If you could (somehow) avoid certain areas on our Dallas-Fort Worth highways, you might be safer. That’s the conclusion of a new traffic study.
Sections of eight DFW roads were the sites of almost 200 deaths in 2015, adding to the dismal total that makes Texas the #1 ranked state for traffic fatalities in the U.S.
So which of our highways are the worst?
The misspelling on the sign is a clue as to North Texas’s #1’s most frightening road — and the area near mile marker 124 on I-30 just east of downtown Fort Worth is almost the deadliest place to drive in the entire state of Texas.
Stretches of Interstates 35, 20, and 635 and US Highway 175 in our Dallas-Fort area were also deadly. Here’s the list:
| Rank in DFW | Rank in TX | City | Road | Mile point | Crashes | Deaths | Miles | Deaths/ mile |
| 1 | 2 | Fort Worth | I-30 | 124 | 8 | 14 | 1.99 | 7.05 |
| 2 | 7 | Dallas | I-35 | 91 | 11 | 14 | 2.67 | 5.25 |
| 3 | 9 | Duncanville | I-20 | 70 | 11 | 11 | 2.16 | 5.1 |
| 4 | 13 | Dallas | I-35 | 161 | 38 | 42 | 8.87 | 4.74 |
| 5 | 15 | Dallas | US 175 | 129 | 29 | 36 | 8.01 | 4.49 |
| 6 | 18 | Dallas | I-635 | 66 | 37 | 39 | 9.54 | 4.09 |
| 7 | 22 | Lancaster | I-20 | 133 | 16 | 20 | 5.21 | 3.84 |
| 8 | 24 | Grand Prairie | I-20 | 94 | 10 | 10 | 2.62 | 3.81 |
The area on I-30 near Oakland coming into downtown Fort Worth is particularly lethal. In April of 2005, five people tragically lost their lives in a crash involving an 18 wheeler that I blogged about here.
Things got worse in 2016
In 2016 one person tragically died in a traffic accident in Texas every 2 hours and 20 minutes. A car crash-related injury occurred in the Lone Star State every two minutes.
It’s crazy that safety technology and education continue to improve, yet traffic death rates continue to rise. The number of deaths increased by 8 percent since 2010. We’ve got to figure out a way for this to stop or at the very least, diminish.
What are the causes of these crashes?
In my experience as a personal injury lawyer for the last 37 years, I see the same old reasons:
- Speeding
- Driving while intoxicated
- Texting while driving
- Road rage
- Failure to wear seat belts
- Adverse weather and visibility
- Poorly maintained (and sometimes designed) roads
What effect does this have?
The personal injuries, deaths, lost wages, and pain are staggering. Consider the number of people affected each year:
- 638 people died in head-on collisions
- 814 people died in intersection accidents
- 1,293 people died in single-car crashes in which the car veered from the road, accounting for more than one-third of all accidents
- 678 pedestrians were fatally struck, an increase of 21.5 percent over 2015
- 65 bicyclists were fatally hit, an increase of one-fourth over 2015
- Drunk drivers were responsible for 987 fatalities, accounting for 26 percent of all traffic deaths.
There was a sliver of good news. The 455 people who were killed by distracted drivers equaled a five percent decrease over 2015. A small victory, but a trend I hope will continue.
Texas Officials: Get To Work
A recent study has found that many of the fatal Texas crashes occurred on just a tiny 0.58 percent — that’s only about one-half of one percent — of our highways. And it identified 78 of the deadliest stretches of roads, with many located here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
This should be a wake-up call to the Texas Department of Transportation and our lawmakers currently meeting in Austin to concentrate their safety efforts on these roads.
What can you do?
Throwing numbers at you isn’t going to make roads safer or protect you should you be injured in a car crash. But these stats can show the bigger picture.
Putting the phone away and not drinking and driving is a good start. But, also paying extra close attention while driving through intersections and when stuck in rush hour traffic on any of the most deadly roads in the city.
Considering the high number of pedestrian and biking deaths, be particularly vigilant on residential streets and in entertainment districts.
If you do unfortunately get injured in a car crash, we here at Berenson Injury Law can help. We keep up to date on the latest personal injury laws, legal procedures, evidence-gathering techniques, accident reconstruction, and traffic data which we use to investigating collisions and fight for the maximum compensation for our clients. Filing claims and lawsuits can be an effective way to get people to drive more safely. We also advocate for safer drivers and safer highways to avoid future injuries.