It goes without saying that Texas is a very large state with a fair share of both open roads and traffic-heavy city streets. Car accidents can happen anywhere and under any conditions, sometimes resulting in catastrophic injuries or death.
This raises the question as to what exactly causes the most car accidents in the state of Texas. According to the most recent crash facts released by the Texas Department of Transportation in 2021, there were 15,764 serious injury crashes for the year, with a few key causes leading to the highest number of deaths.
Drunk driving
The act of driving while under the influence of alcohol resulted in the death of 1,077 people on Texas roadways in 2021. This staggering number accounts for almost 25% of overall traffic deaths that year, illustrating the severity of drunk driving as a leading cause of deadly accidents.
Intersection negligence
TDOT reports the death of 1,037 people in accidents in or related to Texas intersections for 2021. It is possible to attribute many of these deaths to speeding, traffic violations and other forms of blatant intersection negligence on the part of at-fault drivers.
Distracted driving
Distracted driving in Texas accounted for the deaths of 433 people in 2021. This places it as a significant and dangerous cause of Texas car accidents, but this number is fortunately down %17.34 from the previous year.
Texas drivers should be aware that TDOT’s crash facts highlight the grim reality that there was not a single deathless day on the state’s roads in 2021. Victims of negligent driving on behalf of other motorists have the right to pursue legal action in the event of damage, injury or wrongful death.