Texas Road Deaths Have Increased Over the Last Decade, New Report Reveals

The hope is always that new technologies, new ideas, and other innovations will lead to improvements in our lives; however, a combination of setbacks has led to deadlier Texas roads, according to a new report by TRIP.

Why Texas Traffic Fatalities Rose This Decade

It's a good news/ bad news situation on Texas roads. According to Texas Public Radio, which took a deep look at TRIP's numbers, Texas road fatality numbers fell for the third year in a row, but are still much higher than a decade ago, by a margin of 18%.

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Some of the blame for the higher fatalities is surprisingly linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, when fewer people were driving. However, drivers got more reckless with speeding, not wearing seatbelts, and driving under the influence.

Additionally, there are more people on Texas roads, and those people are making longer commutes.

The Dallas Morning News adds another reason for more fatalities on roads: increased road construction costs that inhibit improvements that can save lives.

Beyond the terrible loss of life, this is an expensive problem: "Texas resulted in almost $165 billion in economic and quality of life costs in 2024."

How Drivers Can Stay Safer on Texas Roads: The Safe System Approach

TRIP suggests that drivers and officials use the Safe System Approach, which focuses on both behavior and infrastructure improvements. It has five objectives: Safer People, Safer Roads, Safer Vehicles, Safer Speeds, and Post-Crash Care.

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The first four are fairly intuitive, but Post Crash Care is not something that occurred to me as an issue, but it absolutely makes sense. TRIP encourages Post-Crash Care like this:

Enhance the survivability of crashes through expedient access to emergency medical care, while creating a safe working environment for vital first responders and preventing secondary crashes through robust traffic incident management practices.

Keeping the people who save lives safe is extraordinarily important, and I hope the State of Texas continues to implement good policy and good design to keep everyone, including first responders, safe.