Houma, La. - As the owner of an auto salvage shop, Thomas Dreadin sees the result of many wrecks.
Dreadin also sees a lot of crashes in front of his shop on LA 182. The stretch of highway between Bayou Blue and Coteau Roads has been the site of several deadly wrecks over the years.
The latest happened Sunday night. Investigators with Louisiana State Police say an SUV driven by Juan Martinez-Silva crossed the center line and slammed into Belinda Leonard's car head on. Martinez-Silva and Leonard died at the scene. Leonard's passenger, John Steve, died a short time later. A passenger in the SUV remains in the hospital.
Memorials dot the road in that area. Dreadin remembers a crash marked by a cross even 14 years later -- a car driven by a teen pulled into the path of an 18-wheeler.
"He said he looked up and the guy was right there and there was nothing, with the bridge, there was nothing he could do," says Dreadin.
It's the same spot where four Vandebilt Catholic High School teens lost their lives when their car went into the bayou.
"It's just such a long stretch between lights and at nighttime, it's kind of dark," says Dreadin. "There's no lighting and then you have the bridge here and it's kind of blind side when you try to get in and out."
But state police don't think the road is dangerous. They say the problem all too often is the drivers on it.
Troopers say they often patrol this area for drunk drivers because it's a main connector from Raceland to downtown Houma. Trooper Evan Harrell blames distraction or impairment for many of the crashes.
"There's no one road or one area that somebody can avoid and think that they're safe because it's widespread, it's out there, it's everywhere," he says.
Dreadin agrees, many times the drivers are to blame.
"We see a lot of people come through here 75 to 80 miles an hour on a day to day basis and I think that has a lot to do with it too," he says. "People trying to get from point A to point B."
