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Face it - impaired driving affects lives
Make this bowl Sunday SUPER - designate a sober driver
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Click above to see how to celebrate Super Bowl like the pros.
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The Super Bowl is one of America's most highly anticipated sports events, when friends and family gather in homes, bars and restaurants to celebrate. As Super Bowl Sunday approaches and football fans across the country prepare for the game, the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety wants to remind everyone to designate a sober driver because - Face it. Impaired driving affects lives.
Preliminary numbers for 2017 show that 175 people were killed and 581 were seriously injured in Missouri crashes that involved a substance-impaired driver.
The coalition offers the following party plans to make sure you and your guests arrive home safely this Sunday night.
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Click above to see how to just enjoy the game.
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If you're attending a Super Bowl party or watching the game at a sports bar or restaurant:
- Designate your sober driver, or plan another way to get home safely before the party begins.
- If you don't have a designated driver, then ask a sober friend for a ride home; call a cab, friend or family member to come and get you; or just stay for the night.
- Never let friends drive if they've had too much to drink.
- If you know someone who is about to drive while impaired, take the keys and help them make safe travel arrangements.
If you're hosting a Super Bowl party:
- Make sure all of your guests designate a sober driver in advance, or arrange for alternate transportation to ensure they get home safely.
- Serve food and include non-alcoholic beverages at the party.
- Stop serving alcohol at the end of the third quarter of the game, and begin serving coffee and dessert.
- Keep the numbers for local cab companies handy, and take the keys away from anyone who has had too much to drink.
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Take the challenge: when you get into any vehicle, buckle up your safety belt. If you are a driver, put the cellphone down. Join the 2,164 people (300 of whom represent businesses) who have joined the movement so far.
Click below to accept the challenge!
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More Missourians are taking the challenge
Buckle Up - Phone Down
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Click above to hear Chad's story about not wearing a safety belt and using his phone while driving.
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Statewide, over 2,100 individuals and nearly 300 businesses have taken the Buckle Up - Phone Down challenge.
They're two simple acts that can save your life, and the lives of others. Buckle up and make sure every passenger in your vehicle is buckled up. If you're driving, put the phone down. Buckle Up - Phone Down.
"Nationwide, distracted driving is a leading cause of traffic crashes," said Bill Whitfield, executive chair of the coalition. "And seat belts are your best defense in a traffic crash."
With no primary seat belt law or all-driver texting ban, MoDOT and the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety are urging drivers to take their safety seriously, and take the pledge at
modot.org/BuckleUpPhoneDown/. Once there, you can pledge as an individual or business. You can also upload a photo and logo, or view other partners and their wall of fame.
Missouri is one of only 16 states with no primary seat belt law, and one of only three states without an all-driver texting ban.
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This day in transportation history
Feb. 1, 1885 - Charles F. Lummis completed an ambitious trip from Cincinnati to Los Angeles, having used only his feet for the journey of 3,507 miles. His trek began on Sept. 12, 1884, and he walked a daily average of 25 miles over the next 143 days. He wrote about his hike in the book "A Tramp Across the Continent."
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New Commissioners confirmed
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Two members of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission were confirmed by the Missouri Senate. Above, Robert G. Brinkmann, below Terry L. Ecker.
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The September appointments by Gov. Eric Greitens of Robert G. Brinkmann and Terry L. Ecker to the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission were confirmed last month by the Missouri Senate.
Brinkmann is chief executive officer of Brinkmann Constructors, a company he founded in 1984. A graduate of the University of Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri University of Science and Technology) with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering, Brinkmann is a registered professional engineer in Missouri.
Brinkmann is active in many civic organizations including Junior Achievement, chair emeritus of the board of trustees for Missouri S&T, member of the board of directors for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Foundation, member of the St. Louis Police Chief's Club, member of the Academy of Civil Engineers, and "Honorary Trooper" of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. He and his wife, Kim, live in St. Albans, Missouri.
Ecker and his wife, Susan, raise corn, soybeans and cattle on their farm northwest of Elmo, Missouri, just one-quarter of a mile from where Ecker's great, great grandfather settled in Nodaway County in 1868. He received a bachelor of science degree in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia and is a graduate of Agriculture Leaders of Tomorrow Class IX.
Ecker was appointed by three different U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture to represent Missouri on the United Soybean Board. He is a past vice chairman of the U.S. Soybean Export Council and has served as an agriculture field representative for U.S. Representative Sam Graves. He is a member of Missouri Farm Bureau and currently serves as president of the Nodaway County Farm Bureau. Ecker is a member of the Missouri Cattlemen's Association, Missouri Corn Growers and Missouri Soybean Association.
The terms of Brinkmann and Ecker, both Republicans, expire March 1, 2023. They have been serving on the Commission since their appointment on Sept. 8, 2017.
The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission is a six-member citizens' panel that governs MoDOT. It can have no more than three members from any one political party. Members are appointed to staggered six-year terms by the governor and must be confirmed by the Senate.
Other members of the Commission are Chairman Mike Pace, West Plains; Vice Chairman Gregg Smith, Clinton; Tom Waters, Orrick; and John Briscoe, New London.
You can read the full biographies of all the Commissioners here -
Commissioners
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Leadership conferences offered free to Missouri high schools
TRACTION - teens taking action to prevent traffic crashes
MoDOT's Highway Safety and Traffic Division, along with the Cape Girardeau Police Department, is offering a great opportunity to all Missouri high schools. Students can attend a traffic safety leadership training conference in July called TRACTION - Teens taking action to prevent traffic crashes. Traffic crashes remain one of the leading causes of death and serious injury for Missouri teens, making it very important that our youth join the mission to help save lives.
 TRACTION is a three day training program for 12 students and two advisors. TRACTION is designed to empower youth to take an active role in decreasing unsafe driving habits like driver inattention, impaired driving, and encouraging all teens to buckle up.
TRACTION seeks to accomplish this mission by providing youth and their adult advisors with the motivation, information, skills, and support necessary to develop a plan of action that addresses those unsafe driving habits through events and activities to be implemented within their school and communities. As a result, the program has the potential to have positive effects not only on the participants themselves, but also in their schools and the wider community as well. Each school will complete an action plan for their school and community to implement the following year. Generally, students from Student Council, SADD, TREND, FCCLA, or any other school leadership type program would be the perfect individuals for TRACTION.
The 2018 conference dates and locations are:
- Springfield - June 3-5, 2018 - University Plaza
- Cape Girardeau - July 22-24, 2018 - Drury Plaza
- Columbia - July 26-28, 2018 - Stoney Creek Inn
The cost for the conference is a $100.00 registration fee per school team to attend. Each team may attend one conference of choice. Hotel rooms and meals are provided at no cost; however, each school is responsible for their own transportation.
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Fatality Update
Did you know...between 2014-2016, there were 302 motorcycle drivers and/or riders killed in motorcycle crashes.
Motorcycles account for only 2 percent of registered vehicles in Missouri, but were involved in 12 percent of all fatal traffic crashes.
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Statewide Fatality Totals as reported on the Missouri State Highway Patrol website
as of
Jan. 28, 2018:
2018 Totals as of 1-28-18 - 56
2017 Totals as of 1-28-17 - 59
2016 Totals as of 1-28-16 - 58
2015 Totals as of 1-28-15 - 61
2014 Totals as of 1-28-14 - 42
2013 Totals as of 1-28-13 - 45
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Missouri Dept. of Transportation | (888) 275-6636
P.O. Box 270 Jefferson City, MO 65102-0270
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