Because personal injury attorneys deal with the results of so many automobile accidents, we tend to see New Orleans as a very dangerous place to drive. A recent national study on the implementation of highway safety laws, however, reveals that Louisiana has actually done well when it comes to implementing new laws aimed at reducing injury and death arising from motor vehicle accidents.
The publisher of this report, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (A.H.A.S.), is an alliance of consumer, health and safety groups and insurance companies that seeks to improve highway and vehicle safety through the improvement of state and federal laws, programs and policies. This is the ninth year it has published its Roadmap to State Highway Safety Laws, which ranks the states based on their implementation of various traffic safety laws and their efforts to improve traffic safety.
Each state is rated based on the color signals used in traffic lights, with a “green” rating indicating a positive score and “red” indicating that a state has fallen behind when it comes to traffic safety laws. Louisiana is one of only seventeen states to receive a green rating from A.H.A.S. this year.
In preparing this report, A.H.A.S. looked at fifteen basic traffic safety laws regarding issues such as operating a vehicle while intoxicated, use of seat belts, booster seats requirements for children, motorcycle helmet laws, and regulation of teen drivers.
Overall, Louisiana faired very well in this study, with A.H.A.S.’s primary recommendations for further improvement in Louisiana being limited to increasing the minimum age for obtaining a learner’s permit from 15 to 16 and imposing additional restrictions on driving at night for individuals with intermediary licenses. It is A.H.A.S.’s position that such changes would further reduce the risk of auto accidents.
If you have been injured in an automobile accident, please feel free to call us at (504) 581-6411 with your questions. We would be pleased to speak with you.
