A report recently released by the Washington, D.C.-based Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety included Louisiana in list of 15 states to have made progress in enacting key highway safety laws. Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas did not fare so well.
The 2009 report graded states on their adoption of 15 model laws divided into four issue categories: adult occupant protection (2 laws); child passenger safety (1 law); teen driving graduated driver licensing (GDL) (5 laws); and impaired driving (7 laws).
The “Roadmap Report” found that no state has adopted all 15 measures and that 11 new laws out of 344 existing legislative gaps were enacted by the states in 2008.
Louisiana won praise for its laws dealing with seat belts, motorcycle helmets, sobriety checkpoints and ignition interlock devices, the Associated Press reported. The state got credit for parts of laws dealing with how teenagers get driver’s licenses and booster seats for youngsters.
Still, the state needs tougher laws on nighttime driving and passenger rules for new drivers; open container regulations and penalties for repeat drunken drivers, the report said.
The 2009 report found that four states — Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming — were the worst-performing states because they have the fewest of the most fundamental lifesaving laws.
Additionally, 14 states are close to being rated as poor. Those states on the edge are Arizona, Kansas, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Oklahoma was found to be advancing but continues to have numerous gaps in its highway safety laws.
More Enforcement
The Louisiana State Police has reported that increased enforcement on Louisiana’s roadways by state troopers in 2008 led to a decrease in the number of fatal crashes, injury crashes and even minor property damage crashes last year. More traffic citations were written by state troopers in 2008 than in any previous one-year period.
In 2008, Troop A investigated 90 fatal crashes, down from 102 in 2007. Crashes involving injuries dropped from 2,970 in 2007 to 2,242 in 2008. There were 3,139 people injured in crashes in 2008, down from 3,722 in 2007.
Troopers issued more than 6,000 seat belt citations in 2007. That number rose to more than 10,000 in 2008. DWI arrests rose from 1,575 in 2007 to 1,655 in 2008.
The LSP noted that recent legislation enabled the agency to put more additional troopers on the road compared to previous years. That increase in road troopers has allowed Troop A to focus more on safety awareness and to key-in on high-traffic and high-incidence areas, according to the LSP.
The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety report can be found at http://saferoads.org/advocates-highway-and-auto-safety.
Topics Legislation Louisiana
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