Port Arthur, TX

History of Accidents in Port Arthur

The residents of Port Arthur have had a rough few years in terms of traffic accidents.

From 2014 to 2016, accidents went up by significant amounts. Our record begins in 2014 with the lowest accidents in our record, 1,257 accidents. The accident rate rocketed up in 2015 by more than 500 for a total of 1,778 accidents that year.

In 2016, the accident rate went up by almost 200 to reach 1,947 accidents for the year, the highest number recorded here.

Then, the good news: accident rates finally began to decline in 2017, though not by much. There were 1,933 accidents in 2017. A more significant decrease came in 2018, with 1,705 accidents, though the number is nowhere near as low as 2014.

So, why the sharp increases in accidents and why are the increases rising by such significant amounts?

One explanation is Port Arthur's unemployment rate.

Research by the NHTSA posits that the unemployment rate could be tied to the number of traffic accidents. The unemployment rate is an indicator of economic health, which means the lower it is, the more people are commuting to work each day.

And the more people that commute to work, the higher the chance of accidents.

Port Arthur's unemployment rate seems to support this theory. Their unemployment rate took a nosedive in 2014 from 9.2% to 6.8%, the year that Port Arthur saw the fewest traffic accidents.

But the unemployment rate also climbed between 6-7% from 2015 through 2017 and didn't drop below 6% until 2018, when car accidents were actually going down in Port Arthur.

Still, Port Arthur's overall employment rate is not good, and the population in the city fell by 4,000 from 2000 to 2010. Some think it will drop below 50,000 in the 2020 census.

That's because the oil refineries in Port Arthur haven't necessarily created new jobs, and most of those that they hire don't live in Port Arthur.

It is possible that accidents could be the result of more people driving in from outside the city. Considering that much of the city is still recovering from 2017's Hurricane Harvey, it is possible that many residents are commuting from areas that are not their permanent homes.

History of Fatalities in Port Arthur

While there were a more consistent ebb and flow of overall accidents, the number of fatalities in Port Arthur jumped considerably from year to year.

The most fatalities occurred in 2014, with ten fatal accidents. But the next year saw half the number of accidents (just five). 2016 saw the number nearly double, with nine fatal accidents that year.

Then, in 2017, the number cut almost in half again, with just five fatal accidents that year. In 2018, the number went up to eight, a slight decrease from the previous highs.

What's interesting is that Jefferson County saw a similar yo-yo effect. The county had 31 fatal accidents in 2014, 25 fatal accidents in 2015, 33 fatal accidents in 2016, and 34 fatal accidents in 2017.

But national fatal crash numbers do not align with the ups and downs of Port Arthur and Jefferson. In fact, national fatal accidents have gone steadily up. Nationally, 32,675 people died in 2014, 35,092 died in 2015, 37,461 died in 2016, and 37,133 died in 2017.

Port Arthur and Jefferson County fatality rates aren't even consistent with the number of overall accidents in the area. Port Arthur itself saw a bell curve in the number of accidents over the last five years, while Jefferson County saw a more or less steady rise in accidents.

So why is it that fatal accidents are so up and down in Port Arthur and Jefferson?

One possible explanation is the ups and downs in the unemployment rate.

Port Arthur's unemployment rate had significant ups and downs over the last five years. It tumbled from 9.2% to 6.8% in 2014 alone and flip-flopped between 5% and 7% for the next four years. However, Port Arthur's yo-yo in unemployment almost directly reflects the ups and downs in fatal accidents.

When the unemployment rate was (relatively) low, the fatal crash rate was similarly down. And when it went up, fatal crashes seemed to follow.