Father of teenage victim in deadly crash wants safer highway
The father of a teen killed in a car crash on Highway 54 wants the road made safer.
Aron Jones is the father of Karlie Jones, who was killed in a car crash on Highway 54 in Callaway County between Jefferson City and Holts Summit. She was the passenger in the car driven by Caleb McClain, who was also killed.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said McClain was driving westbound on 54 when he lost control and crossed into the eastbound lanes. The car hit a semitruck.
This is the third fatal crash on Highway 54 between Jefferson City and Holts Summit since Jan. 1, 2015.
Aron Jones is asking how many more people have to be killed in that area before the Missouri Department of Transportation does something about it. Jones suggests putting in a cable median to prevent cars from crossing into oncoming traffic.
“You have 70 mile per hour traffic going downhill into a corner,” Jones said. “I mean it just seems logical to put something there … It makes sense to put a guard rail up instead of memorials for people that are killed there.”
Jon Nelson, a traffic safety engineer with MoDOT says median cables cost about $125,000 per mile.
Nelson said MoDOT started installed the median cables about 10 years ago and currently has an estimated 800 miles worth across the state.
“They’re not cheap to install,” Nelson said. “Butwhere we are having stretches of roadway where that pattern exists and those crash experiences have proven to be there then it can be a very wise investment.”
According to Nelson, there is about a 95% success rate of those cables keeping a car from crossing the median. He estimates about 45-50 lives are saved every year because of the cables.
Nelson also said MoDOT reviews the state highways once a year and looks at factors to determine if a cable median should be added. Factors include the number and severity of “cross median crashes”.
Karlie Jones and McClain are the fourth and fifth teens to die in that area in the last 18 months.
In August 2015,Miriah McDaniel, 17, Elizabeth Moses, 17, and Meggan Fowler, 13, were hit by a wrong-way driver.
As of Wednesday morning, Jefferson City Public Schools officials said they were unaware of any funeral arraignments for Karlie or Caleb.
