Drunk driving casualties plummet in New Orleans | Crime/Police

Five years ago, as an overwhelmed New Orleans police force grappled with a surge in homicides and carjackings, efforts to keep drunk drivers off the city’s streets fell by the wayside.

Now, with violent crime down and the agency turning efforts toward quality-of-life concerns, the NOPD is making a dent in getting people suspected of driving under the influence off the streets.

In 2021, 51 people were killed or seriously injured in alcohol-related crashes in Orleans Parish, according to LSU’s Center for Analytics & Research in Transportation Safety. This year, through Sept. 2026, only one person has died, and two others have been seriously injured.

The decline comes as a years-long drop in killings and an increase in murder clearance rates have freed up NOPD resources to crack down on dangerous driving.

Meanwhile, the NOPD is working alongside the Department of Public Works and the New Orleans Health Department to eliminate traffic deaths by 2041, a goal outlined in the city’s Safety Action Plan finalized in March.

“All traffic deaths are preventable,” said Dr. Jennifer Avegno, Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services. “We are encouraged by the progress that this is an achievable goal.”

The numbers represent a stark turnaround from 2022, when New Orleans had the nation’s highest per capita homicide rate and 40 people were killed or seriously injured in alcohol-related crashes, according to LSU CARTS. That year, NOPD arrested just 153 drunk drivers.

By 2025, DUI arrests had climbed to 397, while the number of people killed or seriously injured in alcohol-related crashes fell to 23, according to CARTS data. DUI arrest figures for 2026 were unavailable from NOPD and LSU CARTS.

A shift in policing

Each agency has a different role in the city’s traffic safety efforts. DPW focuses on infrastructure improvements along high-risk, high-injury corridors, such as St. Claude Avenue, Avegno said. The Health Department leads an interagency review of every traffic fatality and conducts DUI prevention outreach at festivals, schools and college campuses. NOPD, meanwhile, has stepped up traffic enforcement.

“That’s an unintended benefit of our drop in violent crime: When you have fewer murders, police officers can do other things,” Avegno said. “And one other thing police officers have been tasked with is traffic enforcement.”

NOPD declined to disclose specifics of its traffic enforcement strategy, saying that doing so could undermine operations. But traffic citations have surged in recent years, climbing from 5,212 in 2023 to 30,940 in 2024 and 35,098 in 2025. As of July 9, officers had issued 17,486 citations in 2026.

“Our Traffic Division has been employing focused patrols in high-volume areas and in areas where we have received requests for patrols and/or information that impaired driving may be impacting quality of life,” the NOPD said in a Friday morning statement.

NOPD Traffic Division commander Capt. Buddy Micheu has described the department’s “saturation patrols,” conducted roughly every other week, as a roving alternative to traditional DUI checkpoints. Officers watch for signs of impaired driving, including swerving and driving without headlights.

Statewide, DUI arrests have also risen, climbing from fewer than 11,000 in 2021 to roughly 16,000 in 2025 — an increase of nearly 50%, according to LSU CARTS.

Neighborhood hotspots

In New Orleans, Mid-City has the most DUI incidents reported so far this year, with 28, according to NOPD’s calls for service log. The 7th Ward ranks second, with at least 17, and Treme is third, with at least 13.

The intersection of North Claiborne and Elysian Fields avenues, which straddles the boundary between Treme and the 7th Ward, is among the high-risk corridors targeted for improvements in the city’s safety plan.

For Christopher Jones, who panhandles from his rolling walker seven hours a day along the intersection, dangerous driving remains a daily reality. He described frequent crashes, cars jumping the curb and motorists who appear intoxicated.

A couple of weeks ago, Jones said, he watched one driver pass out at the red light. “This dude fell straight to sleep,” Jones said Thursday afternoon. “A fire truck came and busted the car open.”

NOPD’s calls for service log shows at least three DUI incidents reported at the same intersection so far this year.

“It’s New Orleans. Drinking is 24 hours,” he said.

Avegno said she hopes planned improvements, including ones to add high-visibility crosswalks and “Yield to Pedestrians/No Turn on Red” signage, will help reinforce a broader shift in attitudes toward traffic safety.

“Every resident that chooses not to drive impaired, not to run the red light, to let the pedestrian walk through the walkway—all that creates a culture of safety,” she said. “As people normalize this, then that’s when you get to see more accelerated gains in safety.”