WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Montana ranks third-worst in the nation in the percent of traffic deaths that involved a drunk driver, a new report said Tuesday.

The Mothers Against Drunk Driving report said 39.2 percent of traffic fatalities in Montana in 2006 involved a driver with a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or greater, past the legal limit. That put Montana 49th out of the states and the District of Columbia.

Wyoming came in at No. 36, with 34.4 percent of fatalities involving a drunk driver.

The group released the report just days before Thanksgiving as part of its push to curb drinking and driving during the holiday season.

Wisconsin ranked worst, at 42.1 percent, while South Carolina had 40.5 percent, the report showed. Utah had the best ranking, at 18.8 percent.

Montana had a total of 103 drunk-driving fatalities in 2006, the report said. Other states had a higher number of deaths involving alcohol but also had higher total traffic deaths. The Montana deaths were a 4.6 percent decrease over the previous year, it said

Wyoming had 67 drunk-driving fatalities in 2006, a 24.1 percent increase, the report said.

MADD criticized both Montana and Wyoming for their laws on driving under the influence, calling them each "one of the nation's worst." The two are among 11 states that can't do sobriety checkpoints, the report said. They also have "weak" laws on alcohol ignition interlocks, a breath test device linked to a vehicle's ignition system, it said.

The interlock has proven to be up to 90 percent effective in preventing repeat drunk-driving offenses when installed on an offender's vehicle, the group said.

Generally, between 45 percent and 50 percent of fatal crashes in Montana involve alcohol, said Charity Watt Levis, public information officer for the Montana Department of Transportation. The exact figure varies by year, she said.

"It's definitely something that we continue to address," she said.

Those efforts include education through paid advertising and media focused on impaired drivers, she said.

Montana was also one of the first states to have a comprehensive traffic safety plan, she said, which includes alcohol as an issue.

The department works with community groups, law enforcement, first responders and others trying to save lives on the highway, she added.

"It's a big issue in Montana and it has been for a number of years," she said. The answer must include a "big cultural shift" for the state, she said.

"If it were an easy problem to address it would be fixed by now," she said. "It takes everybody. It takes friends and law enforcement and government agencies and people not allowing others to drive drunk and a change in mindset that it's OK to drive after drinking."

The Montana numbers are "not good," said Lt. Col. Mike Tooley of the Montana Highway Patrol. "We're all doing the best we can," he said. "It's tough up here in the Northwest."

The number of fatalities is partially due to Montana's 147,000 square miles, relatively small population and fewer law enforcement personnel, Tooley said.

On a typical mid-afternoon there are about 34 officers on the state highways, with about 20 already at crashes or other calls, he said.

That leaves about one officer per 10,000 square miles to look for violators.

"The opportunity to catch a drunk driver before they do harm is less than in some other places," he said. "It's tough to catch people."

People also die in crashes in rural Montana because they can't be reached quickly enough, he noted.

That has begun to improve with the increasing use of helicopters, he said.

"It's nobody's fault other than we're out here by ourselves, it's hard to get people to the hospital quickly," he said.

Montana's constitution does not allow sobriety checkpoints, Tooley noted. "As far as actual DUI checkpoints, we think we can match the effectiveness of those through concentrated patrols and working the areas where we have problems," he said.

Law enforcement is also involved in the educational aspect and trying slowly to change the culture of drivers in Montana, he said.