Careless Driving Blamed for 20 Percent Spike in Fatal Crashes in MO

(Jefferson City, MO) -- Too many of us don't know what to do if our car runs onto the shoulder while we're behind the wheel.

Captain Tim Hull of the Highway Patrol says that lack of knowledge may be turning deadly. The number of cars running off the road and overturning is going up -- and so are traffic deaths.

"The right side tires drop off the edge of the pavement and then they run off the roadway and overturn, or strike an object, or the driver overcorrects, the vehicle jumps over into the other lane of traffic, if not hitting another car, then running off the other side overturns or strikes an object over there."

Hull says if people wear their seatbelts, they will survive most of those crashes. However, he says nearly three-quarters of victims aren't wearing them.

"That's the one thing we strive to do all the time is traffic safety. We're out there enforcing those traffic laws. But the reason we do that is to save lives out there and keep people from being seriously injured or killed in traffic crashes."

So far, traffic crash deaths are up by 62 statewide -- about a 20 percent jump -- over last year when the number of traffic deaths was the lowest it had been since 1949.