MoDoT reveals decrease in statewide traffic deaths in 2025
Jazsmin Halliburton
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Missouri Department of Transportation announced its road safety milestone in a press conference alongside the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Gov. Mike Kehoe Tuesday morning.
State officials announced that Missouri has seen a decline in traffic deaths every year since 2022 and further discussed its goal to have zero traffic deaths.
In 2025, there were 911 traffic deaths in Missouri. MoDOT reports that 955 people died on Missouri highways, and more than 100 of those crashes were caused by distracted driving.
“That’s a 5% decrease,” said Kehoe. “Compared to three years ago, it’s a 14% decrease in fatalities. This is the first time we’ve experienced a reduction over a three-year period since 2019.”
MoDoT’s state highway safety and traffic engineer, John Nelson told ABC 17 News that the decreased number of traffic deaths is due to many reasons, but it primarily comes down to people making better choices.
“We know seatbelt usage is increasing in Missouri, so that’s a positive sign,” said Nelson. “We’ve had fewer, belted fatalities for each of the last five years. So that’s a very strong indicator that more people are buckling up.”
Nelson also attributed the Hands-Free law that prohibits cell phones being used while driving. “While still a little early to see the returns of that, we do see reported distracted driving crashes are down in our state since passing that law,” Nelson said.
Nelson, along with other MoDoT official spoke of its Show Me Zero project plan that focuses on strategic highway safety. This is a plan over the next five years to identify what issues are occurring on the roadways from a safety perspective.