Most years, we do not have to worry about icy roads in Louisiana, but here, where one is never too far from a swamp, there is plenty of wet weather. The heavy rains of June, with their terrifying lightning bolts, have passed until next year, but hurricane season is just picking up. It is the catastrophic superstorms that made landfall in Louisiana that loom the largest in our collective memory, but even the remnants of a hurricane or tropical storm that used up the worst of its energy in Texas or Florida and is now just passing through Louisiana can be enough to disrupt travel and make roads dangerous.
It only takes a little bit of water on the road to create conditions where there is a risk of hydroplaning. Hydroplaning occurs when your car slides along the surface of the water as if it were water skiing; yes, this can happen with a heavy vehicle and with water that is less than an inch deep. When this happens, applying the brake will not help you stop where you want to stop, because your tires are not in contact with the road. Instead, it is more likely to cause you to lose control of the car and skid, increasing your risk of a collision. If you have been injured in a car accident where a hydroplaning vehicle was involved, contact a Houma car accident lawyer.
On July 3, 2025, the surface of the road was wet on I-220 in Caddo Parish after rainy weather. A Dodge Ram traveling west on I-220 began to hydroplane near the intersection with I-49. This caused the Ram to cross the median and enter the eastbound lanes, where it collided with an approaching vehicle. The impact caused the struck vehicle to cross the median and both westbound lanes, eventually colliding with a guardrail. Debris from this collision struck a third vehicle and caused it to crash.
Rescuers extricated Robert Rougeau, the driver of the vehicle hit by the Dodge Ram, before pronouncing him dead at the scene. He was 58 years old. The driver of the Dodge Ram remained at the scene and submitted to a toxicology test. News reports did not release this driver’s name or report whether he or she was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the collision. They also did not report on the severity of the at-fault driver’s injuries or the injuries of the driver whose car was hit by debris.
Regardless of whether the at-fault driver gets criminal charges for this accident, anyone injured in the accident, as well as Rougeau’s family, has the right to seek compensation by filing a civil lawsuit.
A personal injury lawyer can help you if you were hit by a car because the at-fault driver was hydroplaning on a wet road. Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey in Houma, Louisiana, to set up a consultation about your case.
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