Public federal crash files identify 62 pedestrian and pedalcyclist deaths in 59 crashes in Lafayette Parish during 2020–2024. The records include coordinates for every one of those 59 crashes. They provide a reproducible starting point for examining fatal crash locations while leaving a significant gap: they do not supply the parish’s full record of nonfatal injuries.
This Babcock Injury Lawyers analysis uses NHTSA FARS public downloads, downloaded October 16, 2026. It counts deaths among the specified road users, then separately counts the crashes in which they died. The geographic unit is Lafayette Parish, including municipalities and areas outside them.
What the records show
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Use the arrow keys when the table is focused.
| Year | Pedestrian deaths | Pedalcyclist deaths | Crashes with these deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 9 | 5 | 12 |
| 2021 | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| 2022 | 14 | 4 | 18 |
| 2023 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 2024 | 8 | 5 | 13 |
| Total | 44 | 18 | 59 |
The 62 deaths comprise 44 pedestrians and 18 pedalcyclists. Multiple people can die in one collision, so 62 deaths should not be described as 62 crashes. Of the selected fatality records, 39 are coded to the city of Lafayette; the parish total also includes other municipalities and records with no applicable or reported city.
For 2024 alone, the extract records eight pedestrian deaths and five pedalcyclist deaths in 13 crashes. The five-year totals reflect the classifications recorded in each year’s source. Beginning in 2022, NHTSA expanded its pedalcyclist category to include motorized bicycles. That classification change must be considered before interpreting differences across years as a change in safety. NHTSA’s 2024 bicyclist fact sheet explains the change.
Explore the locations and records
Explore all 59 crash locations together on the interactive street map below. Zoom to see street names, select a marker for the recorded date, road labels, and FARS case number, or filter by year and road user. Numbered circles group nearby crashes; select a circle to zoom in. Each individual marker represents one crash with at least one pedestrian or pedalcyclist death, rather than one person.
Open a larger version of the street map. Map background: © OpenStreetMap contributors. The street map shows current geography; crash coordinates are approximate recorded locations, not surveyed impact points.
View the 59 crash records and location links. Download the data workbook, source URLs, and method.
The map uses the locations recorded by NHTSA for these 59 crashes. The records identify Lafayette Parish, but a plotted point alone does not establish the exact lane, intersection or property where a collision occurred. Consult the underlying crash report before drawing a conclusion about a particular site.
Looking up Evangeline Thruway records
Searching the two recorded road-label fields for “Evangeline,” without regard to capitalization, returns four crashes and four deaths in this 2020–2024 parish extract: three pedestrian deaths and one pedalcyclist death. These road-name matches do not establish a complete count for the Lafayette Evangeline Thruway corridor. Three matching records have Carencro in the federal city field; only one has Lafayette.
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Use the arrow keys when the table is focused.
| Date | FARS case | Recorded road label | City field | Selected death |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 17, 2020 | 220687 | 3800 NW EVANGELINE | Carencro | 1 pedestrian |
| April 13, 2021 | 220164 | NW EVANGELINE THRUWAY | Carencro | 1 pedestrian |
| April 30, 2022 | 220190 | NW EVANGELINE TRWY | Carencro | 1 pedalcyclist |
| November 9, 2022 | 220683 | EVANGELINE THWY | Lafayette | 1 pedestrian |
On the embedded street map above, use Evangeline labels or enter Evangeline in the search box, with all years and road users selected. You can also open the four matching locations on a larger street map or download the four source rows. Use Reset map to return to all 59 parish crashes.
A name search misses records labeled only with a route number or another street name. Conversely, “Evangeline” can identify a location outside the particular stretch a reporter is discussing. For example, 2021 case 220111 is labeled US-167 and 2024 case 220129 is labeled US-90. Their recorded coordinates can be inspected on the map; the labels alone do not decide whether either belongs in a defined corridor study.
The four road-name matches do not establish a total for the Evangeline Thruway corridor. A corridor count requires defined endpoints, consistent treatment of intersections and frontage roads, and review of each crash location. These records cover 2020–2024 only and exclude nonfatal injuries.
What a fatal-crash map cannot tell you
FARS includes qualifying motor-vehicle traffic crashes resulting in a death within 30 days. It does not capture every bicycle fall, private-property incident, near miss, or nonfatal collision. A street with no point on this map cannot be labeled safe. The absence of a point can mean the event did not meet this dataset’s criteria.
The map also has no measure of how many people walked or cycled along each road, or how many trips they made. More points may reflect more exposure, different road conditions, or several other factors. These data do not support a risk-per-trip ranking or a causal conclusion about road design.
Road names can also be misleading: a highway number, local street name and cross street may refer to overlapping locations. A comparison of corridors would need consistent boundaries and information about how many people use each road.
How this addresses Lafayette’s information gap
The Current reported in May 2025 that local advocates were seeking location-specific records and compiling news reports when fuller data were unavailable. It reported 54 pedestrian and cyclist fatalities for 2019–2023 using CARTS. Our 62-death total covers 2020–2024 and uses FARS, so it is not a correction to that earlier figure or a valid percentage-change comparison with it.
The federal files provide a partial alternative that does not depend on whether an event received press coverage. They still do not fill the nonfatal-injury gap described in that reporting. This study uses NHTSA’s public downloads, rather than a restricted extract of Louisiana’s crash-query system.
23 U.S.C. § 407 addresses discovery and use in damages litigation of specified information compiled or collected for highway-safety purposes. Whether a particular local record must be released, or can be used in a lawsuit, requires its own legal analysis. Publishing this map does not resolve the records dispute or establish that each underlying document is admissible.
