Sunday marks the anniversary of the beginning of a streak of fatal car crashes in Texas. At least one person has died in crashes every day since November 7, 2000.
"Obviously, it's something we're not proud of. It's an anniversary we don't want to mark," says TxDOT's Veronica Beyer.
Since then, TxDOT says more than 75,000 people have died, about ten per day. TxDOT launched its "End the Streak" campaign in 2015.
"It's just too much. It's unacceptable when we know the majority of these crashes that are deadly are preventable," Beyer says. "They're due to drunk driving, distracted driving, all these things we can totally prevent."
According to TxDOT, about 25% of fatal crashes involved drunk driving last year; 28% of fatalities were people not wearing a seat belt. TxDOT says distracted driving led to 367 deaths, and speeding was a factor in crashes that killed 1,413 people.
"That's just astounding. We've got to do something to slow down on our roadways," says TxDOT Traffic Safety Division Director Michael Cohen.
A total of 3,892 people died on Texas roads last year, about 11 per day, the most since 1984. The total increased despite less traffic due to the pandemic.
"You would have thought during the pandemic, we would have seen a trend of traffic fatalities going down. We actually saw the opposite," says TxDOT's Bob Kaufman. "What has happened as a result of maybe some more risky behavior, we've seen a lot more fatalities as a result of people speeding."
Through Thursday, 3,556 deaths had been reported in Texas roads in 2021. Texas is on pace for about 4,200 deaths this year.
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow NewsRadio 1080 KRLD