WASHINGTON — National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark V. Rosenker welcomed the news that traffic fatalities in the U.S. fell to their lowest rate since the government began keeping statistics.

“I was pleased to see that traffic fatalities, which make up more than 90 percent of transportation deaths in this country, fell to a record low rate in 2006,” Rosenker said. “However, we still lost more than 42,000 of our fellow citizens, and we have a long way to go to stop this senseless loss of life.”

Last year 42,642 people died in traffic crashes — a drop of 868 deaths compared to 2005. The 2 percent fall led to the lowest-ever fatality rate of 1.42 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.

Large truck injuries declined by 15 percent while fatalities from accidents involving commercial trucks totaled 4,995 in 2006 — a decline of 245 deaths compared to 2005. The number of truck occupants who died in those accidents, however, stayed the same from 804 fatalities in 2005 to 805 in 2006.

Fatalities and injuries of occupants in passenger vehicles, SUVs and light trucks also continued a steady decline.

Bucking the trend of declining fatalities, motorcycle deaths rose by 5.1 percent.

Rosenker noted that the success in lowering the fatality rate is the result of many sectors of society working together, including government regulators in the U.S. Department of Transportation, state and federal law enforcement officials, vehicle manufacturers and private advocacy groups.

“I call on all stakeholders to continue to promote improvements in vehicle design and to continue to strengthen highway safety laws so that this fatality rate can continue its historic decline,” Rosenker said.