Louisiana Drivers Ask: Why Yellow Tape on Disabled Vehicles?

If you drive on Louisiana highways long enough you're likely to see some interesting things. On a trip from Lafayette to Baton Rouge you might see someone fishing off the Atchaflaya Basin Bridge during a traffic jam. In New Orleans, you might see someone scarfing down beignets on the Crescent City Connection. And in North Louisiana over the past day or so you might have noticed a lot of parked cars with yellow caution tape on them.

The reason for the "parked cars" in North Louisiana over the past day or so would likely be weather-related. For the most part, Louisiana dodged the snow and ice that wreaked havoc in neighboring states of Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi. The frozen precipitation was even worse in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee where more than a few hundred vehicles were parked on the side of roads, highways, and neighborhood streets.

Now, I am certain that all of us who drive have seen a vehicle parked on the side of the road during our travels. However, during major traffic interruptions, such as an ice or snow storm, you might notice some of the vehicles have been adorned with the bright yellow tape most of us connect with a crime scene.

Does Yellow Tape on an Abandoned Car Signify a Crime Scene?

No, in most cases a car abandoned beside the road during inclement weather is not "an active crime scene". Nor is it a crime scene at all. In order to explain the reasoning I am going to take you back almost 25 years to the aftermath of Katrina in New Orleans.

Do you remember how rescuers went door to door in the flooded parts of the city checking on homes and residents? When they completed the search they spray-painted what looked like a "secret code" on the house's exterior. That code let other rescuers know that the home had been searched and how many if any were rescued or found inside. They even earned a unique name, Katrina Crosses. 

The same mindset applies to the "yellow tape on cars" scenario during inclement weather. The yellow caution tape is applied to the car by law enforcement to signify to other first responders and other motorists that the vehicle has been searched and the occupants accounted for.

This is so first responders aren't called back to the same disabled vehicle time and time again.  Unlike in New Orleans where they used spray paint because the house would have to be repaired anyway the caution tape can easily be removed by the vehicle's owner without any further damage to the paint or the vehicle itself.

So, if you encounter a car, truck, SUV, or motorhome parked on the shoulder of a major traffic thoroughfare and it has been "decorated" with yellow tape, now you know why. Let's hope that never happens to you on the roadway and this article will serve as a reminder why sometimes driving during extreme weather is not a good idea.