Table 1.16 crashes of every severity, statewide
24.9%of Missouri's 136,839 crashes in 2023 happened between 3 and 6 p.m.: 34,049 crashes in three hours of the day.
This guide opens at 3 a.m. because that is when a sore neck tends to file its first report. The crash itself usually happened in daylight. In 2023, the latest year the Missouri State Highway Patrol has published, the 3 p.m. hour had 11,477 crashes statewide and the 3 a.m. hour had 1,375. The afternoon hour had more than eight times as many.
The hour: what table 1.16 counts
Table 1.16 counts crashes by the hour they happened, in two columns: fatal crashes and all crashes. All crashes means every severity together, fatal, personal injury and property damage only. The Patrol does not publish injury crashes by hour in this table, so this page cannot tell you when injury crashes peak. It can tell you when crashes of every kind pile up.
They pile up in the afternoon. The three hours from 3:00 to 5:59 p.m. hold 34,049 crashes, 24.9% of the year's 136,839, in one eighth of the clock. The morning commute is smaller: the 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. hours together hold 13,446, 9.8%. The quietest hour is 4:00 - 4:59 a.m., with 1,265. Fatal crashes follow a different curve and peak later, in the 6:00 - 6:59 p.m. hour, with 70.
Chart all crashes by hour of day, Missouri 2023
Twenty-four columns, midnight at the left. The amber columns are 3:00 to 5:59 p.m. 621 crashes with no recorded hour are not charted. Every hour is in the table below.What the afternoon peak means for you
The late afternoon is traffic at its densest and most stop-and-go, which is the setting for the low-speed rear-end hit this guide keeps describing. The table does not say that, and it does not measure necks. It says when crashes happen, and the plain reading is that the ordinary crash is a commute crash.
It also shapes the week that follows. A crash at 4:30 on a Tuesday means a stiff night and a worse morning, and the call to a clinic happens on Wednesday. Missouri Injury Clinic's Hazelwood and Tesson Ferry offices publish Monday to Thursday hours of 9 to 6 and Friday 9 to noon. The O'Fallon office publishes Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9 to 6, with Wednesday and Friday by appointment. Every office closes from 12 to 2. A Thursday afternoon crash is the one to call about on Friday morning, before the weekend.
| Hour of day | Fatal crashes | All crashes | Share of all |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midnight - 12:59 a.m. | 33 | 2,405 | 1.8% |
| 1:00 - 1:59 a.m. | 41 | 2,144 | 1.6% |
| 2:00 - 2:59 a.m. | 24 | 1,653 | 1.2% |
| 3:00 - 3:59 a.m. | 20 | 1,375 | 1.0% |
| 4:00 - 4:59 a.m. | 10 | 1,265 | 0.9% |
| 5:00 - 5:59 a.m. | 21 | 2,041 | 1.5% |
| 6:00 - 6:59 a.m. | 33 | 3,985 | 2.9% |
| 7:00 - 7:59 a.m. | 22 | 6,960 | 5.1% |
| 8:00 - 8:59 a.m. | 18 | 6,486 | 4.7% |
| 9:00 - 9:59 a.m. | 21 | 5,206 | 3.8% |
| 10:00 - 10:59 a.m. | 26 | 6,081 | 4.4% |
| 11:00 - 11:59 a.m. | 44 | 7,028 | 5.1% |
| Noon - 12:59 p.m. | 40 | 8,229 | 6.0% |
| 1:00 - 1:59 p.m. | 34 | 7,939 | 5.8% |
| 2:00 - 2:59 p.m. | 46 | 9,133 | 6.7% |
| 3:00 - 3:59 p.m. | 59 | 11,477 | 8.4% |
| 4:00 - 4:59 p.m. | 47 | 11,424 | 8.3% |
| 5:00 - 5:59 p.m. | 53 | 11,148 | 8.1% |
| 6:00 - 6:59 p.m. | 70 | 8,014 | 5.9% |
| 7:00 - 7:59 p.m. | 39 | 5,914 | 4.3% |
| 8:00 - 8:59 p.m. | 50 | 5,094 | 3.7% |
| 9:00 - 9:59 p.m. | 50 | 4,534 | 3.3% |
| 10:00 - 10:59 p.m. | 45 | 3,700 | 2.7% |
| 11:00 - 11:59 p.m. | 37 | 2,983 | 2.2% |
| Unknown | 22 | 621 | 0.5% |
| Total | 905 | 136,839 |
Missouri State Highway Patrol, Traffic Safety Compendium 2023, table 1.16. All crashes means every severity: fatal, personal injury and property damage only. The table does not publish injury crashes by hour. Shares computed by this desk.
