Troop F ramps up enforcement on I-70, Highway 54 for Memorial Day

Troopers in Troop F are ramping up enforcement on Memorial Day, which marks one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Troopers across Missouri have been stationed in 20 mile intervals on major highways throughout the holiday weekend. In addition to the extra enforcement, Troop F will be stationed in 20 mile intervals along I-70 and Highway 54 on Monday.

Last year in Missouri, 13 people died in crashes over the holiday weekend. Since Friday, there haven’t been any fatalities in Troop F, but there have been three fatalities across Missouri. Those crashes happened in Jefferson County, Plate County and St. Francois County.

MoDOT says one of the biggest causes of traffic crashes is distracted driving. They say if there’s one thing drivers can do to stay safe, it’s to put the phone down.

“Statistics show that distracted driving causes a lot of accidents on our holiday weekends,” Mike Schupp, MoDOT central district engineer, told ABC 17 News. “You can pretty much sit at any intersection and watch traffic go by and somebody’s on their phone texting-and it’s a distraction.”

The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s holiday weekend counting period ends at midnight Monday.