Today is traditionally one of the busiest travel days of the year, as travelers head to their Thanksgiving destinations. The Missouri State Highway Patrol is participating in Operation C-A-R-E this Thanksgiving weekend, enforcing traffic laws and assisting motorists.
Highway Patrol Captain John Hotz says nine motorists were killed and another 482 were injured during Missouri’s 2022 Thanksgiving holiday counting period.
“We know this is a huge travel weekend, it always is every year and so we expect there to be additional traffic out there. But when you look at that, that’s a lot of people that are being killed and injured on our highways over basically a long weekend period of time there,” Captain Hotz says.
Captain Hotz tells 939 the Eagle that every available Missouri state trooper is on the highway today and again on Sunday, which are the two busiest travel days. He urges you to make safety your top priority. Captain Hotz also encourages you to make sure your vehicle is in good condition before you hit the rod this morning for Thanksgiving.
“We will see a lot of people that have difficulty of one fashion or another where they have parts break down on their cars, issues with tires, running out of gas. So we just ask people, we want everybody to make sure that their vehicle is in good shape,” says Hotz.
He also says there is never a reason for you to speed, drive aggressively or to drive impaired.
“Be courteous of other people out there. We’re all trying to get somewhere this weekend to whether to celebrate with family or to Thanksgiving parties or whatever the case may be. We just ask that you allow a little bit of extra time, that you drive courteous,” Captain Hotz says.
The Highway Patrol’s counting period begins this evening at 6 and runs through 11:59 on Sunday night.
