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State study: Number of traffic fatalities stayed flat in 2018

On Behalf of | Oct 3, 2019 | Car Accidents

One good piece of news in the Louisiana Traffic Records Data Report for 2018 is that the number of traffic fatalities did not rise from its 2017 level. One piece of bad news: It stayed exactly the same.

According to the report, published by Louisiana State University’s Center for Analytics & Research in Transportation Safety, there were 771 traffic accident deaths in Louisiana in 2018, exactly the same number as in 2017. That comes out to about 1.54 fatalities per 100 million miles traveled, making Louisiana’s traffic fatality rates higher than the national average. The traffic fatality rate for the entire United States in 2017 was 1.16 per 100 million miles traveled.

Meanwhile, the rates of injury per 100 million miles traveled has been falling for several years. In 2018, it stood at 150. The number spiked for a few years between 2012 and 2016, but it is still well below where it stood in 2005, when it was at 184.

Researchers believe that greater safety features in newer cars, road improvements and better policing have prevented many injuries and deaths. Indeed, they say that if Louisiana had the same rate of fatality per car occupant in 2018 as it had in 2005, there would have been 262 more fatalities last year.

All these statistics may seem abstract, but each of these numbers represents real people, real families and real struggles. When Louisianans are injured due to the negligence of another driver, they can speak to a personal injury attorney about their options for recovering compensation for their damages.

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