On Saturday, September 5, our LSU Tigers open the 2026 college football season against Clemson. It is once again Saturday night in Death Valley as kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. in Tiger Stadium, with ESPN’s College GameDay set up on campus, and Lane Kiffin’s first season at LSU getting underway in front of a national television audience on ABC. More than a hundred thousand people will be in Tiger Stadium at kickoff, and many thousands more will be tailgating outside. And a substantial share of those LSU fans will drive in from Alexandria, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and every small town along the way – then drive home late that night or early Sunday morning.

The Louisiana injury attorneys at Neblett, Beard & Arsenault have handled serious motor vehicle and catastrophic injury cases across Louisiana for more than forty years, from our home office in Alexandria and our attorneys in Baton Rouge and Lafayette. You are likely well aware that LSU football weekends are busy. What you may not know is crashes occurring on an LSU game day weekend carry unique risks and considerations, and — since January 1, 2026 — are now governed by a fault rule that can wipe out a legitimate claim entirely.

Here is what actually changes for drivers on game day, and what it means if you or someone in your family is hurt in a car accident.

Why LSU Game Day Traffic Is Different From Ordinary Baton Rouge Driving

The short answer: on game day, the roadways around LSU and Tiger Stadium do not necessarily follow the same rules that exist the rest of the week.

LSU coordinates with LSU Police and other local law enforcement agencies to run a temporary traffic plan. North Stadium Drive, South Stadium Drive, and West Stadium Drive close to vehicles entirely. Nicholson Drive closes between North and South Stadium after the game, and Skip Bertman Drive closes for roughly forty-five minutes postgame so the crowd can move on foot. Afterward, major outbound routes run under “Contraflow” — the normal direction of travel is reversed to push cars away from campus faster and towards Interstate 10 east and westbound. LSU publishes a custom game-day map and pushes live closure and checkpoint data into Waze, which is why standard navigation apps routinely steer drivers into barricades they do not know exist.

These unique changes to traffic procedures bring added risks to surrounding roadways and drivers. Reliance on cones, the use of temporary signage, and bumper to bumper traffic can cause unfortunate events on the roadways. Gathering information and evidence following a collision on the way to Tiger Stadium or leaving the game can also be difficult as emergency shoulders are blocked and heavy volume slows police and first responder arrival.

The Drive In: I-49, I-10, and the Trucks You Are Sharing the Road With

Most of the serious injuries our firm sees from LSU football weekends do not happen within sight of the stadium. They happen at highway and interstate speeds, on the way to and from Tiger Stadium and small towns across the state.

Fans coming from Central Louisiana take I-49 south through Rapides, Avoyelles, and St. Landry parishes, then either cut across on US 190 or continue to Lafayette and turn east. Fans from Acadiana are familiar with the backups and narrow lanes of the Atchafalaya Basin bridge between Lafayette and Baton Rouge. Everyone funnels into the same place: the I-10/I-12 split and the Mississippi River (Horace Wilkinson) Bridge. I-49 and I-10 are congested on an ordinary weekday. These roadways become something else entirely when hundreds of thousands of people converge towards Baton Rouge after work on Friday or on gameday.

Two factors make these stretches dangerous in a way other local surface streets are not. The first is the speed differential. Drivers rushing to get to Baton Rouge in Friday traffic or fans late for a 6:30 kickoff mixing with drivers already stopped in backed-up traffic. Rear-end collisions at the tail end of a sudden traffic queue are among the most common serious-injury crashes in Louisiana. This has been an unfortunate reality for many Louisiana families on the Basin bridge or on Highway 190 in past football seasons.

The second is commercial traffic. Freight does not stop for football, even for the LSU Tigers. I-49 and I-10/I-12 through Baton Rouge carry heavy truck volume seven days a week, and an eighteen-wheeler that impacts a passenger vehicle in stopped or slowing traffic produces catastrophic injuries at speeds that may be reduced in a car-to-car collision.

Why a game-day truck crash is unique
A collision between your vehicle and a commercial truck is not only bigger property damage. It can mean severe and even fatal injuries to you or a family member. It is a different kind of case, governed by federal safety regulations and DOT requirements. These accidents require unique evidence and investigation:

• Electronic logging device (ELD) data, engine control module downloads, and dash and cab-facing camera footage but federal guidance generally requires motor carriers to retain ELD records and supporting documents for six months. Other electronic evidence may be kept for different periods or overwritten in daily operations. This makes an immediate, properly directed preservation demand important after a catastrophic crash.
• Hours-of-service compliance, driver qualification files, maintenance and inspection records, and the carrier’s own dispatch communications all bear on whether the crash was the failure of the driver, the failure or the company, or both.
• A letter demanding the preservation of critical evidence needs to go out immediately after the accident, not weeks or months later. This is the single most common avoidable mistake we have seen in trucking cases.
• Where the driver was working for one company under contract to another, or was an independent contractor hired by a third-party, there is often more than one insurance policy and more than one responsible party. This matters enormously when injuries are catastrophic, when our clients lose time at work after a collision, and when long-term treatment is necessary.

