NEW ORLEANS — This year is on track to be one of the busiest Thanksgiving Travel seasons since they started tracking travel in 2000. AAA projects 56.4 million people will travel this year for Thanksgiving. In the state of Louisiana five million people will be hitting the road over the holiday season, so officials want to remind the public of the state’s “move over” law.
The state’s “move over law” is not unique to Louisiana, in fact, all 50 states have some variation of the law enacted. Essentially it requires drivers to change lanes when they see an emergency vehicle on the side of the road. If you can't move over due to the flow of traffic, you should slow down to a safe speed.
Justin Rowell works with United Towing, he says most drivers get distracted when they see the flashing emergency lights and oftentimes veer out of their lane.
"We total one tow truck a year. Thankfully no fatalities," said Rowell. "I think motorists don’t really realize that tow truck service, we actually are emergency services. You do need to slow down and move over and let them do their job because we’re actually trying to get people off the road."
Since 2015, more than 1,600 people have been hit and killed while outside a vehicle across the country according to AAA. Rowell said there was just an incident last week where a driver who wasn't paying attention almost hit one of the towing units. It's a busy time of year for roadside assistance providers as well as doctors.
Dr. Jonathan Schoen with University Medical Center said the number of patients they see in the trauma room increases every year around the holidays. People who speed have an increased risk of having a life-changing or fatal injury.
"If you just slow down your likelihood of having those severe injuries is going to be dramatically reduced. The difference in a 25% reduction could be the difference in having a blunt abdominal trauma or having a blunt abdominal trauma and a broken back and a spinal cord injury which unfortunately we do see that, particularly in instances where people are unrestrained," said Dr. Schoen.
In the state of Louisiana, all occupants of a vehicle must wear a seat belt or face fines. Dr. Schoen says it's a lifesaving tool.
Schoen said, "Seatbelts save lives but we do see an uptick around the holidays. It’s just a factor of how many people are on the roadways and how many people are rushing to get more they’re going. Combine that with weather changes, you know everybody should be checking their tires to ensure that their tires are staying inflated as the temperature is dropping too."
When doctors at area hospitals do all, they can, sometimes it's too late. State troopers like Sgt. Dustin Dwight often times have to notify family members during the gathering season, that their loved ones were killed in an accident.
"One the most one of the most difficult jobs as a Louisiana state trooper has been the task of death notification and a lot of the times it’s very frustrating because nearly every instance is 100% preventable. Please do your part to avoid these tragic situations," said Sgt. Dwight.
Dwight encourages those heading on the roads this holiday season to do so safely and report any erratic driving behavior to the police, and if someone violates the move-over law.
"I don’t think motorists realize just how vulnerable a motorist is on the side of the road that is an extremely dangerous situation for those traveling," said Dwight. "If you witness any aggressive driving, impaired driving, or any unsafe driving we remind you to dial *LSP."
