The Kansas City Region of the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety recently kicked off its new partnership of safety advocates who come together for a common purpose: to end traffic fatalities and serious injuries on Missouri public roadways.

More than 60 partners from various organizations in the nine counties of Cass, Clay, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Pettis, Platte, Ray, and Saline gathered on Wednesday, September 4, at the Missouri Department of Transportation Kansas City District office in Lees Summit for the first meeting of the regional coalition.

Topics covered at the meeting included local traffic issues, the Missouri Hands-Free Law, working together as partners, and the state’s Buckle-Up Phone-Down campaign. Speakers included representatives from agencies like MoDOT, MSHP, MCRS-KC board members, and a testimony from Jo Higgins-Hines whose son, Jomari Hines, passed away tragically in a car accident just 10 days after graduating from high school this past summer.

The focus of the coalition is education, community outreach, enforcement, leadership, and partnerships that advance Missouri’s strategic highway safety plan. Safety campaign focuses include occupant protection, distracted driving, speed and aggressive driving, impaired driving, teen driving, older driving, pedestrians, and other road users.

Membership in the coalition is open to any person or organization in the nine counties of the Kansas City Region wishing to participate in developing and implementing traffic safety strategies. Meetings are held quarterly across the district with both in-person and virtual options. The next meeting is in January.