Part of being a reporter is watching trends. Some reporters pay attention to the economic trends of Wall Street, others are proficient at crime statistics and the luckiest reporters get to track batting averages season-to-season for the Chicago White Sox.

As for the Kennebec Commuter, we stick to what we know -- traffic and commuting trends.

They are not as exciting as some of the others but they can provide insight, nonetheless.

A few days ago, the Kennebec Commuter received an e-mail with a trend that is good news for every Mainer who drives. Not only are more of us buckling up, but the number dying on Maine roads is also down noticeably.

We called Lauren Stewart, Director of the Bureau of Highway Safety. You loyal readers may remember a few months ago when we spoke to Stewart about drunk driving around the holidays. Stewart also keeps a close eye on trends. These particular ones, she said, are reason for cheer.

"We certainly are pleased to see it," Stewart said of the numbers. "These are numbers that can jump around, but over the last couple of years, we're starting to work our way down again."

In a survey of almost 21,000 drivers and passengers in 10 counties, 83 percent of them were found to be compliant with the state's seat belt law. Not only is that above the national average, it is 3.6 percent better than in 2007, Stewart said.

"This is an annual survey that is conducted at the same observation point year after year," she said. "We want to be able to compare apples to apples."

Stewart added, however, it is too early to know for sure if the primary belt law is responsible for the percent increase.

The primary belt law, which went into effect April 1, states that everyone in a vehicle must wear a seat belt, and law enforcement can pull the vehicle over if someone isn't wearing one. Previous to that, state law said people had to wear seat belts, but the police couldn't pull a driver over just to enforce the seat belt law.

The Bureau of Highway Safety reported seat belt compliance at 59 percent in 2002, 33 percent in 1991 and 23 percent in 1986 (clearly people did not have mothers insisting on safety first, like we did).

It only makes sense, then, the number of people dying on Maine roads would go down if more people are buckling up.

That is the case, though Stewart said to link seat belt compliance to a drop in fatalities would be speculation at this point.

"The year isn't over yet, so we don't have all the numbers in," she said. "Primary belt law, though, I am sure has something to do with it. People want to follow the law."

Overall, Maine road deaths -- including both highways and otherwise -- are down by about 16 percent, year-to-date. There have been 140 reported fatalities in Maine from Jan. 1 to Nov. 21, compared to the 166 reported during the same period in 2007.

Though speculating, Stewart has preliminary evidence that seat belt compliance does have an effect on the number of fatalities.

"There are 140 deaths so far, and of those, 105 were in passenger motor vehicles," Stewart said, clarifying that meant they were in a vehicle with seat belts. The other deaths involved motorcycles, pedestrians or bicycles.

"Of those 105, 59 of the victims were not wearing their seat belts," Stewart added.

The Kennebec Commuter is no mathematician, but we figure that comes to 56 percent, which is more than half.

"This tells me that while our fatalities over all are decreasing, the victims might be dying because they weren't wearing a seat belt," Stewart said. "If they had, they still might be alive today."

Follow Meghan Malloy's commuter blog and track the cheapest gasoline prices in town daily at www.kjonline.com.