BOOTHEEL HAS NO FATALITIES OVER HOLIDAY

While Missouri suffered nine fatalities and Illinois had 21 over the July Fourth weekend, none were reported in Southeast Missouri or Southern Illinois, according to state highway patrols.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol and Illinois State Police give credit for the relatively safe weekend to a greater number of police on the roads, and driver's expectations of the patrols.

"We try to do a lot of stuff in advance to warn drivers," said Dale Poole, public information officer for Illinois State Police District 22. "We tell people to slow down, or you'll get to meet us."

Over the four-day weekend, there were 12 crashes in District 22, which covers Alexander, Pulaski, Union, Johnson, Massac, Pope and Hardin counties. Five of the accidents involved injuries, none of which were serious, Poole said.

There were 42 accidents with 20 injuries for the Missouri Highway Patrol's Troop E, which is responsible for Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Dunklin, Iron, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Ripley, Scott and Stoddard counties.

One fatal accident, involving a five-month-old girl near Portageville, was not included, said Sgt. Brent Davis of the Missouri Highway Patrol. Only accidents that occurred between 6 p.m. on Friday and midnight on Monday were part of the weekend statistics, he said.

Fatal accidents were less this year in Missouri, Davis said. Usually they are more than 13.

Although Davis had not heard of any unusually hard to handle motorists over the weekend, incidents involving alcohol usually give troopers the most problems.

"Drunks get a little more bold and a little more mouthy," said Davis, who mentioned that 19 DWI arrests were made in his area. "Then they get behind the wheel of a car and they become even more aggressive."

In general, drivers become more aggressive during holidays, Poole said. More people tailgate, flash their headlights at slower drivers and cut others off when passing, he said.

"On these holiday weekends, everyone is in a hurry," he said.

Highway patrols have tried to enlist other motorists into reporting problems on the road with the Combined Accident Reduction Effort, or CARE. The nationwide program asks drivers to press "star, 55" on their cellular phones to alert troopers, Davis said.

Sometimes police drive 15 miles out of their way when another driver reports a car stopped on the side of a road, and it turns out someone was just reading a map or pausing to rest, Poole said.

"You have to treat all the calls as if they were real problems," he said.