Highway Patrol Offers Advice For Holiday Guests Following The Recent Fatal Weekend

The Lake of the Ozarks may be known for a variety of fun summertime activities but this past weekend also serves as a reminder, according to Highway Patrol Captain John Hotz, that certain precautions need to be taken.

“There’s been a lot of activity, unfortunately in a wide variety of activity. Traffic crashes, boating crashes, drownings….all three. It just really drives home the fact that we need to be careful, pay attention to what’s going on, make sure we’re following those boating laws or road laws, depending on where we’re at. And then, of course, just be very careful anytime that we’re in or around the water.”

Two people died over the weekend in water-related activities here at the lake…a Sunrise Beach woman in a boat accident and a two-year-old boy from Fairview Heights, Illinois, who drowned.

There were also three other incidents on the water and one other traffic crash to go along with at least 35 people being arrested by the highway patrol alone…32 of the arrests being alcohol-related.

Captain Hotz also says it’s almost a certainty that the patrol and local authorities will be busy again this weekend with it being the Labor Day holiday weekend.