Three traffic deaths reported in separate holiday crashes

At least three people have been killed in traffic accidents on Missouri roads during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Bruce Tanner, 34, of Branson, Mo., was killed Wednesday night when his car hit a rock bluff on Missouri 165 outside Branson, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported.

David Jones, 48, of Topeka, Kan., was killed after he fell asleep shortly after midnight while driving a van on Interstate 55 one mile south of New Madrid, the patrol said.

A passenger grabbed the steering wheel after the van went off the roadway, but the vehicle then went off the other side and overturned in a field, the patrol said.

A 17-year-old Higbee, Mo., boy was killed in a separate accident, when he made a U-turn in front of another car.

The crash on a county road just outside of Higbee killed John L. Hubbard. Three teen-agers in the other car were taken to a Columbia hospital with serious injuries, the patrol said.

Another accident in New Madrid County left a Matthews, Mo., man injured and facing charges of driving while intoxicated.