Since November 7, 2000, there has been at least one traffic fatality somewhere in Texas. In the years following, over 55,000 people have been killed in crashes around the state.
So what’s causing all those fatal crashes?
“Most of them are caused by speeding, drunk driving, and distracted driving,” says TxDOT’s Mark Cross. “Those are the big categories.”
Cross says those crashes happen in all kinds of conditions, on busy urban freeways to desolate country roads.
“Last year alone almost 3,600 people died on Texas highways,” says Cross. “And so we’re averaging about 3,500 deaths a year on Texas roads.”
TxDOT figures from 2015 show the vast majority of Texas counties had at least one fatal crash. The most fatalities were in Harris County, where 362 people were killed.
And those weren’t just freeway crashes. Close to a third of those people were killed on city streets.