Nine people died in traffic crashes in Missouri during the 2018 Christmas holiday weekend.
A news release from the Missouri State Highway Patrol says the 2018 Christmas counting period ran from 6 p.m. on Friday, December 21, through 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, December 25.
There were seven fatalities during the counting period in 2017.
During this year’s time frame, the patrol investigated 294 traffic crashes, which included 80 injuries and six of the fatalities. The remaining three fatalities happened as the result of a two-vehicle crash in Blue Springs, which is being investigated by the Blue Springs Police Department.
Three fatalities occurred in the Troop A, Lee’s Summit area; two each in the Troop C, Weldon Spring, and Troop H, St. Joseph, areas; and one in each of the Troop D, Springfield, and Troop I, Rolla, areas.
One of the fatalities happened in the Chillicothe area as 80-year-old Edward Gault’s vehicle reportedly crested a hill at a high rate of speed, became airborne, traveled off the north side of the roadway, continued down a ditch, struck an embankment, became airborne a second time and overturned onto its top off the north side of Missouri Highway 190. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.