Tuesday kicked off the three day Traffic Safety and Blueprint Conference. The conference will outline “Missouri’s strategic highway safety plan,” according to a press release sent out by MoDOT.
The conference has representatives from MoDOT, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Federal Highway Administration, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, as well as a keynote speaker on why people drive distracted.
Missouri saw a reduction in traffic fatalities from the state’s high-water mark of 1,257 in 2005 all the way down to 786 in 2011 according to Bill Whitfield the MoDOT Highway Safety Director and chair of the Executive Committee of the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety. The numbers then plateaued before a nationwide spike in 2015. Whitfield said there are many ways to improve roadway safety but the easiest thing to do is wear a seatbelt.
“When we look at Missouri’s statistics on [fatal traffic crashes], we know that anywhere from 60 to 63 percent of those fatales were unbuckled at the time of that crash,” he said. He also said that half of the people who were unbuckled in fatal car wrecks were thrown from the vehicle.
Whitfield said that one of the biggest current safety problems is drivers attempting to multitask. “We have more drivers out there that are trying to multitask and you simply can’t multitask. You can’t do two things simultaneously,” said Whitfield. Whitfield’s message after that was simple, “Hands on the wheel, eyes on the road, keep your phone turned off.”
Missouri State Highway Patrol Lt. Col. Sandy Karsten echoed many of the thoughts of Whitfield. With colder weather approaching, Karsten reminded drivers to make sure their vehicles are prepared for frost, ice, and poor road conditions. Karsten and Whitfield both reminded motorists to drive within their ability and slowdown in inclement weather.