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DENVER (AP) — Deaths in drunken driving crashes are down nationally but up in Colorado.

A new federal report has found that drunken driving fatality rates fell in 40 states and the District of Columbia in 2008. The rates in three states remained virtually unchanged but the rate increased in Colorado along with six other states.

In 2008, 273 people were killed in drunken driving crashes in Colorado for a rate of .36 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. That's an increase of 6 percent from 2007.

Colorado's rate is still near the national average despite the increase. Montana has the highest DUI death rate in the nation even though deaths there declined last year.

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