Our firm’s practice is built on exactly this kind of case: serious injury, complex liability, and successfully pursuing maximum compensation for our clients from every at-fault party, no matter the size, location, or resources. If you were hurt in a commercial vehicle collision on the way to or from Baton Rouge, contact us as soon as possible so we can get the investigation started immediately.

Louisiana’s Hands-Free Law and the “Simple” Rear-End Crash

Picture the most ordinary version of a game-day wreck. Traffic on the way to Baton Rouge or Tiger Stadium is moving, then it is not. You stop. The driver behind you — scrolling through a campus parking map on a phone — does not. Now, instead of tailgating and enjoying the game with family and friends, you are stuck with significant damage to your vehicle, or worse, a trip to the ER. Our injury attorneys see countless versions of these same facts, and the serious injuries these impacts can cause. Two Louisiana provisions are important to you in this situation.

Louisiana’s Hands-Free Driving Law Penalizes Distracted Drivers

First, Louisiana’s hands-free driving law (La. R.S. 32:59) went into effect last year. The statute generally prohibits using a cellphone or other wireless communication device while operating a vehicle on a public road unless the vehicle is lawfully stationary. The law expressly prohibits holding or supporting a phone while making a call, texting and manually entering telephone numbers, and scrolling through apps, social media, and the internet. Hands-free and properly mounted navigation is permitted; holding the phone to find a parking lot or manually texting is not. After an initial phase-in period during which officers issued warnings, full enforcement with fines began January 1, 2026.

Operating a cellphone while driving is risky behavior that poses a danger to other vehicles and pedestrians. Driver distraction is a significant contributing factor in many fatal crashes. According to the Center for Analytics & Research in Transportation Safety (CARTS), there was a 28% increase in fatal driving crashes in Louisiana involving a distracted or inattentive driver from 2020 to 2024. In 2024, car crashes were the cause of 753 deaths in Louisiana, and 24% of those deaths were the result of inattention or distraction. 

Here is the part that matters to you or a loved one if you are injured by a distracted driver. Under the enforcement scheme, when a driver commits a device violation and is involved in a crash at the time, the fine is doubled and the investigating officer is directed to note on the written crash report that a wireless telecommunications device was in use. This notation by an investigating officer, made at the scene, on the official crash report, takes an allegation of distraction to evidence of liability to support your claim.

Louisiana’s Rear-End Collision Presumption

Louisiana law generally presumes the following motorist is at fault in a rear-end collision, but that presumption is rebuttable. If you are injured in a car accident, attorneys for the at-fault driver’s insurance or employer will try to rebut it and place fault on you. We routinely defend against these blame-shifting arguments for our injured clients: you stopped short and suddenly, or another car cut in, or that the impact could not be avoided. Evidence of the rear-ending driver’s conduct is important to prove fault for an accident and preserve your legal presumption. That means witness statements taken while memories are fresh, dash camera footage before it loops over, vehicle event data, scene photographs showing the queue and the sightlines, any admission of phone use, phone records obtained through proper legal process, and the actual game-day traffic regulations at that location.

Pedestrian Injuries Around Tiger Stadium

Pedestrian volume around LSU’s campus on a game night is unlike anything else in Louisiana.

Louisiana Revised Statute 32:212 generally requires a motorist to stop and yield to a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk when traffic lights are not present or not fully cycling. But the same statute provides that a pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk into the path of a vehicle so close that it is impossible for the driver to stop safely. Outside a marked or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, the right-of-way obligation generally shifts to the pedestrian.

That framework sounds tidy in principle, but in practice on a crowded LSU campus, heavy pedestrian traffic combined with bumper-to-bumper traffic, drivers rushing to park before kickoff, and traffic light cycles differing from normal schedule creates a serious risk environment for those on foot. When a car impacts a person, even at low speed, the injuries are often severe. We have seen countless pedestrian tragedies resulting in spinal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, broken bones, and fatalities.

