BATON ROUGE- The state of Louisiana has a driving safety problem. 

"Last year, 971 people lost their lives in Louisiana because of a motor vehicle crash," Governor John Bel Edwards said in a news conference Wednesday. 

Edwards says this is a 17% increase from 2020. This jump in percentages is the largest increase in a single year since records started being kept. 

Edwards says these deaths can be prevented. 

"This isn't rocket science," Edwards said. 

Along with not being distracted and impaired, Edwards says slowing down can stop crashes from happening. 

THE DOTD is already trying one way to lower speeds by putting cameras on the Basin Bridge that time how long drivers take to cross it. 

The cameras are something DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson thinks this will help the safety of drivers. 

"Electronic enforcement is a proven counter measure. It has happened in other places. We're introducing it in this corridor in hopes of reducing fatalities, and reducing crashes," Wilson said. 

If they do prevent deaths on the road, Wilson says these cameras likely won't be just on the Basin Bridge. 

"If this is effective, we will absolutely look to replicate this across the state."

But it raises the question of where does this end? Wilson's answer to that is simple. 

"It will end when we hit zero deaths. That is our goal to reach destination zero death," Wilson said. 

Only time will tell if these cameras will make driving on the Basin Bridge safer. If it does, St. John Sheriff Mike Trege says he would welcome them on I-10 through his parish on the Spillway Bridge. 

"If it saves lives, it it proves to do so, how can I be against it," Trege says. 

The DOTD says the cameras should be up on the Basin Bridge by next year.