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Stay-at-home orders lead to safest April for drivers in 18 years

St. Louis roads had the fewest crashes recorded since 2002 last month, but more of them were fatal

ST. LOUIS — There’s a silver lining for the people who had to travel to work throughout the stay-at-home orders in April. Roads were clearer, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol said that’s one reason traffic crashes hit an all-time low last month.

For the month of April, there were 276 crash reports in the St. Louis area published by MSHP on its STARS crash reporting map. The region, covered by Troop C, usually sees about 5,374 crashes in a typical April. The numbers for last month are the lowest in the 18 years of data published on the MSHP website.

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This happy side effect of an otherwise stressful time gave the state police the opportunity to assist with the state’s response to COVID-19, according to Lt. Collin Stosberg with the Public Information & Education Division.

But, he added that drivers should still know they’re being watched on the roads.

“Several departments went to only reactionary services during the pandemic, so people thought they would not get stopped. Secondly, people took advantage of the fact that there was less traffic and thought they would travel at higher speeds. The patrol’s number one mission is to promote safety on the roadway. We practice safe social distancing just like everyone else, but if we saw people who were endangering lives or property, we took appropriate enforcement action,” wrote Stosberg.

Unfortunately, there were four fatal crashes in the St. Louis region in April. Fatal crashes in April usually make up one-third of 1% of all traffic crashes. Last month, that number rose to 2% of crashes.

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MSHP troopers saw multiple drivers travel faster than 100 miles per hour on Missouri highways.

“Speed is the number two cause of all traffic crashes and is the number one cause of fatal crashes in Missouri,” wrote Stosberg. “The faster a car is going when involved in a crash, the more severe that crash will be. It’s the laws of physics. None of us can cheat the laws of physics.”

With parts of the state reopening for business this week, Stosberg reminded drivers to keep the roads safe.

“We encourage motorists to always pay attention to the full-time job of driving, obey the speed limit, drive sober and make sure everyone is buckled up,” he wrote.

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