Traffic deaths, traffic accidents and arrests for driving while intoxicated during Labor Day weekend all decreased in 2012 compared to the same weekend last year.
Six people were killed on Missouri roads between 6 p.m. Aug. 31 and 11:59 p.m. Monday, which is down from 13 last year, according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol news release.
The highway patrol investigated 201 crashes and made 147 DWI arrests during the weekend, both considerably less than the 259 and 175, respectively, posted in 2011.
Highway Patrol Capt. Tim Hull said he isn’t sure of the exact reason for the drop but credits an increased focus on safety while traveling during holidays.
“Well, it’s difficult to determine things like that — when it goes down, what’s going on or what contributed to that — but we, as a law enforcement agency, have conducted several enforcement operations throughout the year,” Hull said. “We also focus a lot of our campaigns on holiday travel periods because there is an extensive number of increased vehicles during those travel days.”
In Columbia alone, eight people were arrested for driving while intoxicated between Friday and Monday, Columbia Police Department spokeswoman Jill Schlude said.
Poor weather may have played a part in suppressing those numbers. With what was left of a former hurricane set for the state, many residents might have decided to stay home rather than drive in risky conditions.
“There was a lot of newscast about the remnants of the tropical storm Isaac as it approached Missouri and that it was going to be here most of the weekend,” Hull said. “That might have discouraged travel.”
According to the release, no deaths occurred during the time period on either Friday or Monday, which were days of emphasis for the highway patrol.
“We call them the heavy travel days: the day prior to the holiday weekend and the final day of the holiday weekend,” Hull said. “Those are the days we usually target, the heavy travel days, and use our stepped up enforcement activities.”
This year, the highway patrol used what they call the 20-Mile Trooper Program to encourage safe driving on the busiest days.
“What that does is put a trooper out on those major highways every 20 miles and it increases the amount of visibility for that purpose, and in turn, a lot of times it will make people more aware and alert of what they’re doing, how they’re driving, and pay closer attention to their full time job of driving,” Hull said.
Not only were traffic incidents down, but boating incidents were, too. After two fatalities and 14 crashes over Labor Day weekend 2011, the 2012 holiday weekend saw just three crashes and no fatalities, according to the release. Arrests for boating while intoxicated also dipped this year, with seven arrests compared to 19 last year. Hull said some of the same things that factored into the amount of traffic incidents might have affected the water.
“Well, there’s a lot of education and enforcement activities going on on the water as well,” Hull said. “Certainly the weather is one of those things that would keep somebody off the water.”
Deaths from traffic incidents in the state of Missouri are happening at a higher rate overall for 2012, but Hull said the weekend was still encouraging.
“As far as the rest of the year goes, we’re still at an 11 percent increase in the number of (fatal accidents) statewide as compared to the same time period last year, so while our numbers are still up, we still had a good weekend of being down for the holiday weekend,” Hull said.
