Wednesday is traditionally one of the busiest travel days of the year, as many of you drive or fly to your Thanksgiving destination. Others will use Amtrak in Jefferson City. Missouri State Highway Patrol Lieutenant Eric Brown urges you to get your vehicle checked before you travel and to expect delays due to heavy traffic across the state:
“We just want to encourage everybody to plan ahead. Have a safe (Thanksgiving) holiday weekend, know your route, obey the traffic laws so you can avoid a traffic crash,” Lt. Brown says.
The Patrol is participating in Operation CARE, which stands for crash awareness and reduction effort. The Thanksgiving holiday fatality counting period begins tonight at 6 and runs through 11:59 Sunday night.
You’ll notice additional Missouri state troopers on the road starting this morning and throughout the entire Thanksgiving weekend, enforcing traffic laws and assisting motorists. Lieutenant Brown says 11 motorists were killed and another 571 were injured statewide during the 2024 Thanksgiving holiday counting period:
“It really shows you the difference that it makes when you have that many more people on the roadway at the same periods of time. Traveling either short distances or long distances … the propensity for those traffic crashes to occur really does increase,” he says.
Lieutenant Brown urges you to wear a seat belt. He says there is never a reason to speed, to drive aggressively or to drive impaired. Lt. Brown tells 939 the Eagle that traffic crashes are 100 percent avoidable:
“Someone has done something wrong. They’ve broken a law, they’ve failed to pay attention, they’ve failed to maintain their vehicle properly that results in that crash occurring,” says Lieutenant Brown.
He also reminds you that Missouri is a hands-free state, so you should put your phone down.