ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Fatalities on Missouri roads and highways are way down through the first two months of 2013.

Captain Tim Hull with the Missouri State Highway Patrol says ironically, the harsh weather the state has experienced the past couple weeks may be partially responsible.

“Traffic has had to drive much slower due to weather conditions that we’ve had,” he explained. “We had like one snow storm last year which lasted maybe a day or so.”

There have been 78 vehicular fatalities in Missouri thus far, compared to 112 at this time a year ago.

There were crashes but no deaths on state highways from February 14 through February 25, wrapped around a major winter storm that left roads snow-covered, icy and treacherous.

“Last year, in January and February, we were seeing motorcycles out driving around and the number of motorcycles deaths were up last year,” Hull said. “So when there’s a change in the type of weather, it affects our driving.”