Morning motorcycle crash raises state’s holiday weekend fatality total

A 23-year-old man died in a crash Monday morning after his motorcycle traveled off the right side of the roadway and overturned, bringing the total number of traffic fatalities during the 2018 Memorial Day weekend to seven.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol collects data every Memorial Day weekend on the number of fatalities from car and boat crashes; arrests for driving or boating while intoxicated, and more.

This morning’s fatal traffic crash is the seventh of this year’s holiday weekend. In 2017 troopers recorded 9 traffic fatalities and in 2016 troopers logged 13.

So far this weekend there have been no fatal boat crashes reported, which runs consistently with the past two years. There were no fatal boat crashes reported by the highway patrol during the 2017 or 2016 Memorial Day weekends.

The number of arrests for driving while intoxicated appears to have lowered in the past two years. In 2016, troopers made 135 DWI arrests, and then made 107 during the holiday weekend in 2017. It’s possible that number goes up for the 2018 holiday. As of Monday morning, troopers have made 106 arrests for driving while intoxicated.

Two years ago troopers made 21 arrests for boating while intoxicated, and that number lowered to 20 in 2017. So far this weekend troopers have arrested 11 for BWI. Seven of those were reported by Troop F, the central district of the Highway Patrol.

The data for the 2018 Memorial Holiday weekend is preliminary as of this article’s publishing. Data is available via the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s online records,