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The following may sound like an exaggeration: "We're washing blood off our highways every day," said Cpl. Jess Thornton of the Alabama State Troopers.

U.S. highway fatalities in 2015 jumped 7.2% to 35,092, an increase of 2,348 deaths from 2014, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported Aug. 29.

After years of tougher drunken-driving laws and a massive awareness campaign, the public's attitude about intoxicated motoring shifted and traffic fatalities decreased.

After dropping by 25% from 2005 to 2014, traffic fatalities in the United States rose 7.7% last year, according to preliminary data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Fatal crashes involving large trucks were up 4%.

U.S. traffic fatalities over the Independence Day weekend will probably climb this year to the most since 2008 as an improved economy and lower gas prices encourage more people to get behind the wheel, a safety group said.

Traffic fatalities increased in 2015 by an amount not seen in 50 years, alarming road safety advocates. The trend in Texas, which has the deadliest highways in the country, remained largely unchanged.

Early estimates of the overall number of traffic fatalities in the United States show about a 9.3% increase the first nine months of 2015 compared with the same period in 2014.

Deaths in the truck transportation industry declined 8% to 461 in 2013, according to a preliminary report on fatal occupational injuries by the U.S. Department of Labor.