According to one measure, Missouri is just about the most dangerous state in which to drive.
WalletHub, a financial services website, recently rated all 50 states based on their respective driving conditions. Texas rated the best, Hawaii the worst. Missouri landed in the bottom half at 28. However, that doesn’t tell the whole story.
The ratings were based on scores the evaluators compiled in a number of categories. While the Show Me State rated highly in a few of them, it ranked low enough in two categories that relate to motor vehicle crashes to end up with the bottom-half finish.
Missouri ranked right in the middle – 25th – in “Infrastructure.” Considerations in this category included the state’s weather (number of days with precipitation as well as ice) and the status of Missouri’s roads and bridges.
Bad Weather and Deadly Car Accidents
Missourians are no strangers to rain, snow and ice. But drivers who don’t respond safely to dangerous weather conditions may cause catastrophic accidents. There recently were multi-vehicle pile-ups and fatal crashes on I-44 and other roads in Missouri during snow and ice storms.
The nation’s crumbling infrastructure has been getting attention lately, as the federal administration puts together its latest plans for fixing America’s roads and bridges. Defective roadways are more than a nuisance. They can create dangerous driving conditions and ultimately contribute to car and truck crashes. Hazardous roads are often a result of poor design and construction as well as poor and neglectful maintenance.
Missouri’s High Rate of Fatal Motor Vehicle Wrecks
What really hurts Missouri’s overall drivability rating is its abysmal score in WalletHub’s “Safety” category. Only three states scored worse than Missouri’s 47th finish. Criteria in this category included rates of deaths from traffic accidents; incidents of careless driver behaviors such as cell phone use and speeding; and insurance premiums for the state’s high-risk drivers.
One other measurement included in this category was the state’s laws and penalties for drunk driving.
An unrelated measure shows Missouri may lag behind most other states in the enforcement of a new step designed to keep fatigued truck drivers off the road. A federal rule requiring truckers to record their driving hours electronically rather than in hand-written log books went live December 2017. According to truck industry publication Overdrive, Missouri will not issue tickets to truckers in violation of this rule until April 1 of this year.
Fatal crashes are often complex. They can be caused by many different things at the same time, including bad roads, bad weather, and bad drivers.
If you were seriously injured or lost a loved one in a fatal accident caused by another driver, contact a motor vehicle accident attorney to investigate further and identify all responsible parties.
The choice of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.
Authored by Gray Ritter Graham, posted in Blog February 12, 2018
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