Staying Safe on Foot in Areas with Heavy Traffic

Whether it’s a school drop off, a busy downtown, or LSU gameday, most pedestrian injuries are not the result of outrageous or nefarious activity. They occur due to a negligent driver becoming distracted or speeding in a rush through areas where people tend to cross the roadway, and often in areas that were never designed to accommodate crowds of people on foot. If you are walking around to tailgates or on foot to the stadium, a few precautions on game day can reduce the risk for you and your loved ones:

• Assume the traffic pattern is abnormal: Roadways run under “Contraflow” after games. Cars may be travelling in the opposite direction from what you normally expect, or vehicles may be traveling the same direction down a normal two-way road. Always look both ways, even on a one-way road.
• Cross at intersections, never between parked or stopped cars: Stepping into the roadway from between tailgate setups, large RV’s, or parked vehicles can reduce the driver’s ability to see you in time. Likewise, just because one vehicle motions for you to cross does not mean oncoming traffic in the next lane knows you are there.
• Don’t assume a stopped car is allowing you to pass: Driving through a populated LSU campus on gameday is a distraction for many drivers. A stopped vehicle is not the same as a driver who has seen you. In heavy traffic congestion, cars stop for the car in front of them, not necessarily for you. Always attempt to make eye contact with and receive a signal from a stopped driver before stepping off the curve.
• Don’t be distracted while crossing: Before crossing a busy intersection or roadway, put away your phone and stay vigilant to approaching motorists. Particularly after the fourth quarter at night, distracted and potentially intoxicated motorists may run stop signs, fail to heed yield signs, or simply fail to stop soon enough. If you have been drinking, treat walking as seriously as driving. Alcohol can affect judgment about gaps in traffic and speed of approaching vehicles.
• Pay special attention to children and older adults: Children can become easily distracted and move towards roadways in an instant. The elderly can have difficulty with vision and be slower to clear the intersection.

Find more information here on steps to take if you are injured by a motor vehicle as a pedestrian.

Uber & Lyft on Game Day: Where to Get Picked Up, and What Happens if You’re in a Crash

Along with Mardi Gras, LSU game days are some of the biggest rideshare nights of the year in Louisiana. LSU designates Lot 406 as the official rideshare pickup and drop-off location for football games. The problem for pedestrians is that contraflow, road closures, and heavy traffic mean an Uber or Lyft driver cannot get close to Tiger Stadium to pick you up. Limited cell service in and around Tiger Stadium only makes communication with the driver more difficult. What happens instead can be dangerous. The rider ends up walking away from the stadium, adjacent to busy streets, in the dark, to meet a driver idling somewhere where pick up is possible.

That walk is where pedestrians can be seriously injured. A few tips that can help you stay safe:

• Confirm the designated pick-up spot with your driver: Best practice is to do so before you are standing outside alone, or before you begin to walk along a busy roadway. Many rideshare drivers, especially those from out-of-town working the surge, have never heard of the designated pick-up point or Lot 406.
• Do not wait in the roadway: Walking across roadways, looking down at your phone for the driver’s pin or responding to a message is one of the single riskiest things you can do in heavy traffic.
• If your driver reroutes you: Pick a well-lit, off the roadway spot as a meeting point. A parking lot with other fans, a business lot with streetlights. Confirm the vehicle you are approaching is your Uber or Lyft driver before opening the door. Match the vehicle details and license plate and verify the driver, every time before you enter the vehicle.

Louisiana’s Transportation Network Company (TNC) Statute Defines Rights and Insurance Coverage for Passengers and Drivers of Other Vehicles

If you are a passenger in an Uber or Lyft injured after an impact with another vehicle, or the operator of a vehicle hit by a rideshare driver, there are important rights you need to know. Louisiana’s transportation network company (TNC) statute (La. R.S. 45:201.6) requires substantial insurance coverage for a prearranged rideshare trip. A prearranged ride must carry no less than $1 million in coverage for bodily injury. Importantly, a prearranged ride begins the moment the driver accepts the request, not the moment you enter the vehicle. The prearranged ride continues throughout transport and only ends when the last rider departs the vehicle.

Louisiana’s TNC insurance coverage laws are tied to the app, the acceptance of your ride, and your ongoing trip in the app. R.S. 45:201.4 defines a prearranged ride as requested through the digital network. Although it may be offered by the driver, you as a passenger should be extremely cautious about attempts by the driver to end the trip in the app, to keep driving, and to pay in cash for a cheaper price. This practice presents risk to you for both insurance coverage for any injuries and for your safety.

