It only seems as if Missouri motorists are seeing more Highway Patrol cars on the roads. Actually those cars have been there all the time and they might be one reason the number of people killed in traffic crashes dipped by double digits last year.

The Highway Patrol credits several things for the 11 percent reduction in traffic fatalities last year—including median barriers and rumble stripes on big highways, safer cars, more sophisticated medical response teams…..and the installation of computers on patrol cars so troopers can file reports from roadside–staying more visible–instead of filing them from an office.

And then, says spokesman John Hotz, there’s the matter of marking 142 previously-unmarked patrol cars. He says the majority of them were used for traffic enforcement anyway. But he thinks motorists seeing the cars with markings on them will drive more appropriately.

It’s not that these unmarked cars are no longer useful as unmarked cars. Hits says it’s just a case of increasing the highway patrol’s visibility.

Oh yes—although the patrol has marked 142 of its cars, don’t think that’s all of the unmarked vehicles in the fleet. Hits says the patrol still has a lot of unmarked cars that can be used for special enforcement projects.

 

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