It was a safer year for motorists traveling on Missouri roads during the New Year's holiday this year.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol announced today that it has reports of just one fatality on the roads between 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve until 11:59 yesterday. Troopers investigated 157 accidents, which also resulted in 70 injuries, and arrested 90 people who were driving drunk.
The one fatality occurred around Springfield, when 31-year-old Joseph Russell apparently crossed the median on Interstate 44 and crashed headlong into an oncoming semi truck.
All those numbers are sharply improved from the 2009-2010 New Year's holiday, when five people died, the troopers investigated 319 crashes, and busted 113 people for drunk driving.
