Louisiana Commission Wins National Award for Big Stop Signs and Rumble Strips

Lafayette, LA (KPEL News) - T-intersections in rural south Louisiana are dangerous, especially with distracted driving, like cell phone use. The Acadiana Planning Commission decided to tackle the issue in the hope of significantly reducing fatal and serious injury crashes at these intersections. They achieved that goal with low-cost safety measures, like big stop signs, rumble strips, flashing beacons, and t-intersection warning signs that were quickly installed.

The proof is in the results.

Before the safety improvements, the 18 intersections had a total 89 crashes involving vehicles that ran the stop sign and went off the road. After the improvements, between 2020 and 2022, that number of crashes plummeted to eight, even as collisions across the state increased during the pandemic. Eleven of the 18 intersections had no collisions of that type.

The Acadiana Planning Commission says their team is keeping an eye on where more of these safety features are needed and work quickly to get them installed.

The program garnered national attention, and the planning commission was honored with the 2023 National Roadway Safety Award for the success of the project.

Ashley Moran, senior planner for the Acadiana Planning Commission, says they are an easy, effective way to keep crashes from happening:

Since these improvements are done with local DOTD staff, we can place the order for the work as soon as we document the crash problem, and the DOTD staff will do the installation typically within the following week.

The group serves the seven parishes in Acadiana, so the t-intersections with these new safety equipment are scattered.