Total Motor Vehicle Accidents for the State of Missouri: 431,769
1. St Louis County – 121,933 (includes St Louis city)
2. Jackson County – 61,402
3. Greene County – 24,700
4. St Charles – 22,412
5. Clay – 14,889
The number one cause of car accidents in Missouri is speeding. The Missouri Department of Transportation(MoDOT) has taken on a pilot program that has been very successful in lowering motor vehicle accidents. As you can see from the map there are more accidents in higher populated areas. With speeding being the number one cause of accidents, this program aims to decrease congestion and help the flow of traffic. How? Through Variable Advisory Speeds.
Variable speed limits are adjusted to keep traffic running smoothly and improve flow because if congestion builds they can change the speed limit to ease traffic into certain areas. MoDOT chose interstate 270 for the program because it is one of the most congested interstates in St. Louis. Since 2008, when these variable speed limits were installed I-270 has the lowest crash rates of all St. Louis Interstates.
MoDOT then decided to change these variable speed limits to variable advisory speed limits, meaning that drivers are continuously advised as to how fast or slow they should be driving. Advisory speed limits are the suggested speed to safely travel, range from 60mph to 10mph and are not enforceable. They are designed to caution drivers and inform them of conditions up ahead, they will include information such as lane closures. The concept behind these variable advisory speeds is that reducing the speed of traffic actually allows more vehicles through the congested areas.
Resource: http://www.modot.org/stlouis/links/VariableSpeedLimits.htm