After peaking at 18 in 2009, traffic deaths in Callaway County have been declining during the last four years, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reports.
With more than half of the year in the record books, Callaway County this year has recorded only three traffic fatalities, all of them on Interstate 70. That's a reversal of the statewide trend of a 14 percent increase in traffic crashes this year and a 25 percent increase in the 13-county region of Central Missouri.
Fatal traffic crashes hit an annual high of 18 in Callaway County in 2009 and most of them were on side roads. No deaths that year were recorded on Interstate 70 in Callaway County.
To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.