Galveston, TX

History of Accidents in Galveston

Galveston has had its ups and downs in traffic accidents over the past five years. What's more worrying is that there's a significant shift between the ups and the downs.

Galveston's accident record is essentially a bell curve. The start of the record, 2014, saw the lowest number of accidents by a long shot, with 1,672 accidents for the whole year.

From there, accident rates start to climb. In 2015, the accident rate jumped by over 300 to reach 1,993 accidents. The following year, 2016, saw an increase of almost 400 accidents to reach 2,396 accidents, the most accidents and the largest year-to-year increase in accidents in the whole record.

Accidents went down again in 2017. Unfortunately, at 2,172 accidents, they were nowhere near the lows of 2014. The last year, 2018, was slightly better but not by much, with 2,112 accidents for the year.

The shift, then, comes with the year 2016.

This is the year that the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), began an extensive construction project to redesign the Gulf Freeway (I-45). Planned improvements include construction detention ponds and revisions to the location of multiple entrance ramps and exit ramps.

The entirety of the project took place in Galveston County, resulting in major road closures and detours for the duration of the project.

Work began in 2016, with some work completed in the last few years. Planned construction on the FM 518 to FM 517 segment is expected to be completed April of 2021, while construction on the FM 517 to FM 1764 segment is due for completion in September of 2022.

However, the project began because of damage periodically sustained during severe storm conditions and high tide, an issue that has worsened in recent years. In fact, Galveston saw record rainfall and flooding in 2016.

So it is entirely possible that conditions which brought on the construction are equally responsible for the rise in traffic accidents.

History of Fatalities in Galveston

There is some good news for Galveston residents: fatal traffic accidents have remained largely consistent, even if overall accidents are on the rise. It's even more interesting that there are comparatively few fatal accidents given the sheer number of traffic accidents overall.

At the start of our record, in 2014, Galveston had 11 fatal car accidents, which is par for the course over the next four years. In 2015, the fatal accident rate went up to 12, only to fall to 9 in 2016. In 2017, the accident rate came back up to 10, and in 2018, it was back where it was at the start of the record, with 11 fatalities.

What's interesting is that Galveston's fatal accidents don't necessarily increase alongside the overall accident rate.

In the first two years, the fatal accident rate did rise, as did the overall accident rate. But in 2016, when construction on I-45 began and overall accidents spiked, fatal traffic accidents went slightly down.

Then, over the next two years, fatal traffic accidents rose back up to standard levels (10 in 2017 and 11 in 2018, compared to 11 in 2014 and 12 in 2015). So the standalone here, as with the overall accident rate, is 2016.

Given the amount of construction and detours put in place, it is possible that drivers were more careful in 2016 when construction first began. But as 2017 and 2018 marched on, construction became a familiar presence, and people paid less attention, bringing the number of fatalities back to where it started.