Write Up:

Safety is MoDOT’s number one priority, so much so that the Mission Statement was updated to include safety. A strategic planning framework called FOCUS that is based on Safety, Service and Stability was also created. 

MoDOT supports Missouri’s Blueprint – A Partnership Toward Zero Deaths, a strategic highway safety plan designed to reduce the number and severity of traffic crashes using the four key disciplines of traffic safety: engineering, enforcement, education and emergency response. In order to reach the Blueprint goal of 700 or fewer fatalities by 2021, new reduction targets were established in 2019 to reduce fatalities by 13% each year.

There were 218 fatalities in the fourth quarter of 2019. The preliminary total of 866 fatalities for 2019 is the lowest year-end total for the five years reported and is a reduction of just under 6% from 2018 year-end.  This decrease is an improvement but does not meet the continued goal of 13% reduction per year that began in 2017.  That target for 2019 was 801 fatalities or fewer.

Some success can be attributed to an increase in seatbelt usage. In the results of Missouri’s 2019 Statewide Seatbelt Survey, there was an 87.7% usage rate compared to the 2018 survey, which had an 87.1% usage rate. The Buckle Up Phone Down pledges increased from 6,313 for year-end 2018 to 12,123 year-end 2019.

Focusing on the Partnership Toward Zero Deaths, it is important to commend the eight counties that achieved Zero Fatalities for 2019.  They are:  Caldwell, Dade, Lewis, Mercer, Moniteau, Schuyler, Shelby and Worth.

Purpose:

The fatal number measure tracks quarterly, annual and 5-year average trends resulting from traffic crashes on all Missouri roadways.

Measurement and Data Collection:

Missouri law enforcement agencies submit a vehicle accident report form to the Missouri State Highway Patrol to be entered into a statewide traffic crash database. The database automatically updates MoDOT’s crash database system, which is part of the Transportation Management System. The rate of fatal crashes charts display annual and 5-year average fatality and injury rates per 100 million vehicle miles traveled for these same crashes. In addition, the fatality rate chart includes the national average.

The targets are based on a 13% improvement rate from the immediate prior year for fatalities.