14 Die On Louisiana Roads Over Memorial Day

The American Automobile Association suggested to us last week that there would be a record number of travelers on Louisiana's roadways over the long Memorial Day holiday weekend. Louisiana State Police warned that with more motorist on the roads the potential for crashes would be significantly higher. Both of those organizations were correct in their predictions.

Sadly the long three day weekend saw an increase in fatal crashes across Louisiana highways. State police worked nine fatal crashes from Friday morning through Monday night. There were 14 reported fatalities in those nine crashes.

This was an increase of two fatalities over last years total of seven. Besides the fact that there were more motorist on the roadways Trooper Jesse LaGrange said there was another factor in the increased number of fatal incidents across the state.

A lot of people don’t consider other people on the road, we do have to share it with everyone. We just need to make sure we have plans set in place before we do stuff like this.

If you were driving even for a short distance on any of Louisiana's major roadways such as I-10, I-12, I-49, or U.S. Highway  90 you noticed the traffic and you noticed the number of people driving quite recklessly.  Trooper LaGrange in his comments to the Louisiana Radio Network said State Troopers arrested over 100 suspected drunk drivers during the holiday weekend.

He also noted that a pedestrian and a bicyclist lost their lives as a result of holiday crashes. Regardless the time of year or whether it's a holiday or not driving responsibly and maintaining vigilance for those sharing the roadway is paramount to keeping our roadways accident free.