Sources and counting method
The analysis includes deaths of pedestrians, bicyclists and other pedalcyclists in crashes identified by NHTSA as occurring in Lafayette Parish. Each death is matched to its crash record for the same year. Duplicate records are excluded, and each crash is counted once even when more than one person died. The downloadable files include the record codes and calculations.
Deaths are counted from the selected person records. Crashes are counted once per year and case number. The download includes both levels so readers can reconcile the difference. Road names and locations are those reported by NHTSA.
As a control, all fatal person records were reconciled to the sum of the crash file’s fatality field for each year. National totals and pedalcyclist totals also match Table 1 of NHTSA’s 2024 bicyclist fact sheet. The 2020–2023 files are final files; 2024 is the Annual Report File and remains subject to revision. All downloaded archive hashes are retained in the source manifest.
Use the map to ask better questions
The records can help readers identify locations for further review and locate the relevant year and federal case number. They do not assign fault to a driver, pedestrian, cyclist, or public agency. The underlying investigation still needs the original report, witnesses, video, measurements, and other evidence.
Our accident evidence guide explains that distinction. For families investigating a death, our Lafayette wrongful-death practice addresses the individual legal inquiry. A public-data study can guide questions; it cannot decide an individual claim.
Research date: October 16, 2026. Analysis by Babcock Injury Lawyers using public federal records. This is an independent analysis, not an official NHTSA publication.
The 59 selected crash records
Road names and case identifiers are reproduced from the federal files. Each location link opens the recorded coordinates; it does not verify the precise impact point.
Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Use the arrow keys when the table is focused.
| Year | FARS case | Road label | Second road label | Pedestrian deaths | Pedalcyclist deaths | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 220045 | SR-728 | 0 | 1 | View recorded location | |
| 2020 | 220228 | US-167 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2020 | 220253 | US-167 | 200 CHALMETTE DR | 0 | 1 | View recorded location |
| 2020 | 220388 | US-90 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2020 | 220459 | 1900 NW FRONTAGE RD | 2 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2020 | 220477 | I-49 | 0 | 1 | View recorded location | |
| 2020 | 220482 | SR-182 | 0 | 1 | View recorded location | |
| 2020 | 220501 | US-167 | 2 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2020 | 220629 | US-167 | CHALMETTE DRIVE | 0 | 1 | View recorded location |
| 2020 | 220637 | 900 LA NEUVILLE RD | 100 KAISER DR | 1 | 0 | View recorded location |
| 2020 | 220686 | SR-93 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2020 | 220687 | 3800 NW EVANGELINE | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2021 | 220014 | US-167 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2021 | 220015 | SURREY STREET | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2021 | 220111 | US-167 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2021 | 220164 | NW EVANGELINE THRUWAY | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2021 | 220205 | I-49 | 2 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2021 | 220245 | W MARIGNY CIRCLE | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2021 | 220255 | SR-723 | JALON RD | 1 | 0 | View recorded location |
| 2021 | 220258 | US-167 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2021 | 220380 | US-90 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2021 | 220657 | US-167 | 0 | 1 | View recorded location | |
| 2021 | 220673 | I-49 FRONTAGE ROAD | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220003 | US-167 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220013 | AMBASSADOR CAFFERTY THRU | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220020 | SR-94 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220126 | MARIE ANTOINETTE ST | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220137 | SR-723 | 0 | 1 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220160 | SR-182 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220190 | NW EVANGELINE TRWY | 0 | 1 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220225 | US-90 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220395 | SR-98 | 0 | 1 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220454 | SR-3073 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220467 | WEST GILMAN ROAD | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220516 | AMBASSADOR CAFFERY PKWY | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220528 | SR-1096 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220574 | W WILLOW ST | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220625 | W CONGRESS ST | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220676 | SR-94 | 0 | 1 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220683 | EVANGELINE THWY | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2022 | 220688 | US-167 BERTRAND DR | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2023 | 220013 | MU-E MILTON AVE | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2023 | 220187 | SR-3034 | BERTRAND BLVD | 0 | 1 | View recorded location |
| 2023 | 220489 | MU-WEST WILLOW ST | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2023 | 220562 | CR-TOBY MOUTON ROAD | 0 | 1 | View recorded location | |
| 2023 | 220671 | I-49 N FRONTAGE ROAD | 0 | 1 | View recorded location | |
| 2024 | 220018 | SR-3073 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2024 | 220027 | SR-342 | 0 | 1 | View recorded location | |
| 2024 | 220029 | MU-VEROT SCHOOL RD | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2024 | 220035 | MU-SOUTH STERLING STREET | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2024 | 220047 | I-10 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2024 | 220097 | SR-724 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2024 | 220101 | SR-94 | MUDD AVENUE | 1 | 0 | View recorded location |
| 2024 | 220129 | US-90 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2024 | 220156 | SR-182 | 0 | 1 | View recorded location | |
| 2024 | 220394 | SR-343 | 0 | 1 | View recorded location | |
| 2024 | 220505 | SR-93 | 0 | 1 | View recorded location | |
| 2024 | 220510 | US-90 | 1 | 0 | View recorded location | |
| 2024 | 220662 | SR-93 | 0 | 1 | View recorded location |
Related Louisiana guidance. For a different geographic view, compare our New Orleans bicycle-fatality study, which explains the limits of city comparisons. If a driver leaves the scene, our hit-and-run evidence and coverage guide addresses the individual claim. Browse the full Louisiana Legal Research collection for additional topics.