S. Transportation Department said.

Data "showed traffic deaths rising across nearly every segment of the population," the department said in a statement.

(Reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Chris Reese)

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