Why Kansas City Experiences High Rates of Car Accidents
Request Free ConsultationTraffic accident deaths skyrocketed to a 16-year high nationwide during the pandemic in 2021, including car accident numbers in Kansas City which totaled 103 deaths in 2021—the highest number of car accident deaths in the city in 30 years. Accident rates dropped again in Kansas City in 2022, reduced to 90 fatalities. Sadly, 2023 again saw an increase, with 102 deaths. Even though traffic fatalities decreased nationwide by 3%, they increased in Kansas City by 13%. What makes Kansas City a disproportionately high region for car accidents?
Kansas City Police Cite Understaffing as a Major Factor In Kansas City Car Accidents
Law enforcement employee numbers are down in Kansas City according to the Kansas City Police Department. After a wave of post-pandemic and police protest-related retirements and resignations, Kansas City’s traffic control division is operating at half the number of officers it had in 2020. The lack of visible traffic officers patrolling the communities and highways of Kansas City may encourage drivers to commit dangerous traffic violations such as speeding and running red lights.
What Is Causing Higher Car Accident Rates in Kansas City?
Some traffic experts speculate that drivers increased their risk-taking during the pandemic due to less traffic congestion. These riskier driving practices included higher levels of speeding, drunk driving, and other high-risk behaviors that have now become habitual when paired with fewer officers patrolling the streets. Common causes of car accidents in Kansas City include:
- Distracted driving
- Speeding
- Failure to yield the right of way at intersections
- Unsafe lane changes
- Tailgating
- Improper merging
- Weaving through traffic
- Aggressive driving
- Intoxicated driving
Surprisingly, compliance with seatbelt laws has also declined since 2020, resulting in higher fatality numbers as well as a greater number of Kansas City car accidents.
Kansas City ranks in the top ten cities where drivers are most likely to have a car accident according to Forbes Advisor, a troubling fact for Kansas City residents.
Which Areas in Kansas City are Dangerous to Drive?
A higher accident frequency occurs in specific areas and roadways in Kansas City, including congested traffic areas such as Highway 71, Interstate 70, Blue Parkway, Swope Parkway, Troost Avenue, and Gregory Boulevard. Troubled intersections with consistently high accident rates in Kansas City include the following:
- Highway 71’s intersections with Gregory, 55th Street, and 59th Street
- The intersection of 75th Street and Ward Parkway
- The intersection of 39th Street and Southwest Parkway
- I-35 and Independence Avenue
- I-670’s intersections with Broadway and Grand Boulevard
What Types of Car Accidents Happen in Kansas City?
The deadly combination of fewer traffic control officers and an increase in dangerous driving habits have caused Kansas City car accident rates to escalate. Common types of car accidents in Kansas City’s highways, intersections, and neighborhood streets include the following:
- Rear-end collisions
- T-bone accidents (broadside accidents or angle collisions in intersections)
- Head-on collisions
- Sideswipes
- Roadway departures
- Rollover accidents
Accidents involving commercial trucks and multi-vehicle accidents are also on the rise in Kansas City.
How Can a Kansas City Car Accident Lawyer Help?
A car accident can devastate an entire family. Serious or catastrophic injuries cause financial hardship as well as pain and suffering. In some cases, families suffer the loss of a loved one in a car accident wrongful death. When another driver’s careless or reckless actions result in an accident with injuries, a car accident attorney in Kansas City can help survivors gain compensation and financial accountability as well as a sense of justice served. Call Miller & Hine, the Kansas City car accident lawyers who have advocated for Missouri car accident victims for decades.