The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that US traffic fatalities are at their highest level in 16 years with nearly 43-hundred deaths in 2021, an 11 percent increase from the previous year. Mark Lambert, spokesman for the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, says the numbers don’t get better here at home…
“The numbers from 2021 are still preliminary, but the trend shows about a 15 percent increase in fatalities from 2020 to 2021,” said Lambert.
Lambert says driver behavior is typically the cause of traffic deaths, and the leading cause is highly preventable.
“Of the nearly 1000 people in Louisiana who died on the roads in 2021,” he said, “more than a third of those drivers and passengers were not wearing their safety belt.”
Seat belts have been shown to reduce the chances of severe injury by as much as 50 percent and the risk of death by 45 percent.
The LHSC begins its participation in the national “Click it or Ticket” campaign this Monday. Lambert says law enforcement will be looking for drivers and passengers who haven’t buckled up.
“The reason we do that is to raise awareness and to make people understand that wearing your seat belt is the most important thing you can do to protect yourself in a crash,” Lambert said.
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