As part of the department's commitment to safety, the goal of the Ohio Department of Transportation was to reduce the crash fatality rate in Ohio to less than 1.3 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (mvmt) by end of 2008. Final numbers for 2008 won't be available until the end of the year, but Ohio's highways continue to see a safer trend. While the total number of fatalities increased slightly from 1,239 in 2006 to 1,257 in 2007, the state's fatality rate in 2007 was 1.13, well below the national average and meeting ODOT's goal for 2008 months ahead of projection. Moreover, according to the crash data through June 2008, Ohio is down about 34 fatal accidents compared with the same time period last year.