Weather forecasts for the latter part of this week predict rain and freezing temperatures for Southeast Louisiana. Unfortunately, the wet precipitation on the roadways has the potential of freezing on the roadways to create “black ice,” a thin, nearly invisible coating of ice that forms on paved surfaces. This type of weather pattern can be dangerous for motorists who are traveling along Louisiana highways, as most are not accustomed to such driving conditions.

The Louisiana State Police urges motorists to keep abreast of the latest weather and travel conditions before deciding whether a trip is necessary, as rain/snow can cause roads to ice over quickly, particularly on bridges and overpasses, and in rural areas. If roadways accumulate ice, the Louisiana State Police will continue to work closely with the Department of Transportation and Development to take appropriate measures.

As conditions change, motorists are reminded to always wear their seatbelts correctly/use appropriate child restraints, adjust their speed and never travel faster than conditions allow. Do not drive using the cruise control in icy conditions, allow ample time to reach your destination, allow extra space between vehicles, and keep vehicle headlights on. Should you encounter icy conditions on the roadway, it is very important that you do not brake suddenly, as this may cause a loss of control. Gently apply the brakes and steer in the direction of the skid, without overcorrecting the vehicle. The most likely place you will encounter icy conditions over the next few days will be on bridges and overpasses. Use extra caution when crossing these elevated structures. Even if there is no rain and the roadways are dry, condensation build-up on elevated structures can cause their surfaces to freeze.

This would be an excellent time to check the condition of your vehicle’s tires, battery, windshield wipers and antifreeze. Low tread on tires can cause a vehicle to lose traction in all weather conditions. Weak batteries can prevent vehicles from starting in cold weather. Anti-freeze will protect your engine and radiator from freezing up due to cold temperatures.

To report stalled vehicles or unsafe roadway conditions, you may dial *LSP (*577) from your cellular phone to reach the State Police office closest to you. For road closure information, motorists can dial 511 or visit www.511LA.org

The Livingston Parish Council has voted to bond $8.3 million from the LA Department of Transportation and Development to expedite the widening of Juban Road to Florida Boulevard, and it doesn’t end with just widening. Juban will also be extended northward to Lockhart road in an effort to move traffic further north into the parish.

Right now the Juban road interchange is the least used interchange on the entire I12 corridor. This interchange was expected to greatly relieve congestion that exits and enters Range Road during peak traffic times, but this has not been the case.

Before the interchange was completed, local official stressed the need for widening Juban north to Florida Boulevard. Ideally this should have been completed in conjunction with the opening of the interchange; however this did not pan out due to lack of funding.

The widening of Juban road is not only essential to easing traffic congestion but also economic development. Juban Crossing is a proposed 470 acre development on the north side of I12 on Juban road. The development will be one of the largest in the region with commercial, office, residential, hotel, and restaurant space available. If this development were built on the current Juban road, it would make for a traffic nightmare.

Right now there is no estimated completion time of the project, but the council expects to start acquiring right of way for the project beginning early next year.

Louisiana State Police Troop A is currently investigating a rollover fatal crash that occurred today just before noon on Interstate 10 east of LA 928 in Ascension Parish. There were fifteen occupants in a Chevrolet minivan traveling west on I-10 when the driver of the van swerved to the left and side-swiped a refrigerated box truck. The vehicle then ran off the roadway to the left into the median, overturned several times, and came to rest in an upright position on the eastbound lanes of I-10. Preliminary investigation suggests that the front left tire on the minivan blew out just before the crash occurred. The refrigerated box truck sustained very minor damage and the driver of the truck was not injured.

There were fifteen (15) occupants in the minivan when the crash occurred. The only two adults in the vehicle, the driver and front-seat passenger, were wearing seat belts. The thirteen (13) children in the back seats were not restrained and were all fully ejected from the vehicle. Five (5) of the vehicle’s occupants, including the driver, were pronounced deceased on the scene by the Ascension Parish Coroner’s Office. The remaining ten (10) passengers were transported to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital and Baton Rouge General Hospital by Acadian Ambulance and Baton Rouge EMS in critical condition.

