Highway Deaths Drop
By: Gretchen Bolander
Updated: June 20, 2012
And the news is also good for Missouri and in the City of Joplin.
A federal report shows a decrease of 1.7 percent in highway deaths in 2011. That brings the total to a 32,310, the lowest number in more than 60 years.
Its dropped 5 percent in Missouri, bringing the total to 773. Also, the lowest number in more than 60 years.
Joplin dropped from four road deaths in 2010 to just three in 2011. Six of the seven cases happened on the highway. Joplin police officers point out that highway driving conditions are different than city streets, like the risk of a chain reaction of wrecks.
But it could be a different story in 2012 where both Joplin and statewide numbers were up at the beginning of the year. But with half the year to go, that could still change.
