Key takeaways
- St. Charles County reported 7,945 crashes in 2023, 6.5% fewer than the 8,496 of 2019.
- Personal injury crashes barely moved: 1,625 in 2019, 1,606 in 2023.
- Fatal crashes ran 24, 27, 30, 30 and 22 across the five years.
- In 2023 the county carried 5.8% of Missouri's reported crashes and 4.6% of its personal injury crashes.
- Lincoln and Warren counties also ended 2023 below 2019, and all three fell by less than the state as a whole.
Table 1.13 / St. Charles County
Crashes by year and worst outcome, 2019 to 2023
Each column is one year of reported crashes, stacked by class. Fatal crashes are too few to see at this scale and are drawn as a thin dark line; their counts are in the table.
Five years is long enough to see a shape and short enough to remember. Table 1.13 of the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Traffic Safety Compendium gives St. Charles County one line a year, split by the worst outcome of each reported crash. Read across 2019 to 2023 and the line says something plain: the county's total crashes fell and then climbed most of the way back, while the number of crashes that hurt someone hardly changed at all.
The five-year line
In 2019 the county reported 8,496 crashes. In 2020, the year of stay-home orders, the count dropped to 7,000. It rose to 7,991 in 2021, fell to 6,943 in 2022, the lowest total of the five years, and came back to 7,945 in 2023. Against 2019, the 2023 total is 6.5% lower.
Personal injury crashes tell a flatter story: 1,625, 1,364, 1,521, 1,338 and 1,606. The 2023 figure sits 19 crashes below 2019, a change of 1.2%. Because property damage only crashes fell faster, injury crashes made up a larger share of the county's total in 2023, 20.2%, than in any of the four years before it.
Fatal crashes are the smallest numbers on the line and the ones that matter most to the families behind them: 24, 27, 30, 30 and 22. Small counts swing from year to year, so this desk does not read a trend into a drop of 8 in a single year.
Lincoln and Warren, for context
The two counties to the north and west share roads with St. Charles County. US 61 runs north through Lincoln County, and I-70 carries on west past Wentzville into Warren County. They are entered here because a crash across the county line is still a crash on somebody's commute, not to compare anyone. Their totals are roughly a tenth of St. Charles County's, so read each as its own line.
Lincoln County reported 893 crashes in 2019 and 811 in 2023, with 213 personal injury crashes and 14 fatal crashes in the latest year. Warren County went from 828 to 754, with 155 personal injury crashes and 5 fatal crashes in 2023. Statewide, Missouri reported 157,038 crashes in 2019 and 136,839 in 2023, a drop of 12.9%, so all three counties fell by less than the state did.
Table 1.13 / change in total crashes
How far each line fell, 2019 to 2023
Percentage change in total reported crashes from 2019 to 2023, computed from the table below. Bars share one scale.
What the line does not say
It does not say why. The table counts reports. It does not record traffic volume, new lanes, work zones, weather, or how many people moved into the county over those five years, and this desk will not guess. A lower count is not proof the roads got safer, and a flat injury count is not proof they got worse. It also does not show serious injuries on their own: table 1.13 puts every personal injury crash in one class, whatever the injury.
And it does not include what never got reported. A tap in a Mid Rivers Mall Drive parking lot settled with a handshake is not on this line.
What it means for the person in the crash
About one crash in five in St. Charles County in 2023 was reported as a personal injury crash. The other four in five were reported with no injury, and many of those drivers go home thinking the entry is closed. Soft-tissue pain after a collision often posts a day or two later, after the report is filed. The line on this page cannot see that; an exam can. If your neck, back or head changed in the days after a crash, get examined this week, whatever the report says.
The full table
| Year | Fatal crashes | Personal injury crashes | Property damage only | Total crashes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Charles County | ||||
| 2019 | 24 | 1,625 | 6,847 | 8,496 |
| 2020 | 27 | 1,364 | 5,609 | 7,000 |
| 2021 | 30 | 1,521 | 6,440 | 7,991 |
| 2022 | 30 | 1,338 | 5,575 | 6,943 |
| 2023 | 22 | 1,606 | 6,317 | 7,945 |
| Lincoln County | ||||
| 2019 | 10 | 224 | 659 | 893 |
| 2020 | 12 | 202 | 601 | 815 |
| 2021 | 14 | 216 | 697 | 927 |
| 2022 | 9 | 196 | 608 | 813 |
| 2023 | 14 | 213 | 584 | 811 |
| Warren County | ||||
| 2019 | 6 | 192 | 630 | 828 |
| 2020 | 5 | 152 | 554 | 711 |
| 2021 | 4 | 170 | 667 | 841 |
| 2022 | 3 | 131 | 506 | 640 |
| 2023 | 5 | 155 | 594 | 754 |
| Missouri, all counties | ||||
| 2019 | 819 | 37,832 | 118,387 | 157,038 |
| 2020 | 914 | 33,278 | 97,228 | 131,420 |
| 2021 | 931 | 36,054 | 109,741 | 146,726 |
| 2022 | 878 | 31,599 | 95,008 | 127,485 |
| 2023 | 905 | 34,820 | 101,114 | 136,839 |
Sources / checked against the tables
- Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri Traffic Safety Compendium, table 1.13: "Missouri Crashes by County and Crash Severity", 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 editions. Crashes reported into MOCARS. Traffic Safety Compendium, mshp.dps.missouri.gov. Pulled 2026-09-13; 2023 is the latest year the Patrol has published.
The one entry that matters
Get examined this week at the O'Fallon office
Say it was a crash when you call. The office is at 2163 West Terra Lane, O'Fallon. Closed daily 12 to 2.
This entry is educational and is not medical advice or a diagnosis. It is not legal advice. The crash figures are counts reported to the Missouri State Highway Patrol and say nothing about any clinic, doctor, or office.