Holiday traffic crashes in Missouri nearly double from last year

The number of traffic crashes worked by the Missouri Highway Patrol over the Christmas weekend was up 89 percent over the same period last year, the patrol reported Tuesday.

But the number of fatalities in those crashes — five — was the same as in 2016.

Troopers investigated 491 crashes statewide from 6 p.m. Friday through midnight on Christmas. During the same counting period last year the patrol worked 260 crashes.

The number of injuries in traffic crashes this year was 125, up from 86 last year.

Drug arrests were up from 40 to 49. But troopers arrested a third more people for driving while impaired, 91 compared to 68.

Two of the fatalities this year occurred in the Troop A territory of the patrol, which includes the Kansas City area. They both resulted from a one-vehicle crash about 12:30 a.m. Saturday in rural Carroll County. Four young adults, all from Carrollton, were traveling in a pickup on Missouri Highway CC east of County Road 261 when the truck ran off the road and struck an embankment and a tree before overturning.

Teagan E. Birdno, 19, and Matthew D. Landi, 21, both passengers, were ejected from the truck and pronounced dead at the scene. The driver had serious injuries and a third passenger had minor injuries.

None of the occupants was wearing seat belts.

This story was originally published December 26, 2017 at 10:54 AM with the headline "Holiday traffic crashes in Missouri nearly double from last year."