If a ride is cancelled and you are subsequently injured in an accident, it is likely the company’s position will be that no prearranged ride was in progress, and the additional insurance coverage is not available. An injured rider’s fallback would be the driver’s personal auto policy. However, this is exactly where the second trap sits. A driver’s personal auto policy can exclude bodily injury coverage for carrying passengers for compensation, and Louisiana’s TNC statute expressly permits insurers to write related exclusions. An injured passenger in a cash-deal ride can expect the driver’s personal policy to challenge coverage on these grounds at the same time Uber or Lyft fights coverage on the prearranged ride grounds. It is important Louisiana riders recognize these issues and do not risk being injured in a vehicle accident with no meaningful bodily injury coverage for your ride.

The safety of you as a rider is paramount. It is important for rideshare passengers to be aware that an “off-app” ride means no trip record, no GPS tracking of your location, no sharing of your location with family and friends, and no evidentiary record for the company to investigate. Should an event occur – a crash or worse – the evidentiary record that would normally exist simply will not, and it will make your ultimate recovery that much more challenging.

Lower limits from the TNC apply if your own vehicle is hit by a driver who is logged into the service but has not yet accepted a ride. This is also known as the pre-trip acceptance period. However, the driver’s own personal automobile insurance policy may or may not provide additional coverage for your injuries. It is important for Uber and Lyft riders to note that Louisiana law prohibits any agreement between a rideshare driver and you which excludes or limits the liability of the driver for causing you bodily injury.

If you are injured as a passenger in an Uber or Lyft, or your vehicle is impacted by a rideshare driver, our experienced injury attorneys can help you navigate through these complex issues, and we can pursue all responsible parties for the compensation you need.

Injured on Game Day? We Can Help

For more than four decades, Neblett, Beard & Arsenault’s injury attorneys have represented seriously injured people and grieving families across Louisiana — from car and commercial trucking collisions to catastrophic injury and wrongful death. With our home office in Central Louisiana, and attorneys in Alexandria, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette, we have helped injured victims in nearly every small town and parish across the state. Our combination of strong Louisiana roots with national notoriety in courts across the nation means our clients are treated like family, and we are a firm with the resources and trial record to take on motor carriers and corporate defendants that show no intention to compensate you fairly for injury.

If you or someone you love was hurt on the way to or from Baton Rouge or Tiger Stadium, or anywhere in Louisiana, we will review your case at no cost and tell you honestly what we think your next steps should be. There is no fee unless we recover for you. Contact us today:

Call (318) 561-2500 or fill out the form below.

Enjoy the Game. Geaux Tigers. And Don’t Treat the Drive Home Like a Fourth Quarter.

Plan your route before you leave using LSU’s published game-day directions rather than a default navigation app. Mount your phone or set your destination before you put the car in gear. Expect officers to be directing traffic in ways the signs do not reflect. Watch for pedestrians who are not watching for you. And decide who is driving home or where your rideshare will pick you up before kickoff, not after the last whistle.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I do immediately after a car accident on LSU game day?
Call the police. If you are injured or shaken up, request medical assistance. If safe to do so, photograph the vehicles, the damage, and the surrounding areas and intersections. Game-day traffic conditions are temporary: barricades, cones, contraflow lane reversals, and officer-directed traffic all disappear within hours. Capture the lane configuration, any temporary signage, and any officer directing traffic; if witnesses are available, write down names and phone numbers before the crowd scatters. Do not give any recorded statements to another company or the driver’s insurer until you contact an attorney.

Can I sue the bar or tailgate that served the drunk driver who hit me in Louisiana?
Generally, no. Louisiana’s Anti-Dram Shop statute (La. R.S. § 9:2800.1) grants broad statutory immunity to those who sell or serve alcohol to people of lawful drinking age, placing legal responsibility on the person who drank rather than on the lawful seller. The most significant exception involves alcohol furnished to someone under the lawful drinking age. Separately, Louisiana Civil Code article 2315.4 allows exemplary/punitive damages directly against an intoxicated driver where certain statutory requirements are proven.

How does Louisiana’s new 51% fault rule affect my accident claim?
For accidents on or after January 1, 2026, if you are found 51% or more at fault, your recovery is likely barred. Louisiana Civil Code article 2323, as amended by Act 15 of 2025, replaced the state’s long-standing pure comparative fault system with this modified 51% bar. Below the 51% threshold, your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault; at or above it, recovery is eliminated entirely. This potential bar to recovery is one reason why contacting an experienced injury attorney quickly after a collision can be the difference between compensation for your injuries and recovering nothing. Physical evidence disappears quickly, defendants attempt to shift-blame, and contacting witnesses after long delays can be difficult. We have experience fighting these blame-shifting tactics on your behalf and hold the parties responsible accountable for your injuries.