Winter weather safety tip: Just slow down

It snowed Thursday in Southeast Missouri.

Close to home, we got about an inch, or less in some places. Our neighbors to the east got 2-3 inches and extreme southern portions of the Bootheel saw 4-6 inches.

Let’s be honest. A lot of folks in our area aren’t used to driving in snowy conditions.

But that still doesn’t make the nearly 100 crashes throughout Troop E an easier figure to grasp. That number accounts for only the accidents the Missouri State Highway Patrol responded to on state highways, which tend to receive more and faster treatment than some of our rural roads.

It doesn’t capture all of the slide offs and accidents that city and county officials responded to, or the ones that weren’t reported to law enforcement.

Sgt. Clark Parrott with the Missouri State Highway Patrol didn’t pull any punches when he gave the reason for the accidents. It was “recklessness,” he said bluntly.

“That’s what we’ve seen in all 13 counties of Southeast Missouri, is people driving too fast for the conditions,” he said.

We may not get a lot of snow here, compared to our neighbors to the north, but folks, we do get a lot of rain and even ice at times.

We know we need to slow down when the roads get slippery. Unfortunately, we just choose not to.

And how much of a difference does not slowing down really make in our day?

A Butler County first responder explained it this way, when dealing with far too many high speed crash deaths.

You can get to your destination in 60 minutes, at 60 miles per hour.

If you drive 120 miles an hour, with no interruptions (farm traffic, the slow driver with the persistent left hand turn signal, just to name a few), then you’ll arrive in 30 minutes.

If you can manage 90 miles an hour, with no interruptions, you’ll arrive in 45 minutes.

None of those scenarios are likely. So at full speed, pushing the speedometer up is likely to save you less than 15 minutes of travel time overall.

Those numbers shrink even more in stop-and-go town traffic.

And if you drop your speed below the posted limit, to a safe, slow crawl to allow for weather conditions, you’re not adding much to your commute. Again, it might be another 15 minutes or so.

But the cost of sliding off into the ditch, into another vehicle or worse is so much higher.

We still have a lot of January and February left.

We hope this first measurable snow will be a teaching moment for those drivers who keep their foot on the gas pedal as roads get worse.

Just slow down. That’s all it takes to make your day much better, and that of our first responders who spent a lot of time out in the cold Thursday helping people who knew better get home.