Troopers and Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Deputies worked together to get the roadway cleared while first responders from Prairieville Fire Department, St. George Fire Department, Acadian Ambulance, and Baton Rouge EMS tended to the injured. Interstate 10 was closed in both directions for approximately one hour before Troopers and Deputies were able to clear one lane for travel in each direction. Shortly thereafter, the roadway was fully cleared for travel.

The names of the deceased are being held pending notification of the next of kin. Alcohol is not suspected to have been a factor in this crash. However, Troopers have submitted a sample of the driver’s blood to the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab for chemical analysis.

Louisiana state law now requires seat belt or child restraint use in every position in the vehicle. Troopers have spent the first two months after the law took effect to educate the public about the new law and are now strictly enforcing this law in an attempt to decrease the instances of serious injuries and deaths caused by vehicle crashes throughout the state. Statistics show that the safest place to be when a vehicle overturns is INSIDE the vehicle. The only way to ensure this is to be properly restrained inside the vehicle.

UPDATE (11/29/09) – The driver of the 2000 GMC Safari Minivan, Mona Hines (B/F, age 38) was killed in the crash. Hines was restrained when the crash occurred, but was partially ejected from the vehicle and pronounced deceased on the scene by the Ascension Parish Coroner’s Office. Four of the children, who were unrestrained in the back seats of the vehicle, Ricky Hines, Jr. (B/M, age 2), Lachante Floyd (B/F, age 12), Edward Barnes (B/M, age 14), and Ashley Hines (B/M, age 14) were also pronounced deceased at the scene. The other adult in the vehicle, Stacey Hines (B/F, age 28), was properly restrained when the crash occurred and is currently in stable condition at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge. Seven (7) of the children who survived the crash remain in critical condition and two (2) sustained moderate injuries, but are considered stable. The ages of the surviving children range from less than one year old to 14 years old. All occupants of the vehicle are believed to be from the Harvey area.

UPDATE (11/30/09) – Ariel Hines (B/F, age 12) of Harvey was pronounced deceased just after noon today by doctors at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge. Ariel is the sixth person who has died as a result of injuries sustained in the I-10 crash in Ascension Parish on Saturday.

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Tpr Russell G. Graham II
Public Affairs Unit
Louisiana State Police – Troop A

Upon the approach of a busy Thanksgiving Day and holiday weekend, Troop A wants to remind motorists to drive carefully and make it a safe holiday for everyone traveling on Louisiana’s roadways. The rise of holiday gatherings, parties, and shopping brings with it an increase in traffic on our highways. Unfortunately, this increase in traffic also leads to increased crashes and fatalities in our area. Historically, Troopers have seen an increase in the instances of crashes caused by impaired drivers during this time of year as well.

There will be additional Troopers on the highways this holiday season ensuring the safety of the motorists. Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs will not be tolerated and those offenders will be arrested for DWI and brought to jail. Troopers will also be issuing citations for hazardous violations, such as following too closely and careless operation. Louisiana law now requires seat belt use in every position in the vehicle. Troopers will continue to focus on unrestrained occupants and unrestrained children.

Troopers would also like to remind motorists of the importance of making the long weekend a safe one by being prepared for travel. A sleepy driver is an impaired driver. Sleepiness while driving is as dangerous as texting while driving. Prepare for travel by being well-rested, sharing driving time with others, keeping each other company while driving, and leaving early. There will be more traffic on the roadways, so leaving early will allow you to get to your destination on time without having to rush.

Please be safe on our roadways and have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving Holiday! If you see any unsafe acts, sleepy or impaired drivers, or aggressive driving, you are encouraged to report it by dialing *LSP (577) from your mobile phone.

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Tpr Russell G. Graham II
Public Affairs Unit
Louisiana State Police – Troop A

East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office traffic tickets can now be paid online through the EBRSO website at www.ebrso.org.  Sheriff Sid Gautreaux hopes this convenient method will cut down on outstanding traffic warrants and allow residents to take care of their tickets from work or home.

Sheriff Gautreaux has lead a collaborative effort with DA Hillar Moore, Clerk Doug Welborn and the Judges of the 19^th JDC to implement the first online ticket payment system for District Court Tickets. The system has been operating in a trial mode since October 8, 2009.

As a new system, initially only Sheriff issued tickets (comprising 60% of the District Court traffic ticket docket) are payable through the website.  The Sheriff welcomes other law enforcement agencies to participate in the future through the same website for online payment.  Not every ticket will be payable online as the law does require Mandatory court appearances for some specific offenses.

