BOONVILLE, Mo. (KMIZ)
Data from the National Traffic Highway Administration Shows that Highway 5 has seen the most deaths in the state during the past five years.
The highway saw an average of 11 traffic-related deaths per year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System data from 2018-22.
On Tuesday, four people were seriously injured in Howard County on Highway 5, south of County Road 345, according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report.
However, Kyle Green of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said these numbers can be misleading. Highway 13 had the second-highest average number of deaths in the last five years with an average of 10.2. State Route 30 came in third with an average of 8.8 deaths.
Highway 5 is the longest highway in the state. It stretches 650 miles across three different states and thousands travel it every year to get to the Lake of the Ozarks during the summer. Green said that given the data, Highway 5 is actually the safest on the list since Highway 13, is only 290 miles long while Highway 30 is just 52 miles.