Missouri highway & road deaths at lowest rate in 60 years - January 19, 2010

According to statistics from The Missouri Coalition For Roadway Safety at www.savemolives.com, Missouri enjoys the lowest traffic accident fatality rate in 60 years. Members of The Missouri Highway Patrol and the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety are in Springfield, Missouri today as part of a statewide program to continue that trend to reduce car, truck and automobile related fatalities on Missouri roads. As of January 12, the number of individuals killed on Missouri highways was 14 as opposed to 40 during the same period last year. 2009 marked the lowest number of fatalities recently with 868 crash related deaths. Every lost life is tragic and the statewide effort is intended to continue this downward trend.

Following are the statistics for the last 5 years:

2009 Year End Total = 868

2008 Year End Total = 960
2007 Year End Total = 992
2006 Year End Total = 1,096
2005 Year End Total = 1,257

The decline from 2005 to 2006 represented the largest drop in traffic related fatalities of any state in the nation. Missouri accident safety advocates banded together to work towards the problem of traffic crashes and deaths. Leana Dupree, the executive director of the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety noted in a 2006 release that "engineering improvements along with the combination of law enforcement and educational efforts have been proven to reduce fatalities. Strong partnerships made these improvements possible." Some of the engineering improvements have included the installation of median guard cable on interstates, rumble strips, smoother pavement, better and brighter signing, striping and reflective markings to help keep drivers on the road.

Following is a breakdown of total fatalities by target area for the years 2005-2007. Separate statistics are available for disabling injuries.

TOTAL FATALITIES
BY TARGET AREA
2005-2007

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