By offering payment online to residents, Sheriff Gautreaux hopes they will find it more convenient to handle their traffic tickets in a manner that does not require them to take time off from work, fight for parking downtown, and go to four different offices as is involved in paying a ticket today.

The Sheriff is optimistic that District Court tickets will soon experience the same success as City Court, where 50% of traffic tickets are paid online without any appearance by the resident. The system will accept payment by credit card and check. All online check payments have a one dollar processing fee. A percentage of the ticket amount due determines credit card and debit cards online fees. Most questions can be answered by our “Frequently Asked Questions” section.

If a resident does not have access to a computer at home, work, or the library; they can come to the Sheriff’s payment’s office  (2 floor of Governmental building)  where personnel will assist them to complete the online payment process. Traffic tickets can be paid up until midnight the day before the trial scheduled on their ticket.

The Sheriff’s Office has 30,000 traffic warrants outstanding.  By making the process easier to comply with, Sheriff Gautreaux hopes the Sheriff’s Warrant recovery resources can be more effectively deployed to locate the other outstanding warrants.

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Casey Rayborn Hicks
EBR Sheriff Public Information Director

The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office received a brand new substation this month. The substation which is adjacent to the Ochsner Medical Facility off of O’Neal Lane will not be an actual uniformed patrol substation, rather, it will house the Traffic, Armed Robbery/Burglary and the Auto Theft divisions of the Sheriff’s Office. The Kleinpeter substation on Airline Hwy at Barringer Foreman is still the main uniform patrol substation responsible for the O’Neal lane area. Ochsner offered the facility free of charge in order to acquire more of a police presence in the area.

The new office is located at 1759 Physician’s Park which runs off O’Neal lane just south of I-12:

On the web: http://www.ebrso.org/

We all know them, we’ve all seen them and unfortunately, alot of us have been nailed by them. They are big brother’s latest gift to the Baton Rouge area, red light cameras. Baton Rouge adopted the red light camera system to try and curb red light runners due to the safety issue at hand. I say (along with most of the city) that its 99% about revenue and 1% about safety. American Traffic Solutions, Inc, the city’s partner in the red light camera program, which gets a large percentage of the money off each ticket, told Ingolf Partenheimer, who is EBR’s traffic engineer, that they will consider moving the cameras around to different intersections to generate more revenue. Yeah that definitely sounds like its an issue of safety here, folks.

There are currently 20 or so red light cameras in use, but the city has a contract for 50 cameras so we’re almost halfway there. I assume that the more used to the locations we get, the less tickets will be mailed out, meaning less revenue for ATS and EBR Parish. Of course this probably means they’ll just move the cameras to other intersections and try to use the element of surprise to their advantage.

When I approach an intersection which contains a red light camera, I don’t treat it any different than I do any other intersection that doesn’t contain cameras. The traffic light and intersection are enough to keep me alert. I don’t want to get hit (and be at fault!) anymore than the next guy does. Being the previous victim of someone’s careless driving practices, I slow down and proceed with caution even if the light is green, but not everyone is so careful. We assume that since we have a green light, we have a clear intersection. No chance anyone is turning right on red up ahead or an emergency vehicle is coming through, besides, we’re trying to find a good radio station or get our point across on the cell phone so there’s no time to pay attention at this intersection!

Some studies have revealed that rear end collisions have actually increased at intersections that contain red light cameras. If this is true, its safe to say that red light cameras increase more than just revenue for the municipality in which they reside. They also increase accidents, injuries and property claims for insurance companies which result in even higher (if that’s possible) insurance premiums for your fellow drivers and yourself.  I read that the city was conducting a study earlier this year to see if rear end collisions (or any collisions for that matter) have decreased at intersections using the red light cameras. They stated that if they found that collisions did NOT decrease or if they increased, the cameras would be gone. Of course I have heard nothing else about that since that article was published.

Personally, I like the idea of cameras at intersections. They should record in a loop for 24 hours and have total visibility at all corners of intersections. This way there’s video proof of who was actually at fault should an accident occur. That way, if someone does run a red light which results in property damage and/or personal injury, the evidence would be clear and that person cited for the violation. I’m sure most drivers in East Baton Rouge would also agree with me on this.

