The plan focuses traffic safety efforts on distracted and impaired driving, seatbelt wearing, and speeding, with a small nod to infrastructural factors.
According to a staff report in the Plaquemine Post South, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DTOD) and the governor’s office have issued a plan to improve safety on the state’s roads. “The Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP), updated every five years, identifies emphasis areas, strategies and tactics for reducing fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads across the state.”
The article notes a rise in traffic deaths in the last year. “Preliminary data shows 971 people lost their lives due to a motor vehicle crash in the state last year. This is a 17 percent increase from 2020, where there were 828 fatalities.”
The strategies mentioned primarily focus on unsafe driver behavior. The article quotes Colonel Lamar Davis, Louisiana State Police Superintendent, as saying, “Louisiana State Police works closely with our public safety partners to increase enforcement and provide public safety education; however, we need every motorist to partner with us. This means avoiding distractions while driving, maintaining a safe speed, ensuring every passenger is properly restrained, and never driving while impaired.”
Meanwhile, the plan does little to address infrastructure, road design, or speed limits, all factors that can affect the likelihood of fatal crashes and injuries. The document somewhat addresses infrastructure issues, mentioning “roadway/lane departure, intersections, and non-motorized users.”
Read the full story: Highway plan identifies new road safety strategies for Louisiana
Washington Focuses Road Safety Efforts on Individuals, Neglecting Design
Legislative efforts to reduce traffic deaths could move the needle toward Vision Zero, but state leaders failed to commit infrastructure funds to making structural improvements.
Study: Ugly Roads are Deadlier, too
New research shows that roads that are perceived as boring and ugly are more dangerous to people outside of cars.
Has Progress on Travel Safety Run Off the Road?
Changing technology and rebuilding infrastructure to improve road safety are long-term strategies. How can enforcement and interventions that influence driver behavior make a difference in reducing traffic deaths sooner?
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Chicago breaks ground on $3 billion megadevelopment
The new neighborhood, titled Foundry Park, will one day host 3,700 residences.
Satanic place names
From streams and lakes to valleys and canyons, I mapped more than 1,000 places named after the Devil.
California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO resigns after $600,000 scandal
Under Ian Choudri, the authority used taxpayer dollars to fund first class flights and trips to nightclubs.
Want to study the Missouri River? Soon, you may need unanimous approval from 10 states
Legislation would require 10 governors’ permission to study or build projects moving water outside the basin.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority