The St. Louis Region has a speeding problem. Our motorists rank fourth nationwide for crashes related to speeding. Pedestrians living in disadvantages areas of our region are also particularly vulnerable to being hit and severely injured by a vehicle. In St. Louis City alone, nearly half of pedestrian fatalities (48%) occurred in poorer neighborhoods between 2018 and 2022.
These are just a few of the concerning statistics found within a report released on June 26 by EWG’s Transportation Planning team called Gateway to Safer Roadways: St. Louis Regional Action Plan. The report analyzes crashes, causes, locations, and other hazard indicators within the eight-county Region from 2018 through 2022. It further details all fatalities and serious injury crashes impacting motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists within the greater St. Louis Region, and includes maps, data, and digital high-injury networks – roadways within the region with the highest rates of crashes. It further presents data on the causes of crashes in the region.
Finally, the Action Plan proposes a variety of infrastructure, policy, program, technological, and behavioral strategies to ultimately reduce fatal and serious injury crashes by 50% by the year 2050.
This would amount to 163 lives saved and another 995 spared from serious injuries. The tagline for this goal is “Fifty by Fifty.”
The Action Plan has a series of five high-injury network priority lists where investment would best reduce fatal and serious injury crashes. These priority lists include: all modes corridors, all modes intersections, all modes hot spots, pedestrian corridors, and interstates. In many cases, plans are already underway to mitigate hazards in these areas.
Click here for a list of the top five most hazardous intersections and corridors by city/county.
The completion of the Gateway to Safer Roadways Action Plan paves the way for local and regional jurisdictions to apply for funding through the United States Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program from a roughly $1 billion pool of federal grant money for safety improvements to the Region’s most hazardous roadways as well as mitigation initiatives and strategies to save lives. Grant opportunities range from $100,000 to $25 million per applicant. Key findings of the Action Plan include:
- Of the 349,528 crashes in the Region from 2018-2022, 41% of them occurred in St. Louis County and another 21% in the City of St. Louis.
- In 2021 the St. Louis Region had the 21st highest traffic fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled of 50 peer regions across the United States. The Region was above Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis. The Region is nearly on par with rates of fatalities in Atlanta, Dallas, and Philadelphia. The Region has an average of 302 fatal crashes a year.
- The Region has a speeding problem. Thirty percent of all crashes involved speeding. St. Louis ranks 4th among 50 peer regions nationwide for crashes related to speeding.
- Other crash factors include failing to yield (19%), improper lane usage (16%), alcohol and drugs (11%), distractions (9%), and disregarding signals or signs (9%). The latter includes running red lights and stop signs.
- With 73,409 crashes within its boundaries, the City of St. Louis has a disproportionately high number of crashes relative to its population.
- While 18.5% of the region lives in disadvantaged areas, these areas account for 40% of the Region’s fatal, and serious injury crashes. Disadvantaged neighborhoods in the City of St. Louis have the highest percentage of fatal and serious injury crashes relative to their populations.
- Pedestrians in these neighborhoods are particularly vulnerable. Nearly half (48%) of all pedestrian-involved crashes occurred in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
- Younger adults in 21-25, 26-30, and 31-35 age categories were involved in the greatest number of fatal and serious injury crashes. Seniors over age 65 and youth, 16-21, were involved in the next highest number of crashes.
- There is an upward trend in pedestrian-involved crashes region-wide. They increased by more than a quarter from 2018 through 2022 and accounted for 19% of all fatal crashes in the Region.
- Data shows a distinct trend of higher crashes near sunset with hourly concentrated surges happening in July, November, and December.
- Missouri does not have a primary seatbelt law and nearly two-thirds of roadway fatalities in Missouri are unbuckled. Illinois does have a primary seatbelt law and only one-fourth of roadway fatalities in Illinois are unbuckled. While Missouri does not have a primary seatbelt law, many local municipalities and counties have taken it upon themselves to carry a primary seatbelt ordinance.
Structural improvements to hazardous roadways – such as installing median barriers, rumble strips, dedicated turn and acceleration lanes at intersections, lighting, traffic calming, and many others – are one part of the plan to reduce crashes in the Region.
Gateway to Safer Roadways further presents a blueprint for state, regional, and local jurisdictions to implement safety programs and policies, such as creating a regional primary seatbelt law, high school driver license training, community and youth awareness campaigns, better roadway safety laws, use of new technology, partnerships with businesses regarding vehicle safety enhancements, stronger enforcement, and other initiatives.
Gateway to Safer Roadways was produced by EWG in partnership with CBB Transportation Engineers + Planners, Civil Design Group, Inc., Excel Business Concepts, and Equitable Cities. Its production included input from a 20-member Regional Task Force and county stakeholder groups that included various municipalities, sheriff’s departments and agencies representing the City of St. Louis, Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles, and St. Louis counties in Missouri and Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair counties in Illinois.