If East Baton Rouge does continue to use the “Red Light Enforcement Program”, I’d like to see their website post continual updates with all the pertinent information regarding the revenue. Information such as number of tickets issued every month, amount of revenue collected this month and to date, a detailed list of where every dollar is going, has gone and will go. If enough people keep running the lights and paying the fines there shouldn’t be a single reason in the world why we have tax increases in this parish much less a shortage of finances.

Baton Rouge Red Light Safety Program Official Website

Ramp meters? What’s that? Well it’s not a new concept, but it sure is a foriegn concept in Louisiana.

A ramp meter is a red light located ON the entrance/on ramp to the interstate.

It’s purpose: To stop each car for a 2 – 4 second interval.

The concept: By creating a gap between each car, traffic can merge and flow smoother onto the interstate.

Also by putting a gap in-between each car you don’t have a constant line trying to merge which creates a big slow down to the hundreds already on the interstate.

A good concept actually, but will it work here? I think that at first people will not know what to think of this new found light…esp with it being about a quarter of the way to half way up the on-ramp.

As much as I’ve travelled I have only seen ramp meters in one other city – Minneapolis. Our DOTD secretary said these are usually used in major metropolitan areas, but he wants to prove that there are other methods, besides widening, to help traffic. A good idea, but here in Baton Rouge we cant afford to minimize the emphasis on widening clogged roads.

Ones first though would be: “Wouldn’t this clog up the surface streets with cars waiting to get on the interstate?” DOTD already figured this out. There would be sensors placed in certain areas and if traffic gets to heavy the lights will shut off, or can adjust to shorter times (2 or 3 seconds).

The ramp meters would run during peak times in the morning and evening. If all goes according to plan there should be 16 ramp meters at 9 intersections.

I haven’t decided what I hate more in terms of driving in Baton Rouge; Its either clogged up 2 lane roads or road construction. I suppose its the lesser of the 2 evils and honestly, there seems to be so much of both these days, you have to learn to live with it. The only good thing about the barrels is that they usually mean wider roads and more lanes are a’ comin’.

The latest targets of what I call the Baton Rouge 4 lane frenzy are popping up everywhere. New construction includes O’Neal Lane from Florida Blvd all the way to George O’Neal. The stretch of O’Neal between Florida and I-12 appears to be the 1st leg of this project because it is under HEAVY construction currently. From I-12 through to Harrells Ferry Rd will be the 2nd leg and from Harrells Ferry to George O’Neal will be the 3rd and final leg of this project. Harrells Ferry Rd from just east of O’Neal all the way to Millerville, as I recall, is up on the chopping block for widening. Tree removal in that area has already begun and I presume its just a matter of time before our old friends, the orange barrels, will be making their first appearance. Jones Creek is also under heavy construction from Harrells Ferry Rd to Coursey/George O’Neal which will result in 4 lanes there as well.

Probably the largest and no doubt the most welcomed project in the Baton Rouge area is the adding of an extra lane to I-12 from O’Neal Lane to Juban Rd. This is the site of the ever popular bottleneck that has evening rush hour traffic in the area backed up usually past Airline Hwy. It was such a wonderful idea to reduce the busiest interstate in the south, from 3 lanes to 2 lanes RIGHT in the middle of the city. Who would have ever thought this would cause  a traffic nightmare for anyone? Another road project that seems to have begun breathing life again is the Central Thruway which will extend O’Neal Lane from Florida Blvd all the way through to Greenwell Springs Rd. The day that opens for business will be the day i’ll be glad that O’Neal is 4 lanes from Florida to I-12.

Recently completed projects include the entire stretch of Perkins road from Siegen to Bluebonnet and Burbank from the Siegen Lane extension all the way through to Lee Drive. The latter makes a NICE bypass of the Interstate for LSU (class and gameday) traffic. Perkins road may never have a complete 4 lane corridor because the stretch between Bluebonnet and Essen Lane seems to be dragging on and on longer than any project I think I’ve ever seen. If you have had the pleasure of driving ANYWHERE in the vicinity of the Perkins and Bluebonnet intersection, you have undoubtedly been late getting somewhere due to that parking lot effect.