Amite, LA : A lawn-maintenance crewman was killed on April, thursday 27th 2017

A lawn-maintenance crewman was killed when a car struck him as he worked on the shoulder of an Amite highway Thursday afternoon (April 27), according to Louisiana State Police Troop

Fifty-three-year-old Raymond H. Smith of Franklinton was pronounced dead on the scene following the crash, which occurred shortly after 1 p.m. on La. 16 near La. 445, also known as Husser Road.

According to an initial investigation, the crash happened as a 26-year-old Hammond woman was driving a Ford Escape westbound on La. 16. Smith, part of a lawn crew working at a private home along the highway, was on the shoulder of the roadway, near the right fog line, when he was struck.

The motorist was properly restrained and uninjured in the crash.

Impairment is not suspected as a factor, police said. However, an investigation into the crash continues, and any criminal charges will be forwarded to the Tangipahoa Parish District Attorney's Office pending the completion of the investigation.

Thursday morning, a Warren Easton Charter High School student was struck by a car in Algiers, according to school officials and police.

New Orleans police issued citations to the driver, whom a witness said either failed to stop for a school bus, or was trying to go around the bus, when he struck the student as she tried to cross the road.

The juvenile, identified by officials as a ninth grader at the high school, was treated and released from a local hospital after suffering what NOPD spokeswoman Dawne Massey called "minor/non-life-threatening injuries."

About a month ago, the Governors Highway Safety Association released a study showing that pedestrian traffic fatalities are on the rise in the U.S. and Louisiana,

According to the study, the number of pedestrians killed in traffic accidents is estimated to have risen by 11 percent from 2015 to 2016, signifying the largest increase in deaths in the 40 years since national records have been kept.

Louisiana also shows increasing pedestrian deaths between 2015 and 2016. Statewide crash reports collected regularly by Louisiana State University note the state saw 109 pedestrian fatalities in 2015 and 127 in 2016. That marks a 15 percent year-to-year increase, which square's with the GHSA study's projections.


Source :
Lawn-maintenance worker killed in crash on Amite highway: state police