Traffic deaths down in Missouri for 2017

So far this year, 340 people have been killed in traffic crashes on Missouri roadways, down 6 percent compared to the same time last year.

“It’s the trend we want to have, but we still need to be vigilant,” said Bill Whitfield, highway safety director with the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Traffic fatalities in Missouri have been on an upward trend since 2014. Last year 949 people were killed in crashes, the most since 2008.

“Last year was a bad year for Missourian traffic fatalities,” Whitfield said.

“Any time we have a traffic fatality, it’s a crisis, really,” said Lt. Paul Reinsch with the Missouri State Highway Patrol. “It affects not only that person that’s driving, it affects their family, their community, their neighborhoods. We’re just asking everyone to be as safe as they can and not only think about themselves, but think about their family members when they get behind the wheel.”

At the beginning of the year, MoDOT rolled out its four-year strategic highway safety plan, “Missouri’s Blueprint – A Partnership Toward Zero Deaths,” aimed to lower the number of traffic fatalities. The goal is to reduce the number of traffic deaths by 7 percent each year in Missouri.

Whitfield said it’s all about changing the traffic-safety culture.

“We know that over 90 percent of all motor vehicle crashes are caused by human error,” he said. “It’s just critically important that the driving public understand their roles and responsibilities for making our roadways a safer place to travel.”

Lt. Reinsch said driver inattention is usually the reason for the crash.

“That could be talking on a cellphone, it could be talking to the person in the car with them, listening to the radio,” he said. “Whatever it is, we just want them to concentrate and make driving their number one focus at that point in time.”

Reinsch said troopers are beginning to see more people wearing their seat belts while driving. But both he and Whitfield said the numbers aren’t good enough.

According to Whitfield, 81 percent of Missouri drivers are wearing their seat belts, whereas the national average is more than 90 percent.

While the number of traffic deaths are down so far in Missouri this year, Reinsch said troopers tend to respond to more traffic crashes during the summer months.

“The ‘busy season’ is starting soon,” he said. “We’re asking people to be extremely careful and just obey all those traffic laws and take their time when they’re on the highway.”