Federal transportation officials say Kansas had the country’s second-biggest increase in drunken-driving fatalities last year even though alcohol-related deaths declined nationwide.

The Kansas City Star reports 168 people died in alcohol-related crashes on Kansas highways in 2010, 45 more than the year before.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says only New York, with an increase of 46 drunken-driving fatalities, had a bigger jump in 2010, the most recent year available for highway data.

Kansas lawmakers have struggled to toughen laws to deal with repeat drunken drivers. A state report in 2009 called Kansas’ system for dealing with repeat offenders dysfunctional.

In Missouri, there were 44 fewer drunken driving fatalities last year than in 2009. Nationwide they were down about 5%.