Washington ? Federal safety officials say auto fatalities dropped almost 10 percent in 2008 through October, a trend overlapping with a historic cutback in driving as well as advancements in safety measures such as technology that prevents rollovers.

If the trend holds up for the year’s last two months, highway deaths could reach their lowest level in the 42 years since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began keeping records.

NHTSA said Thursday there were 31,110 auto fatalities the first 10 months of 2008. That’s a 9.8 percent decline over the same period in 2007, when there were 34,502 fatalities.

The traffic safety administration has been tracking auto fatalities since 1966, when there were more than 50,000 deaths on the highways. The number of deaths peaked in 1972 at 54,589, then generally declined over the next two decades. The total has hovered above 40,000 the past few years.