Missouri traffic deaths up compared to last year
Missouri roads have seen another uptick in deadly crashes this year — about 11 percent more than this time last year.
“Year after year, the leading cause of car crashes in Missouri is inattention, speeding and impairment. So, that shows you that it’s the human factor,” said Sgt. Scott White with Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Numbers show a gradual rise in deaths over the past three years. In 2016, so far, car crashes have killed 233 people in the state. Last year at this time, 24 fewer people had died in crashes.
“I don’t think you can look at one single factor and say this is the reason for the 11 percent increase. Cell phone use, inattention has a lot to do with it. We use our cell phones for GPS, email, Pandora, iTunes, changing the radio station,” said White.
Officials said another reason for the rise in traffic deaths could be cheap gas. Usually, cheaper gas prices mean more people taking road trips.
Missouri Department of Transportation administrators said road engineering plays a part in keeping drivers alive. We’ve all run over them – rumble strips. MoDOT has been putting rumble strips on interstates and highways since the mid 2000s. They’re used to jolt awake sleepy drivers — keeping them on the roadway. Also, MoDOT has installed guard cable along the median which could keep a vehicle from drifting across the median into oncoming traffic.
“When we’ve applied those across a system of roadways in a systematic manner, we’ve seen significant reductions in fatalities — really back from our peak in 2005,” said Jon Nelson with Missouri Department of Transportation.
Authorities said they see a lot of crashes involving teen drivers. Last year, almost 76 teens between the ages of 15 and 19 were killed on Missouri roads.
