DWI-related fatalities up

• By KIMBERLY VETTER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Aug 4, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Alcohol and not wearing a seat belt continued to be the top causes of traffic fatalities last year in Louisiana, according to statistics released recently by The Highway Safety Research Group at LSU’s E.J. Ourso College of Business.

Almost 50 percent of the 895 fatal crashes in 2007 were alcohol-related and 65 percent of people who died in crashes last year were not wearing a seat belt, the statistics show.

Compared with 2006, the number of fatal crashes that were alcohol-related increased 3 percent. The number of people who died in crashes and who were not wearing their seat belts increased 3 percent.

“If we can change those two behaviors, we can make a tremendous impact not only in the number of wrecks that occur but in the number of fatalities,” said Mark Lambert, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation and Development, which helps fund the Highway Safety Research Group.

Decreasing the number of traffic crashes in Louisiana also would save money, said Helmut Schneider, who heads up the research group and is a professor in LSU’s Department of Information Systems and Decision Sciences.

Crashes last year cost Louisiana residents $6.18 billion or $2,177 per every licensed driver in the state, statistics show. Those costs, which include vehicle insurance, medical bills and property damage, increased slightly from 2006.

“What people are not aware of is the enormous cost to the state,” Schneider said. “Some people don’t believe the number but it’s real. That is what we pay.”

Staff at the Department of Transportation and Development and the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission have used the Highway Safety Research Group’s data for years to try and decrease the number of crashes on Louisiana roadways.

Collected since 1994, the data is comprised of information collected from more than 300 law enforcement agencies statewide, including State Police, Schneider said.

LACRASH, new software created by research group staff in 2004, is available to law enforcement agencies across the state and it is making the data-collection process easier, he said.

“We still have a lot of agencies that don’t use electronic data,” Schneider said, adding that information about 80,000 crashes last year was derived from paper crash reports. “It’s getting better, but there is still progress that needs to be made.”

Timely, accurate data is extremely important for the development of traffic safety projects and campaigns, said Jamie Ainsworth, a Louisiana Highway Safety Commission spokeswoman.

“The availability of demographic and geographic locations of crashes and drivers involved in fatal and injury crashes gives the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission and our partners the ability to most efficiently and effectively expend state and federal funds,” she said. “Credible and timely data is also important for the state in securing federal grants.”