San Antonio, TX

History of Accidents in San Antonio

The number of accidents in San Antonio from 2014 through 2018 has remained relatively static, though there has been overall growth over those five years. 2014 represents the lowest accident volume with 12,102 yearly accidents; 2015 and 2016 saw accident rates increase by around 2,000 more annually to a peak of 14,127. This figure began to recede over the next two years, leading to a drop to 13,466 in 2018. This is, however, still higher than 2014's accident rate.

San Antonio's overall higher accident rates are part of a national trend that began in 2015. As a result of lower unemployment and cheaper gasoline prices, more people are both buying new vehicles and spending more time on the road than ever before -- and research from the NHTSA backs this up. It remains to be seen if this trend continues through 2019 and beyond, but with gas prices beginning to creep back up and the economy showing signs of beginning to worsen, it may soon become too financially risky for Americans to continue to spend so much time on the road. This may result in accident rates to continue to decrease, both in San Antonio and across the United States overall.

History of Fatalities in San Antonio

While the number of accidents occurring in San Antonio over a five-year period have been higher overall, the number of fatalities that have arisen over the same period have actually decreased. 2014 was the deadliest year with 44 fatalities, but subsequent years have all been much safer in comparison. 2015 saw a drastic reduction as there were 9 fewer fatalities that year, and while 2016 and 2017 saw this figure increase slightly to 40 and 41 fatalities respectively, these years were still less fatal than 2014. Meanwhile, 2018 was the safest year, as there were only 28 fatalities.

This shows that, while accidents continue to occur in San Antonio, they have become less dangerous over the past five years. This is consistent with an overall trend in the United States, as vehicles become safer due to better technologies like supplemental restraint systems and more safety-oriented engineering designs. In fact, highway accident rates are still significantly lower than they have been in the past, with the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics revealing that while the US had an average of around 2 fatalities per 100 vehicle-miles in 1990, that figure today is much reduced to closer to 1.25 fatalities per 100 vehicle-miles as of 2015.

In other words, even though it's expected that a higher volume of vehicles on the road will lead to more accidents, there's no guarantee that those accidents will be as serious thanks to modern safety technologies. As this safety tech continues to advance, they are likely to continue to make roads less dangerous overall, regardless of how much traffic volume we have in San Antonio, any other Texas roads, or on highways in any other state of the Union.