As much as it hurts to pay $4 per gallon of gas at the pump, there is a plus side to it all. According to one researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, higher gas prices equal fewer deaths from car accidents.

Analyzing yearly vehicle deaths compared to gas prices, death rates drop significantly as people slow down and drive less. If gas sticks at $4/gal. or higher for a year or more, that could mean more than 1,000 fewer traffic deaths per month nationwide.

"It is remarkable to think that a percent change in gas prices can equal lives saved, which is what our data show. For every 10 percent rise in gas prices, fatalities are reduced by 2.3 percent. The effects are even more dramatic for teen drivers," said Michael Morrisey, Ph.D., director of UAB's Lister Hill Center for Health Policy and co-author of the findings.

Co-authoring the report along with Morrisey is David Grabowski, Ph.D. of Harvard Medical School.

The pair presented the early results in June at a health economist meeting in North Carolina. Their research included death rates and gas price changes from 1985 to 2006. The calculated percent reduction in fatalities can be exrtapolated from this data to 2008 and beyond, say the authors.

Research was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.