Holidays, Drinking and Driving: State agencies urging drivers to make smart choices
LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) Louisiana State Police, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and the Acadiana Safety Coalition fear the holiday weekend could be a deadly weekend.
They say people need to drive with safety in mind.
LSP reports that over the weekend statewide there were nine crashes, 12 fatalities.
Trooper Thomas Gossen says the 12 fatalities over the weekend are not just blank faces, they're people with families.
"I will ask you, go to your social media account and pick out several people to die, go to your workplace, go to your family and pick out several to die. When you start putting a face on it, then it makes it a whole lot different," Gossen said.
Acadiana Safety Coalition coordinator Ron Czajkowski says to have a plan for the chance that you might be impaired.
"Have that plan. Is it going to be Lyft? Is it going to be Uber? Are you going to call a friend? Maybe an alternative is to stay right where you're at," Czajkowski stated.
Eric Dauphine of DOTD reminds us about the increased fatal crashes during the Thanksgiving holiday.
He hopes the reminder will save lives for the two holidays up ahead.
"This year's thanksgiving weekend unfortunately was the most deadly that Louisiana has seen in seven years," Dauphine added.
State police expects an increased risk for an uptick in crashes, since Christmas and New Year fall on the weekend.
"These are not simply numbers to be tallied these are mothers, fathers, sons and daughters," Dauphine noted.
Meanwhile, state police say there are no indications that the road where the three siblings were killed on Friday has been a problem for drivers in terms of crashes.
"So, no real issues. We still don't know the reason. We're waiting for toxically to come back on that crash," Trooper Gossen explained.
Officials say have a plan that includes wearing a seatbelt, don't drive distracted which means phone down, eyes up; and don't drive impaired.
Gossen states that the worse part of his job is doing the death notifications. He says unfortunately they've done more this year than they have in the past several years.