Missouri has come through the first quarter of the year with a dramatic drop in traffic fatalities. Traffic crashes in the first 90 days of the year have killed 195 people – 27 percent fewer than at this time last year. Highway Patrol Captain Tim Hull has never seen that kind of a drop.
After the first quarter of 2006, Missouri had recorded 268 traffic deaths. In the first three months of 2007, the total was 195.
Hull says Missouri motirists seem to be more aware of what is happening around them. He also says traffic checkpoints and improved education programs are contributing to the decrease. But he points out the only major travel holiday during that period was New Year’s Day. He says the major travel holidays and the major travel season are yet to come.
Nonetheless, the trend is pointing to Missouri’s first sub-1,000-fatality year since 1993.