Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, victim’s family speak on tougher distracted driving law

BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) – There’s a push to get tougher hands-free driving laws in our state.

It’s a project of the Governor, who claims it would not only make our roads safer, but it might help bring insurance costs down.

Governor Landry is teaming up with some families who have lost loved ones to distracted drivers.

Activist Suzanne Salter said her family is still broken from the loss of her daughter at the hands of a distracted driver – although it happened in 2014.

“We lost our daughter,” said Salter. “She was only 31 years old, and she was the mother of three kids – the youngest was just two years old. Nicole was our daughter’s name. She was stopped with her blinker on to make a left-hand turn. The other girl driving, said in a written police report she didn’t even know she was in the left lane, or what she hit till she heard the thump. When the investigation was done, they found a long list of texts the driver had.”

Salter said she’s been trying to push our state lawmakers to finally agree on passing the hands-free law, which would allow police to take action on drivers who use cell phones outside of a mount while driving.

“She was just going to pick up a sandwich, just two miles away from home,” Salter mentioned.

Leaders of our state, including Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple, are driving home the point: they believe the law is needed.

“Devices are dangerous,” said Landry. “People standing here lost loved ones. It’s a reckless misunderstanding to think you can text, Snapchat, or TikTok while driving. It does more than harm people, it kills people. It’s a most dangerous thing – to place in kids’ hands – a cell phone.  It’s proven, using those phones while driving is even more dangerous than drinking and driving.”

Lawmakers said the law will likely curb accidents, increase safety, and lower car insurance premiums.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said more than 3,200 lives were lost nationwide in 2023 in crashes caused by distracted drivers.

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