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October 30, 2003
Drunk driving and not wearing a safety
belt costs drivers billions of dollars according
to the 2002 Louisiana Traffic Records Data Report,
prepared by Helmut Schneider of LSU’s
Ourso College of Business Administration. Schneider
and Jim Champagne, executive director of the Louisiana
Highway Safety Commission, presented the report
at a press conference October 30, 2003, at the
Lod Cook Alumni Center on LSU’s campus.
In 2002, traffic crashes cost Louisianans $5.3
billion, amounting to approximately $1,880 per
licensed driver. $900 million of the total cost
can be attributed to alcohol-related crashes,
while another $1.3 billion resulted from not wearing
safety belts and/or using child safety seats.
“These figures represent direct costs only,”
Schneider said. “Medical costs, property
damage, and the like are included. This does not
include damages for things like loss of quality
of life.”
While the number of injuries increased in 2002,
the number of fatalities decreased; 87,000 thousand
injuries were recorded, an increase of 7.3 percent,
and 911 deaths occurred, a decrease of 3.8 percent
from the 2001 total. 431 of the deaths are estimated
to be alcohol related, giving Louisiana the third
highest number of alcohol-related traffic deaths
in the nation. Champagne attributes these high
numbers to a lack of leadership and action to
tighten Louisiana’s drinking laws.
“The [alcohol lobby] in this state is powerful.
We need to get 18 year-olds out of bars. We need
to pass an open container law. We need to take
away hardship licenses on the second DWI. We need
a new type of leadership in this state that will
go to the legislature and make highway safety
issues a priority. There isn’t that level
of commitment on alcohol issues.”
Declining use of safety belts is also a primary
factor in the number of fatalities and injuries
on Louisiana roads. 64 percent of drivers and
69 percent of occupants age 5 and older killed
in traffic accidents were not wearing a safety
belt. 42 percent of children age 4 and younger
killed in traffic crashes were not properly restrained
in a child safety seat. The study found that that
a 1 percent increase in safety belt usage would
save 14 lives, 435 injuries, and $35 million.
“If there is only one thing you hear me
say, it should be this. Please put on your seatbelt.
Make sure your child is in a child safety seat,”
Champagne said.
Police in East Baton Rouge parish are talking
both safety belt usage and alcohol issues seriously,
Champagne said, referencing a recent contract
between the East Baton Rouge parish police chief
and the Highway Safety Commission to devote officers’
overtime to monitoring safety belt compliance
and stopping drunk drivers.
For more information about the Louisiana Traffic
Records Data Report or the Ourso College of Business
Administration, visit www.bus.lsu.edu
or contact Helmut Schneider at 225/578-2516
or hschnei@lsu.edu.
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[ Louisiana Highway
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