Denton, TX

History of Accidents in Denton

While its location north of Dallas makes part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, Denton is a city in its own right with a population of more than 136,000 residents. Accident rates in Denton over the past five years, despite proximity to major urban centers, is around average for a city of its size, and in fact, fluctuated roughly between a low of around 3,200 annual accidents and a high of 3,900.

Denton began the period with a relatively low 3,286 yearly accidents in 2014, only to increase sharply to 3,875 the next year. This may seem extreme but it is in line with national growth during 2015, as US traffic crash volume data shows there was a 7.2 percent increase in accidents across the country. 2016 saw Denton experience even more annual accidents with 3,897 for the year before beginning to slowly ease off in 2017 and 2018. In fact, the end of the five-year period saw annual accidents in Denton at 3,758, down from 2017's 3,823.

Again, this sharp uptake and then gradual decline is in line with national trends, indicating that Denton's traffic and accident patterns are fairly typical when it comes with other cities around the United States. These trends and patterns also extend to fatality rates in Denton, which showed the same rise before leveling off. Like across the country, Denton's fatalities peaked in 2016 with 15 for the year; also like the rest of the US, fatalities dropped in 2017 and again in 2018, with only 14 and 13 fatal accidents in Denton for those respective years.

History of Fatalities in Denton

While each city is always going to be different, as mentioned above Denton is very much in line with national averages. This indicates that if accident and fatality rates continue to decline in 2019 and beyond, there's a high likelihood that Denton's rates will similarly drop. As far as what caused the initial spike in accidents in 2015 and 2016, the answer isn't necessarily that America's roads became more dangerous or that they were in poor conditions. While these factors may have played a role, the truth is that the economy is thought to be the real culprit.

According to a number of sources, Americans encountered low unemployment rates and cheap gas beginning in 2015, making driving more affordable. This likely led to people spending more time behind the wheel than they had in years past. More people on the road led to a higher likelihood of getting into an accident, and this naturally led to the volume of accidents and fatalities increasing.

With annual death rates and overall accident volumes on the decrease, and with Denton matching earlier trends so well, it's likely that the city will continue to match these patterns going forward, at least in the short term. However, considering how Texas is one of the biggest states in the union with one of the largest populations, it will always tend to have at least slightly higher accident rates, which means it will not be a surprise if Denton eventually bucks the trend.