Texas recorded fewer traffic deaths in 2024 than in the previous year, marking a second consecutive annual decline. But a deeper look at the state’s crash data shows that the same underlying behaviors continue to drive serious and fatal accidents—raising questions about how much progress has truly been made on Texas roads.
An analysis conducted by Texas Law Dog, drawing on crash records from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), examined the most common causes of car crashes and fatalities in Texas in 2023 and 2024. While total fatalities fell to 4,150 in 2024—down from 4,291 in 2023—the data suggests the improvement reflects marginal change rather than a structural shift in road safety.
One of the clearest signals comes from exposure. Texans drove more than 307 billion miles in 2024, a 2% increase over the previous year. As traffic volume continues to rise, crash injuries have increased as well, reaching nearly 252,000 in 2024. The combination of higher mileage and persistent high-risk behavior has kept Texas well above the national average for crash fatalities per mile traveled.
Speeding remains the most common cause of crashes statewide. In both 2023 and 2024, driving over the speed limit was cited in more crashes than any other factor, accounting for more than 135,000 incidents each year. Distracted driving followed closely behind, firmly established as the second most common cause of crashes across Texas.
But the most revealing insight comes from the fatality data. The leading cause of fatal crashes in Texas is not speeding or alcohol impairment—it is failure to drive in a single lane. In 2023, lane-keeping failures were linked to 791 deaths, rising to more than 800 fatalities in 2024. These incidents include drifting out of lanes, overcorrection, and roadway departures—errors that are especially dangerous on high-speed Texas highways.
Alcohol impairment continues to play an outsized role in fatal crashes. Although drunk driving accounts for a smaller share of total crashes, it consistently ranks as the second-leading cause of traffic deaths in Texas. In both 2023 and 2024, alcohol-impaired crashes killed more than 500 people each year. Nationally, about 30% of traffic fatalities involve alcohol. In Texas, that share is closer to 40%, placing the state among the worst in the country for impaired-driving deaths.
Distracted driving presents a similar disparity. While distraction accounts for roughly 8% of traffic deaths nationwide, Texas’s share is nearly double that. Federal and state data show that distraction is now the second-leading cause of crashes in the state, with tens of thousands of distraction-related incidents occurring annually. Even as distracted-driving fatalities declined slightly in Texas between 2023 and 2024—contrary to rising national figures—the state’s overall burden remains exceptionally high.
The timing of crashes further underscores the behavioral nature of Texas’s road safety problem. State data consistently identifies Friday and Saturday nights between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. as the deadliest periods. During these hours, speeding, impairment, and inattention frequently overlap, producing a concentration of severe crashes that disproportionately drive annual fatality totals.
Texas also stands out for the scale of its problem among younger drivers. In 2023, drivers aged 16 to 19 were involved in more than 83,000 crashes statewide, resulting in over 13,000 injuries and 440 fatalities. Those numbers increased even as overall traffic deaths declined, suggesting that safety gains are not reaching all driver groups equally.
When Texas is compared with national benchmarks, the gap becomes clearer. While the U.S. fatality rate per vehicle mile traveled fell to about 1.2 in 2024, Texas’s rate remained significantly higher. Although Texas did see a decline in its own fatality rate per mile, the improvement lagged behind national progress, leaving the state with one of the highest traffic death burdens in the country.
The consistency of these patterns across multiple years suggests that Texas’s crash problem is not driven by isolated factors or short-term spikes. Instead, the data points to entrenched risks tied to speed, alcohol use, distraction, and lane control—behaviors that become especially deadly given Texas’s expansive highway system and high-speed travel environment.
Taken together, the findings paint a complex picture. Texas has achieved modest reductions in traffic deaths, even as vehicle miles traveled increase. But the same core crash causes continue to dominate both fatal and non-fatal incidents, limiting the impact of those gains. Without meaningful changes in enforcement, infrastructure design, and driver behavior, the data suggests Texas will continue to see high injury counts and fatality rates that exceed national norms—regardless of short-term fluctuations in total deaths.
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