Here's what to know about fatal car crashes in Texas before the holidays

Nov. 27--AUSTIN -- Ahead of Thanksgiving, Kerran Fowlkes, president of Sunny Day Defensive Driving in El Paso, pondered ways to help information about fatal crashes sink in with students.

One approach could be to ask students to share personal stories about crashes that impacted them, he said.

"When you have someone volunteer in class, that all of the sudden starts to make the traffic problem real for everyone in that class, as opposed to it being just anonymous numbers or anonymous people," Fowlkes said.

Signs along Interstate 10 throughout El Paso urge safety as the state works toward eliminating traffic fatalities on Texas roads. This sign is shown on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019.Buy Photo

Signs along Interstate 10 throughout El Paso urge safety as the state works toward eliminating traffic fatalities on Texas roads. This sign is shown on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019. (Photo: BRIANA SANCHEZ/EL PASO TIMES)

Nov. 7, 2000, was the last day in Texas with no fatal crashes, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Since then, there have been nearly 67,000 fatalities from vehicle crashes.

The department has launched a campaign to "End the Streak" of daily deaths and is challenging drivers to do their part to decrease roadway crashes and fatalities.

"Ending this daily death streak is a shared responsibility," TxDOT Executive Director James Bass said in a statement. "While we are committed to continue making improvements to our highway system, we all must work toward ending preventable crashes caused by drivers including distracted driving, speeding and drunk driving."

Here's what to know about crashes on Texas roads, ahead of the holiday travel season.

A statewide look at vehicle traffic fatalities

There was a decrease in the state in the number of motor vehicle traffic fatalities between 2018, during which 3,639 people were killed, and 2017, when there were 3,727 deaths, according to TxDOT.

Still, on average 10 people die every day in crashes in Texas, according to the department.

The Texas Transportation Commission approved a goal to cut the number of fatalities in half by 2035 and end all deaths on Texas roads by 2050. TxDOT also has plans to invest an additional $600 million over the next two years for things like widening roads and adding rumble strips.

"When it comes to safety, it is important for us to establish a clear vision of where we want to be," said Texas Transportation Commissioner Laura Ryan in a May statement. "For TxDOT, that vision should be a transportation system that is free from fatal crashes."

In Texas, the leading causes of fatalities are failing to stay in one lane, alcohol and speed, according to TxDOT.

There were 940 people killed in crashes in which a driver was under the influence of alcohol in 2018. That's about 26 percent of all people killed in traffic crashes in Texas in 2018.

The holidays can be especially hard for those whose loved ones died, said Jaime Gutierrez, who is a Mothers Against Drunk Driving regional executive director.

"It's life altering and people cope in a variety of ways," Gutierrez said.

This holiday season, he recommended that people plan ahead.

Throwing a holiday party? Have some nonalcoholic beverages and food. Attending an event and planning to drink? Make sure you have a designated driver or plan a ride home through a ride share or public transportation.

Where are the most dangerous roads in Texas?

A 2018 report from ValuePenguin, which offers personal finance analysis, looked at some of the most dangerous highways in the country, using numbers from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

In analyzing the data, ValuePenguin looked at information such as fatal crashes per vehicle miles traveled per capita and fatalities per crash.

More: Interstate 20, U.S. Highway 82 among most dangerous roads in United States

, which looked at numbers from 2010 through 2016, the part of Interstate 10 in Texas that stretches from Anthony, Texas, to the Louisiana border was the fifth most dangerous, with 585 fatal crashes reported.

Other Texas highways on the list include:

-- Interstate 20; 490 fatal crashes

-- Interstate 35; 590 fatal crashes

-- U.S. 59; 318 fatal crashes

-- SR-105; 72 fatal crashes

-- U.S. 82; 122 fatal crashes

-- U.S. 385; 91 fatal crashes

-- U.S. 290; 167 fatal crashes

-- U.S. 175; 74 fatal crashes

-- U.S. 83; 164 fatal crashes

-- Interstate 40; 65 fatal crashes

Among counties, Harris, Dallas and Bexar counties had the most fatal crashes in 2019 through October. El Paso had the sixth most, according to TxDOT.

In El Paso, police spokesman Sgt. Enrique Carrillo said in an email Tuesday "there have been a total of 61 traffic fatalities" so far in 2019.

"November and December have traditionally been the months with the highest numbers of DWI arrests," he said.

In the past, most fatal crashes have occurred between Friday and early Sunday morning from midnight to 3 a.m., he said. As for El Paso County ranking sixth in Texas in fatalities, he said, it should be kept in perspective that the city is the sixth largest in the state.

Where do car crashes happen?

Texas is a vast state with stretches of road through bustling cities and others that wind through rural areas.

In 2018, crashes in urban areas outnumbered crashes on rural ones. However, there were more fatalities in rural areas. Fatalities in crashes in the state's rural areas made up nearly 55 percent of the state's traffic fatalities.

An urban area, as defined by TxDOT, is one that's in a city or town with a population of 5,000 or more.

Several factors might contribute to there being more fatalities on roads in rural areas, said Robert Wunderlich, director of the Center for Transportation Safety at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

For one, rural crashes tend to be at higher speeds, he said. There also can be delayed responses in discovering a crash and the arrival of emergency responders to the scene due to the distance.

"In urban areas, we find that most of the crashes occur at intersections where people have to make decisions, and they have to follow either a traffic signal or they have to make a judgment about what other people are doing," Wunderlich said.

Eleanor Dearman may be reached at 361-244-0047; [email protected]; @EllyDearman on Twitter.

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