Staff Report
There were 771 highway deaths in 2017, up from 757 in 2016, according to the 2017 Louisiana Traffic Records Data Report.
The report, which offers details information from the state to city level, also found there were no highway fatalities in Eunice during 2017.
There were 23 fatalities in St. Landry Parish, 12 in Acadia Parish and six in the Evangeline Parish.
The report from the Highway Safety Research Group at the LSU E.J. Ourso College of Business was released Oct. 26.
The Louisiana safety belt survey shows that the front safety belt use is at 86.9 percent in 2018; this is about the same level as in 2017 (87.1) and 2016 (87.8).
There were 5.3 deaths of motorcycle drivers per 100 motorcycles in crashes for 2017 as compared to 4.7 in 2016.
Interstate fatal crashes decreased by 4.7 percent from 2016 to 2017.
The main contributing factors to Louisiana’s 2017 traffic fatalities were alcohol and a low percentage use of safety belts, according to the report. Of the 771 fatalities, 187 involved a driver with blood alcohol level of 0.08 or above. In cases where safety belt usage is known, 55.7 percent of all occupants who died in a crash did not use a safety belt.
In rural St. Landry Parish, there 13 fatal crashes. Four of those crashes involved alcohol.
Other fatal crashes in St. Landry Parish in 2017 were: Leonville, 1; Opelousas, 4; Port Barre, 1; and Washington, 1.
There were 102 injury crashes in Eunice in 2017 of which four involved alcohol. There were 171 people injured in 2017 in those crashes.
An overview of the study finds the following for 2017.
— 706 fatal crashes
— 771 fatalities
— 76.6 thousand injuries
— 117.8 thousand property-damage-only crashes.
These crashes resulted in
— a cost of $8.6 billion dollars to the citizens of Louisiana, a decrease of 4.4 percent from 2016.
— a cost of $2,875 for every licensed driver in Louisiana, a decrease of 4.8 percent from 2016.
The main contributing factors to Louisiana’s 2017 were alcohol and a low-percentage use of safety belts. The traffic-record data show the relationship of each contributing factor to fatalities:
• 40.3 percent of traffic fatalities were alcohol related.
• 55.7 percent of all occupants who died in a crash did not use a safety belt in cases where safety belt use is known.
The alcohol-related fatal crashes and fatalities data are estimated using a data mining algorithm developed at LSU. These results may deviate from results reported by FARS due to differences in the availability of data and model used to estimate the missing alcohol values.
• 47,484 injury traffic crashes which decreased by 4.7 percent from 2016.
• 76,618 injuries in traffic crashes which decreased by 6.0 percent from 2016.
• 117,842 property-damage-only crashes which decreased by 4.3 percent from 2016.
Of the 771 fatalities:
• 116 were killed as pedestrians which decreased by 9.4 percent from 2016.
• 518 were killed as drivers of vehicles which increased by 5.3 percent from 2016.
• 96 were killed as drivers on motorcycles which increased by 3.2 percent from 2016.
• 23 were killed on bicycles which increased by 9.5 percent from 2016.
• Louisiana’s 2017 mileage fatality rate was 1.57 per 100 million miles travelled, increased by 1.4 percent from 2016.
• Louisiana’s 2017 mileage fatality rate was 16.46 per 100,000 population which increased by 1.81 percent from 2016.
• Louisiana’s 2017 mileage fatality rate was 25.84 per 100,000 licensed drivers.
• Motorcycle fatalities increased by 3.2 percent from 2016 to 2017.
• Motorcycle injuries decreased by 0.9 percent from 2016 to 2017.
• There were 5.3 deaths of motorcycle drivers per 100 motorcycles in crashes for 2017 as compared to 4.7 in 2016.
• Helmet use in motorcycle crashes was 87 percent in 2017.