It’s Entirely Our Fault That Texas Ranks High For Car Wrecks

Texas looks like a huge wreck in a recent analysis of car accidents. And the leading causes of these unfortunate encounters are our fault. Can we do better and prevent these entirely avoidable accidents?

Shamefully, Texas has the highest driving fatalities due to impaired driving, in fact, this is the cause of 91% of traffic accident deaths in Texas. That means we are killing ourselves and killing others left and right because we are driving drunk or on drugs.

Motor vehicle crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers kill one person every 45 minutes in the United States. That’s 32 people every day.

Why do this when Uber and Lyft exist? I promise it's cheaper than getting arrested for a DWI, and certainly better than dying or killing someone. But that's not the only embarrassing reason we list so high as a dangerous place to drive. 

We also rank high because we are some of the most confrontational drivers in the world- meaning we get reckless and even violent when provoked by other drivers. In fact, we often take it way too far by involving a firearm. 

Texans are also the most confrontational drivers in the country, which may contribute to why fatal collisions increased in Texas by 16%.

This is ridiculous. While I completely understand the frustration of dealing with a bad driver, letting yourself get heated over it wastes your time, energy, safety, and health. Why let a do-do bird increase your blood pressure when you can take a deep breath and drive defensively?

Overall, Texas ranks as the 5th most dangerous place to drive, with Montana taking the #1 rank. Montana ranks high mostly due to their frequent inclement weather. I suppose we can take a little pride in the fact that our neighbors New Mexico have us slightly beaten in the ranking.