Crashes and congestion on I-10 are nothing new for Acadiana drivers, especially those heading between Lafayette and Baton Rouge.
Louisiana State Police says about 800 crashes happen every year on I-10 along that stretch of highway, with 77% of those accidents caused by drivers not paying attention.
The Louisiana DOTD put together a PSA video and posted it on their Facebook page about the dangers of distracted driving.
In the video they say the average drivers takes a few seconds to check their phone for a text.
During that time, traveling at 70 mph, a car can cover more than 500 feet.
Then add in the reaction time for a person to look back at the road and adjust to traffic that could take another couple seconds or 300 feet.
So, in total a distracted driver can travel more than 800 feet before noticing that anything has changed such as traffic slowing down or another car merging into their lane, which leads to many of the accidents on the highway.
The main message of the video is this, if you want to avoid trouble on I-10 it starts with everyone putting down their phones and paying attention to the road.
And with the construction on I-10 between Lafayette and the basin bridge the lanes are even smaller meaning drivers need to pay extra attention to their surroundings.
Besides putting down your phone DOTD also advices drivers to go the speed limit, don’t tailgate and buckle up.
