Missouri State Highway Patrol releases statistics for the Christmas holiday weekend

Colonel Eric T. Olson, superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, provides the following preliminary statistics related to the Christmas holiday weekend:

Three people died in traffic crashes during the 78-hour counting period, which began at 6 p.m. Friday, December 23, 2022, and ended at 11:59 p.m. Monday, December 26, 2022

Troopers investigated the following:

Traffic Crashes — 306
Traffic Crash Injuries — 84
Traffic Crash Fatalities — 3
DWI — 52

 Last year during the 78-hour Christmas counting period, there were 881 traffic crashes statewide. In those crashes, eight people were killed and another 401 were injured. During the 2021 Christmas holiday, troopers investigated 227 traffic crashes which included four fatalities and 99 injuries. Troopers arrested 67 people for driving while impaired in 2021.

One fatality occurred on December 25. Samuel M. Mitchell, 63, of Joplin died when the vehicle he was driving traveled off the right side of the road and struck the concrete cap of a vertical culvert. The crash occurred in Newton County on Apricot Road south of Joplin.

There were no boating crashes or drownings over the 2022 Christmas holiday counting period.