The Missouri State Highway Patrol reports two people died in traffic crashes during the 30-hour 2019 Christmas holiday counting period.
The 2019 Christmas counting period ran from 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve through Midnight on Christmas Day.
The Highway Patrol report says there were 91 crashes with 23 injuries and 2 deaths.
They also reported 18 DWIs and no boating crashes or drownings.
There were no boating crashes or drownings over the 2019 Christmas holiday counting period.
The MSHP says both fatalities occurred in the Troop C, Weldon Spring, area, on Christmas Day, December 25, 2019.
Leon J. Barnett, 48, of De Soto, MO, died when another vehicle struck the motorcycle he was driving.
Barnett was heading northbound on Interstate 55 in Jefferson County when another vehicle traveling the same direction changed lanes, striking the rear of Barnett’s motorcycle.
The impact caused Barnett to be ejected. Barnett was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. Barnett died at the scene of the crash.
The driver of the vehicle that struck him sustained minor injuries; he was wearing a seat belt.
Elizabeth J. Rutledge, 32, of Troy, MO, was driving along Highway H in Silex, Missouri when the vehicle she was driving traveled off the right side of the roadway.
The MSHP reports she overcorrected, causing the vehicle to return to the roadway and overturn.
Rutledge was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The numbers this year are down compared to the statistics from the Holiday Counting Period in 2018 when the MSHP reported over 1500 crashes in a 102 hour period. In those crashes, 11 people were killed and another 421 were injured.
