In Texas in 2024, car crash fatalities actually declined slightly: the roadway death toll of 4,150 was 3.29% down on 4,291 crash deaths recorded in 2023. That follows a similar improvement of road fatality numbers between 2023 and 2022, during which car crash fatalities fell 2.7%.
Yet while road accident fatalities are down, injuries from car crashes are on the rise, with 251,977 recorded injuries in 2024, up slightly against 2023’s 250,489. And with more miles logged on Texan roads than ever before (307.490 billion in 2024, up 2.07% from 301.254 billion in 2023 VMT) and set to rise further still, the figures are worrying.
This study will consider the main causes of car accidents and fatalities on Texan roads, and look at how the Lone Star State compares to other U.S. states as we approach the busy Christmas and New Year holiday season.
Primary Causes of Car Crashes in Texas
To provide the most up-to-date illustration of the main causes of car accidents on Texan roads, we’ve looked closely at both 2023 and 2024 statistics to measure shifting trends at a granular level. Let’s first consider a breakdown of specific 2023 data.
In 2023, there were 519,876 crashes in Texas. Here’s that figure broken down into a list of constituent parts, starting with the most frequent cause of crashes in Texas: speeding.
Top Causes of Texas Crashes: 2023
| Cause | Number of Crashes |
|---|---|
| Driving over the speed limit | 138,995 |
| Distracted driving | 89,585 |
| Unsafely changing lanes | 51,774 |
| Failing to drive in a single lane | 45,859 |
| Failing to yield when turning left | 36,744 |
| Failing to yield at a stop sign | 32,019 |
| Unsafe speed (under the limit) | 23,874 |
| Disregarded a stop sign or light | 23,815 |
| Following a vehicle too closely | 22,667 |
| Unsafe evasive action | 21,472 |
| Failing to yield at a private drive | 19,454 |
| Drunk driving | 15,897 |
The 2023 list confirms speeding as by far the biggest car crash contributor, with almost 50,000 more crashes for that reason than any other. Crucially, distracted driving is in second place, with driver inattention a problem that’s soared over the last decade. (We’ll cover this factor in more detail later in the study.)
Beyond accident numbers, let’s consider the main causes of road fatalities in Texas in 2023.
Top 5 Texas Fatal Crash Causes (2023)
| Cause | Fatalities |
|---|---|
| Failing to drive in a single lane | 791 |
| Drunk driving | 622 |
| Pedestrian/cyclist failed to yield right-of-way | 553 |
| Unsafe speed (under the limit) | 509 |
| Speeding | 501 |
Moving between lanes is clearly the main cause of fatal crashes in Texas. Notably, and despite being the twelfth biggest crash issue, drunk driving is the second biggest fatal crash factor. Pedestrian/cyclist (pedal and motorcyclist) failing to give right of way, a factor not part of the top twelve crash factors, is nonetheless the third biggest crash killer.
Let’s compare 2023 figures with those from 2024. Of 2024’s 513,461 car crashes (a figure slightly down on 2023 figures), the following factors were the most prominent crash reasons.
Top Causes of Texas Crashes: 2024
| Cause | Number of Crashes |
|---|---|
| Driving over the speed limit | 135,053 |
| Distracted driving | 86,798 |
| Unsafely changing lanes | 52,691 |
| Failing to drive in a single lane | 44,196 |
| Failing to yield when turning left | 36,184 |
| Failing to yield at a stop sign | 32,391 |
| Unsafe speed (under the limit) | 24,393 |
| Disregarded stop and go signal | 23,152 |
| Following a vehicle too closely | 22,532 |
| Unsafe evasive action | 20,588 |
| Failing to yield at a private drive | 19,369 |
| Disregarded a stop sign or light | 16,452 |
| Drunk driving | 16,403 |
| In-car distraction | 12,124 |
In 2024, as in 2023, speeding is still the main car accident issue, with distracted driving the second biggest issue across both years (albeit at a marginally lower level in both cases).
Top 5 Texas Fatal Crash Causes 2024
| Cause | Fatalities |
|---|---|
| Failing to drive in a single lane | 803 |
| Drunk driving | 579 |
| Speeding | 519 |
| Pedestrian/cyclist failed to yield right-of-way | 512 |
| Unsafe speed (under the limit) | 492 |
Texas Crash Data: What 2023 and 2024 Data Confirms
Failing to drive in a single lane was the main fatal crash factor in both 2023 and 2024. Its prominence was even more pronounced in 2024, suggesting a growing problem.
Drunk driving was the secondary cause of road death in both years, with unsafe speeding and a failure to yield the other main fatality factors.
In terms of overall crashes, speeding as a factor diminished slightly between 2023 and 2024 in Texas (from 138,995 crashes to 135,053). And while alcohol isn’t a leading cause of crashes, it is nonetheless a major killer, underscoring the fact that drunk driving crashes, though relatively infrequent, are disproportionately devastating.
But how does Texas compare with other states in the United States?
How National Statistics Compare To Texas Figures
In the U.S. between 2023 and 2024, road crash fatality numbers marginally fell, from 40,901 to 39,345. That’s 1.2 fatalities per million vehicle miles traveled in 2024, down from 1.26 in 2023. This downward trend follows gradually diminishing Texas figures of 1.35 deaths per hundred million vehicle miles traveled in 2024, down 5.25% on 2023 figures of 1.42 deaths over the same distance.
