According to a recent report, Louisiana drivers have some room to improve when it comes to using their cell phones while trying to drive.
Despite the fact that law enforcement officers and others have for over a decade now been warning people not to let their cell phones distract them, there are still more fatalities on the roads of this state due to texting and driving or talking on a cell phone than there are in most other states.
Specifically, Louisiana ranked as the state with the 15th highest traffic fatality rate when it came to deadly accidents involving the misuse of a driver’s cell phone. The fatality rate in Louisiana was 1.76. To contrast, the states with the best results came in with a rate of under .50.
The fatality rate was determined by comparing the miles driven in a state against the number of deaths related to texting and driving or other inappropriate use of the cell phone while behind the wheel.
The survey put a lot of stock in which states had the strictest laws regarding cell phone use while behind the wheel, as the authors thought these laws had a significant impact on each state’s fatality rate.
It may be somewhat surprising, then, that Louisiana bans texting and driving, and it also prohibits new drivers from using cellular phones at all. The state only has what the survey called a partial ban on handheld devices.
No matter the precise status of Louisiana’s laws, however, Houma residents need to remember that distracted driving, whether due to a cell phone or some other distraction, is a dangerous behavior that can kill a victim in a car accident. Should a victim die at the hands of a distracted driver, his or her family may be able to pursue a wrongful death claim.