Missouri Safety

Meeting Missouri's Future Mobility Needs | Highways and Roads | Bridges | Travel | Congestion | Safety | Economic Impact | Vehicle Operating Costs | Funding and Taxes

Missouri’s traffic fatality rate is higher than the national average. Roadway safety improvements have been shown to help reduce traffic-related deaths.

• In 2000 alone, 1,157 people died in motor vehicle crashes.
  
• Reducing Missouri’s traffic fatality rate to the national average would save 134 lives per year.
  
• Roadway conditions are a factor in an estimated 30 percent of traffic fatalities.
  
• The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has found that every $100 million spent on highway safety improvement will result in 145 fewer traffic fatalities over a 10-year period.
  
• Highway safety is influenced by three factors: driver behavior, vehicle characteristics and roadway design.
  
• Factors such as the number of lanes, whether median barriers exist, the width of lanes and shoulders, the angle of curves, whether pavements are in good condition, and whether intersections have turn lanes have significant impact on overall safety.
  
• Widening a lane by one foot can reduce accident by 12 percent.
  
• Widening a lane by two foot reduces accident by 23 percent.
  
• Widening a shoulder has been found to reduce fatal accidents by 20 percent.
  
• Adding intermittent passing lanes to two-lane roads have reduced fatalities by 30 percent.
  
• Four-lane roads are safer than two-lane roads.
  
• More than 77 percent of all fatal crashes in the U.S. occur on two-lane roads.
  
• Only 14 percent of fatal crashes occur on roads with four or more lanes.
  
• In Missouri, 62 percent of major roads, excluding Interstates, are two-lanes.
  
• The Federal Highway Administration estimates that substandard road conditions and outmoded safety designs are a factor nearly one-third of all traffic fatalities.
  
• Investing in better highways and bridges will significantly reduce the terrible loss of life and injuries on our nation’s roads.
  
• Roadways with larger, more reflective signs and pavement markings and wider lanes and shoulders will benefit a rapidly aging population.
  
• Medians that divide highways prevent the head-on collisions that too often result from drunk driving.
  
• Guardrails that permit glancing contact instead of direct collisions with pillars and other fixed objects reduce the likelihood of death or serious injury by motorists failing to use them.