Evangeline Parish – Some drivers in Evangeline Parish are trying to nail down who’s damaging their tires. According to drivers and DOTD, nails have been found scattered across four state highways around Ville Platte.
Complaints were reported on areas along US-167,LA-10 , LA-29 and LA-748.
Officials with DOTD believe someone is throwing nails in the road on purpose.
Crews were sent out to those 4 locations, picking up the nails with magnets over the weekend.
Drivers like Michael Anderson are treading lightly while traveling through Evangeline Parish.
“It angers me somebody would do that,” Anderson said. ” I’ll be cautious while driving. It could’ve caused major accidents. It could’ve caused an injury. It’s costing people unnecessary money. Whoever doing it they should be caught.”
While Anderson’s tires are fine, others weren’t so lucky.
“I caught quite a few flats around this area,” driver Georgie Weathersby said. “I’ve been wondering what was going on.”
Some venting their frustrations on the Evangeline Parish Crime Report Facebook page.
One person saying, “I had to get one of my tires plugged. I understand it’s the same type of nail. Not funny”
Another said an area was hit twice in one week calling it ridiculous.
Bill Oliver with DOTD says it doesn’t appear to be an accident.
“They’re not all continuous routes,” Oliver said. “They’re all separate routes. The four routes are not all on a straight line so they would have to go through a zig-zag route to get through all those four different locations. That tells me it’s somebody that did some deliberate things.”
While the source of the nails is a mystery, drivers are hoping the person responsible gets caught.
DOTD says they will continue to clean up if more nails are discovered.
If you find some, along a state highway you can call the office and file a formal complaint. Crews will come out and have the area swept.
