Lubbock, TX

History of Accidents in Lubbock

From 2014 through 2018, accident rates in Lubbock remained relatively stable in many circumstances, though overall there were more accidents per year at the end of the five-year period than there were at the beginning. There were 3,917 accidents recorded in 2014 and then a modest increase to 4,119 in 2015, only to be followed by a small drop in 2016 to just 3,804. 2016 would be the low point for annual accidents, however, as 2017 saw the total go up slightly to 3,930 and then a much more pronounced jump to 4,587 the following year, bucking the otherwise seemingly established trend of small fluctuations from the last four years.

It's true that accident volume trending up overall across this time period is in line for the rest of the country, even though most places in the United States saw a sharp peak in 2016 and the beginnings of what looks like a gradual decline in later years. The fact that Lubbock's annual accident numbers were lowest during a nationwide peak is certainly interesting, however, though there's nothing terribly mysterious about single statistical outliers when average trends seem to match.

History of Fatalities in Lubbock

Lubbock's fatality rates, however, are almost inversely proportional to its accident rates, or they are in some cases. Fatalities ranged from 11 at the lowest to 19 at the highest across the 5-year period, with the most fatalities occurring in 2016, despite the fact that there were the fewest accidents that year overall. Meanwhile, the least deadly years in Lubbock, both 2015 and 2018, also had the highest number of accidents for those years as well. In other words, it seems that, at least from 2014 through 2018, Lubbock's roads were paradoxically the least fatal when the highest number of accidents were occurring. It is important to mention that this high fatality peak in 2016 does match with country-wide accident rates, when fatalities hit an 8-year high before beginning to decline.

What could be contributing to Lubbock's fatality rates, however, is likely to be alcohol-related. 2014 was the worst year for DUI crashes with 321 for the year, second only to San Antonio. By 2017 this had declined slightly to 265, indicating that police crackdowns on drunk driving in the city had at least made a dent in these types of accidents. With DUI crashes having a high probability of causing extreme injury and even death, alcohol-related accidents in Lubbock could very well be driving at least part of the city's uneven fatality rates.