Dallas, TX

History of Accidents in Dallas

2016 was the worst year for accidents over the last five years, trending upward for two years in a row from 2014. This is only natural, as 2015’s reduced unemployment and brightening economy led to more Dallas residents being able to afford spending time behind the wheel; the unfortunate side-effect of this is that there were simply more cars on the road, which naturally increased accident volume as a result. There have even been scientific studies undertaken to look into this phenomenon.   While the total number of accidents has begun to recede once again after peaking during the economic high point of 2016, partially because of slowly worsening economic conditions, overall there were still a significantly higher number of accidents in 2018 as there were in 2014 -- almost 6800 more, in fact. On average, that’s 18 more accidents a day just in Dallas alone when you compare both years. It remains to be seen if this slow reduction pattern will continue into 2019 and beyond or whether accident numbers will continue to increase, but for right now there is a definite pattern that is emerging.

History of Fatalities in Dallas

Over the past 5 years, there have been over 1000 accidents that involved fatalities in Dallas. Every accident has a unique fingerprint of contributing factors and causes. Again, fatalities were up not just in Dallas but across the US starting from 2015 due to increased overall road traffic. As if you couldn’t have already guessed, drunk driving is the number one culprit, followed closely by speeding. According to TxDOT, 170 people were fatally injured in accidents caused by a motor vehicle speeding in El Paso over the past 5 years.

The 3rd highest cause is distracted driving. 16% of traffic accidents by motorists are caused by distractions. The list of distraction is extensive, however, it probably isn’t surprising to know that more and more involve the use of interacting with your smartphone.

Accident Stories