Despite both national and Texan fatality rates showing similar shrinking characteristics, Texas fatality numbers remain significantly above the national average rate.
Nationally, distracted driving fatality rates are sharply rising: 2023 saw distracted driving deaths across the U.S.; in 2024, the number rose to 5,508. In Texas, a small drop in numbers between the two years notably contradicts national trends.
The Texan Drunk Driving Disparity
When we look at speeding fatalities, both national and Texan numbers are trending down (albeit to a smaller extent in Texas). Yet the comparison between national and Texan alcohol related fatality numbers delivers the starkest disparity.
In the U.S., the ratio of car crash fatalities that are due to drunk driving is around 30% (2023 national figures). According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, Texas’s drunk driving ratio is significantly higher, at around 40%.
Distracted Driving: Texas’s Second Biggest Cause of Fatal Crashes
Texas also has a distracted driving problem. An Axios analysis of NHTSA and TxDOT data tells us that, in 2022, Texas suffered 4,408 deadly distracted-driver crashes, the second-highest of any U.S. state. And, as earlier data intimated, distracted driving is now firmly established as the second biggest cause of car crashes across the state.
NHTSA data suggests 3,275 people were killed and nearly 325,000 injured in countrywide distracted-driver crashes in 2023: about 8% of all U.S. traffic deaths and roughly 13% of crash injuries. Yet in Texas, the distracted driver percentage is much higher – just under 17%. The disparity clearly underlines the disproportionate nature of the issue on Texan roads.
For a broad national crash perspective, let’s look at the states with the highest number of car crashes per total number of drivers in each state. The percentages cover the proportion of each state’s registered drivers who were involved in an accident.
States with the Most Car Crashes (2024 Figures)
| Rank | State | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massachusetts | 6.1% |
| 2 | New Hampshire | 5.8% |
| 3 | Rhode Island | 5.6% |
| 4 | Maine | 5.4% |
| 5 | Nebraska | 5.1% |
| 6 | Utah | 5% |
| 7 | North Carolina | 4.9% |
| 8 | Virginia | 4.8% |
| 9 | South Carolina | 4.8% |
| 10 | Idaho | 4.8% |
And here’s the list of states with the lowest percentage of drivers to have suffered a car accident.
States with the Least Car Crashes
| Rank | State | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Michigan | 1.68% |
| 9 | Mississippi | 2.9% |
| 8 | Illinois | 3% |
| 7 | New Mexico | 3% |
| 6 | Hawaii | 3.3% |
| 5 | Minnesota | 3.4% |
| 4 | Florida | 3.4% |
| 3 | New Jersey | 3.4% |
| 2 | Washington, D.C. | 3.5% |
| 2 | Kentucky | 3.5% |
| 1 | Oklahoma | 3.6% |
Texas: Modest Safety Gains But Plenty To Improve
Texas has seen some modest safety gains on its roads, with car crash fatalities dropping slightly in both 2023 and 2024, despite more cars on the road and more vehicle miles logged.
Yet, injury counts remain extremely high, suggesting that the traffic picture in Texas is complex, with reduced death rates not necessarily indicating improving road safety, and Texas fatality rates falling more slowly than across the country.
Roadway-departure and lane-keeping errors account for more than 18,000 deaths every year across the U.S., and Texas’ statistics mirror these trends, with both leading fatal crash causes in the state. And crashes linked to pedestrians, cyclists, or motorcyclists failing to yield and speeding appear consistently in the list of top five fatal crash causes, clearly indicating an eclectic range of risk factors.
In the U.S., the ratio of car crash fatalities due to drunk driving is around 30% (2023 national figures); Texas’s drunk driving ratio is significantly higher, at around 40%
Texas road conditions continue to be dangerous, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights between 8 pm and 4 am, by far the most dangerous periods, primarily due to speeding and distracted drivers.
The state consistently places near the top of national rankings for total fatal crashes; the growing problem of distracted drivers (and passengers) will continue to exacerbate accident statistics. Another potentially emergent factor is reckless younger drivers, with a recent analysis of TxDOT data finding that in 2023, teen drivers aged 16–19 in Texas were involved in 83,004 crashes, causing 13,219 injuries and a record 440 traffic fatalities.
Perhaps most strikingly, alcohol-impaired deaths accounted for 30% of U.S. fatalities in 2023, but Texas’s alcohol-impaired share is even higher (40%), with the state among the nation’s worst for drunk driving deaths.
The problem is significant enough to prompt questions around amendments to policy and enforcement. Without key changes, we’ll continue to see a sizable discrepancy between national and Texan crash death statistics, and persistently and notably high numbers of Texan road accidents and fatalities.
If you’ve been injured in a car accident in Texas, you may feel overwhelmed and unsure of what to do next. To receive maximum compensation for your damages, you’ll need to partner with an experienced car accident lawyer in Texas.
A Texas personal injury lawyer can help you build a strong case, negotiate with insurance companies, and fight for your rights. Don’t wait until it’s too late; contact The Texas Law Dog today for a free legal consultation. We don’t just bark, we bite.
