Just How Safe Are Texas Roads? You’ll Be Surprised.
It’s been over 20 years since Texas experienced a day without a road fatalities. This fact is truly alarming, especially when you think about how every single day for the last 20+ years, someone has lost their life on the roads in Texas. According to officials from Texas public safety, over 87,000 people have died in traffic accidents since the year 2000. Last year, a total of 4,289 individuals lost their lives on the roads in Texas. As we move into 2025, the state is currently experiencing an alarming average of 10 roadway fatalities each day.
An Effort To Build Safer Roads
The Texas Department of Public Safety is dedicated to making roads safer across Texas, pledging $17 billion for safety upgrades as part of its 10-year strategy. The agency emphasizes its ongoing efforts to create innovative safety solutions that can lead to major improvements in road safety.
This year, Fort Worth has introduced a new system that employs cameras to spot pedestrians on busy roads, focusing on locations where accidents have occurred while people were attempting to cross. According to TxDOT, the system identifies pedestrians early, alerts law enforcement, and enables a quicker response before they enter the roadway. The agency reports that since the cameras were put in place in January, there has been a decrease in pedestrian accidents on these highways, showcasing just one of the numerous creative engineering advancements that TxDOT implements annually.
Drive Like A Texas Program
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is bringing back the essence of Texas pride with a new safety campaign called Drive like a Texan. This initiative aims to highlight the values of pride, community, and accountability that come with being a Texan. By encouraging drivers to embrace these principles daily, we can work together to ensure that our roads in Texas are safer for all. Messages promoting “Drive like a Texan” will be displayed on television, social media, websites, and billboards all over Texas.
The campaign is all about embracing the genuine Texan spirit by promoting kindness on the road. It encourages drivers to be considerate, whether that means giving a friendly wave to let someone merge, easing off the gas in crowded places, or just being patient with others. The message is clear: drive with the heart of a Texan—showing kindness, courtesy, and safety at all times.
SafeDRIVE Program
SafeDRIVE is designed to reduce accidents involving commercial motor vehicles by increasing law enforcement visibility on key interstate routes that see a high number of fatal commercial vehicle crashes. This intensified enforcement initiative will target both passenger cars and commercial vehicles, aiming to identify reckless driving behaviors such as speeding, tailgating, not wearing seat belts, distracted driving, and driving under the influence. Additionally, SafeDRIVE will work to make sure that commercial vehicle drivers are adhering to the necessary industry regulations.
Long Term Road Safety Plans
In the coming decade, Texas plans to allocate almost $148 billion towards transportation initiatives that focus on enhancing safety, alleviating traffic congestion, and boosting connectivity throughout the state. The Texas Department of Transportation has a 10-year strategy called the Unified Transportation Program, which gets revised every year. Recently, the Texas Transportation Commission gave the green light to a massive $104.2 billion plan for the year 2025. On top of that, the state is set to allocate more than $43 billion for both new projects and regular upkeep.
The 2025 Unified Transportation Plan, as stated by TxDOT, includes a vast number of projects, but there’s no assurance that every single one will be finished. Officials anticipate allocating approximately $8.6 billion for transportation initiatives in the Austin region, around $17.9 billion for the Dallas-Fort Worth area, about $14.5 billion for projects in Houston, and roughly $5.7 billion for San Antonio, based on planning documents. This plan also features $1.9 billion in new funding aimed at tackling congestion on Texas’ busiest roads and $1.7 billion to enhance connections between rural and urban communities.
IF YOU’VE BEEN INJURED IN AN CAR, TRUCK, OR MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT DUE TO AN UNSAFE DRIVER, CONTACT US TODAY.
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