The age: what table 1.20 counts
Table 1.20 counts people, not crashes. It lists the persons killed and the persons injured in 2023 crashes by age group, and injured means every severity the report records, from a complaint of pain to a serious injury. Statewide, 50,369 people were reported injured.
The largest group is 25 to 34, with 9,911 people, 19.7% of everyone injured. From 21 to 44 together, the table counts 22,162 people, 44.0%. People 65 and older account for 6,006, 11.9%, and children under 16 for 4,037, 8.0%.
Chart persons injured by age group, Missouri 2023
People, not crashes: one crash with three people hurt adds three. The groups are not the same width: single years from 15 to 20, ten-year bands from 25. Total injured: 50,369.Two cautions before reading anything into those bars. The groups are different widths, single years for ages 15 to 20 and ten-year bands from 25, so a wide band collects more people just by being wide. And the table has no population count beside it, so a bigger bar does not mean a riskier age. It means more injured people in that group.
| Age group | Persons injured | Share of injured | Persons killed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 4 | 886 | 1.8% | 6 |
| 5 to 10 | 1,446 | 2.9% | 8 |
| 11 to 14 | 1,217 | 2.4% | 7 |
| 15 | 488 | 1.0% | 11 |
| 16 | 1,103 | 2.2% | 7 |
| 17 | 1,251 | 2.5% | 15 |
| 18 | 1,346 | 2.7% | 26 |
| 19 | 1,312 | 2.6% | 22 |
| 20 | 1,193 | 2.4% | 24 |
| 21 to 24 | 4,531 | 9.0% | 60 |
| 25 to 34 | 9,911 | 19.7% | 186 |
| 35 to 44 | 7,720 | 15.3% | 148 |
| 45 to 54 | 6,024 | 12.0% | 123 |
| 55 to 64 | 5,521 | 11.0% | 148 |
| 65 to 74 | 3,758 | 7.5% | 104 |
| 75 and older | 2,248 | 4.5% | 96 |
| Unknown | 414 | 0.8% | 0 |
| Total | 50,369 | 991 |
Missouri State Highway Patrol, Traffic Safety Compendium 2023, table 1.20. Injured includes every injury severity the report records. Shares computed by this desk. No population figures are used, so no group is described as higher risk.
If someone else was in the car
A crash that injured one person often had passengers, and every person injured is counted separately. If a partner, a parent, or a child was in the car, their neck was in the same crash. Mention them when you call. Ask whether the office sees them, and for a child, ask the pediatrician too.
Chest pain, a sudden severe headache, weakness or numbness on one side, trouble speaking, a loss of bowel or bladder control, or a head injury with vomiting or worsening confusion is an emergency room trip right now, not a call to a clinic.
After the afternoon crash
The crash was at 4:30. The call is tomorrow morning.
A documented exam this week protects your health and your options. Call the nearest office, say it was a car crash, give the date and the time, and take the earliest opening.
Missouri Injury Clinic, Joseph L. Hollingsworth, DC. Hazelwood, Tesson Ferry, and O'Fallon. Every office is closed 12 to 2.
Sources
- Missouri State Highway Patrol, Traffic Safety Compendium 2023, table 1.16, "2023 Missouri Fatal and Total Crashes by Hour of Day of Occurrence". mshp.dps.missouri.gov, Traffic Safety Compendium. Figures pulled September 13, 2026.
- Missouri State Highway Patrol, Traffic Safety Compendium 2023, table 1.20, "Persons Killed and Injured in 2023 Missouri Crashes by Age Group". mshp.dps.missouri.gov, Traffic Safety Compendium. Figures pulled September 13, 2026.
These are crashes reported into MOCARS, the state's crash reporting system, and published by the Patrol. 2023 is the latest year the Patrol has published. Percentages on this page are computed by this desk from the counts in the table named beside them.
The Patrol's tables do not record whiplash, neck injuries, or any diagnosis. Where this page connects a count to the neck, that connection is the desk's reading, stated as such.