BY MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Labor Day weekend is upon us and that means roads packed with travelers across Missouri.
Seargent Jake Angle with Troop H in St. Joseph says while the roads last year saw less travelers during the coronavirus pandemic, it's hard to pinpoint if we will see more drivers out this year.
"Whether to put your finger on it will be busier this year, sometimes that is hard to try to predetermine," Angle tells St. Joseph Post. "But, obviously our mission is the same, and that's traffic safety, we're going to be out there in full force, we're going to be conducting operations."
Angle adds that whether the roads are packed or not, troopers will still be out in full force assisting drivers and enforcing highway safety.
Angle says troops will be out enforcing all weekend, but are expecting peak travel times at the beginning and end of the weekend to be the busiest.
"We designate our peak travel days, and you know obviously this year it will probably be Friday and Monday, once again hard to determine when people are going to decide to get out and travel to their labor day holiday plans," Angle says. "That's kind of what we plan on, but obviously we're going to have a presence all weekend."
Angle says that troopers will be out and about enforcing safe driving, but it isn't all about pulling over drivers going to fast.
"And not just patrolling, you know everybody sees us out there and thinks we're just out there to pull people over, we're out there to assist the public, someone becomes stranded, heaven forbid there's a traffic crash, we're out there to provide that service as well," Angle tells people. "So, we're going to be out there all weekend."
Angle says that the highway patrol is expecting peak travel times to be on Friday evening and Monday, but that it is hard to predict when people will decide to travel.