Missouri State Highway Patrol increasing presence on roadways

According to multiple transportation companies, Wednesday night is the worst time for drivers to hit the road.

"So with the large volume of traffic that we see during these peak travel periods, we understand that people have a tendency to get in a hurry and otherwise good drivers tend to kind of let those driving habits go by the wayside," said Trooper Gentry Pemberton, Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is out and about pushing what they call high visibility to make sure people practice good driving behavior.

"Our focus on days on today are referred to by inter agencies as high visibility days we want to put cars on the shoulder, that doesn't mean write a million tickets, that means we want people to see us on traffic stops know that we're out here and there are legitimately are a lot of us out here and try to curb that unsafe driving behavior by having a very visible presence out in the counties," said Trooper Pemberton.

With troopers out on roadways monitoring traffic, they want you to keep a few things in mind.

"The number one thing - they are very high volume traffic days we all know that, expect congestion, expect there to be more vehicles in the roadway, so with that in mind be prepared, leave early, give yourself plenty of time, don't put yourself in a position to be rushed and don't be more tempted to do some of those behaviors that we see, following too close, not using your turn signal," said Trooper Pemberton. "Just try to be cognizant of the fact that there are more people on the roadway and we all just want to make it home to our families."