Texas leads the nation in the number of people who die each year in alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents. This is due, in part, to the state’s unusually large population, but other factors also play a role. Let’s look at the statistics of drunk driving and see which Texas cities have the most fatal drunk driving accidents.
Drunk Driving Fatalities in Texas
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a federal agency, tracks the number of people in Texas and all other states who die in alcohol-related crashes each year. The latest available NHTSA figures cover the year 2015. In that year, 1,323 Texas residents died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes. This was the highest number recorded anywhere in the U.S. In fact, despite having almost nine million fewer residents than the country’s most populous state, California, Texas has hundreds more DUI-related deaths annually. Well over one-third (38%) of all traffic deaths in Texas have alcohol use as an underlying cause.
Which Cities Have the Most Fatal Accidents?
The Texas Department of Transportation (TDOT) maintains a city-by-city breakdown of statistics of drunk driving for the state. Like the most recent NHTSA figures, the most recent TDOT figures cover the year 2015. In that year, the cities with the highest number of fatal drunk driving accidents were:
- Houston (69 crashes)
- San Antonio (50 crashes)
- Dallas (45 crashes)
- Austin (29 crashes), and
- Fort Worth (20 crashes)
The Texas Department of Transportation also records the overall number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities on a city-by-city basis. Here are the totals for 2015:
- Houston (74 deaths)
- San Antonio (56 deaths)
- Dallas (50 deaths)
- Austin (33 deaths), and
- Fort Worth (21 deaths)
Dallas and Fort Worth are neighboring cities, and together they make up a single metropolitan region. Among other things, this means that the Dallas/Ft. Worth area has almost as many fatal drunk driving accidents as state leader Houston. The Dallas/Ft. Worth area also has almost as many drunk driving fatalities as Houston. On another note, in 2015, Texas actually experienced the nation’s largest year-to-year decline in alcohol-related motor vehicle deaths. Sources: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: State Traffic Safety Information for Year 2015 https://cdan.nhtsa.gov/stsi.htm Texas Department of Transportation: DUI (Alcohol) Crashes and Injuries – Cities and Towns – 2015 http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/trf/crash_statistics/2015/40.pdf
