This is Why Driving on Texas Roads Nearly Scares Me to Death

I mean it literally scares me to death. Driving that is. The thought of getting in a car accident is a fear for many. Oh, and it is with good reason. Every time you turn around you hear about an accident that happened on I40.

There are a lot of fender benders on Western Street. Heck, the one car accident I got into on Georgia Street is still responsible for me not feeling comfortable making a left-hand turn anywhere. Oh, and I had the green light when I did. I still got t-boned turning from Mockingbird onto Georgia Street by a lady texting and never realizing she had a red light.

Heck, this was about fifteen years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. Traffic crashes and deaths are a part of reality, unfortunately. When you look at the numbers from TXDOT (Texas Department of Transportation) for 2022 you can see why driving in Texas leaves a lot to be desired.

Here are some of the facts that are out there:

• Based on reportable crashes in 2022:
  • 1 person was killed every 1 hour and 57 minutes.
  • 1 person was injured every 2 minutes and 9 seconds.
  • 1 reportable crash occurred every 57 seconds.
• There were 15,299 serious injury crashes in Texas in 2022 with 18,880 people sustaining a serious injury.
• There were NO deathless days on Texas roadways in 2022.
• Friday, July 22nd was the deadliest day in 2022 with thirty-one persons killed in traffic crashes. September was the deadliest month with 427 persons killed.

I get that Texas is a big state so you have to take that into consideration but dang. That is a lot of numbers that don't necessarily seem to be looking good for drivers. So there has to be some good news, right?

According to this same report at least Texas experienced a decrease in the number of deaths in motor vehicle accidents. Even if it wasn't by much. Fewer is still fewer. We went from 4,497 deaths in 2021 to only 4,481 in 2022. That is a difference of sixteen lives in Texas.

So you can see where the numbers are. You can see how dangerous getting on the road can be. Let's all try to stay off of our phones and pay attention to the roads. I would love to see even better numbers for 2023.