As traffic deaths keep rising, TxDOT urges drivers: It's time to care
In a media update via Zoom on Thursday, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) asked for solutions to create public awareness to reduce driving fatalities on Texas highways with its #EndTheStreakTx campaign.
With more than two decades and more than 79,00 deaths since the last deathless day on Texas roadways having passed, TxDOT is seeking to strengthen its efforts to get people to make a difference in putting a stop to the state’s driver-involved fatalities.
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Year after year, the state of Texas leads the nation in traffic fatalities. From 2020 to 2021, according to data from TxDOT, there was an increase of 15% from the previous year in motor vehicle fatalities. In 2020, there were 3,896 deaths recorded; in 2021, that number grew to 4,493 deaths. Over half of these motor vehicle fatalities happened in rural areas of Texas highways, accounting for 2,291 traffic deaths.
According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the state of Texas in the first half of 2022 saw a 4% increase in traffic deaths compared to the same time period in the previous year.
Dr. Art Markman, a professor from the University of Texas, addressed this issue as an erosion of community as a leading contributor to the rise in traffic deaths in an interview with TxDOT.
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“We have to remind people that they are part of a community,” Markman said. “We have to start considering everyone as part of our community. If we do not do that, there are going to be all sorts of negative consequences, and those are going to include negative consequences on the road.”
Laura Ryan, Texas Transportation Commissioner, spoke about the need for the community to do its part in reducing roadway fatalities.
“With the knowledge that, since the pandemic, people don’t seem to view others around them as part of a community and that they care less about those around them, we are starting to identify the problem,” Ryan said. “If we know there is a problem and we can identify that a big part of the problem is a lack of caring or apathy, then we also know the solution — we must care more about us.”
David Elizade of Amarillo knows firsthand the effect that careless and distracted driving can cause, with the loss of his 17-year-old daughter Andrea Elizade. She lost her life as an unrestrained passenger in a horrific wreck on Dumas Highway in 2019. Before the wreck, the Chevrolet Corvette Andrea Elizade was in was traveling 110 mph on the same highway with cellphone video taken just before the crash.
“We pulled up to a car that was unrecognizable,” said Amarillo Firefighter Brenton Goerend. “You could not tell what it was. It was horrible. We could not find the third person, so we started looking underneath the car.”
The driver and another passenger who had his seatbelt on both survived the crash.
“It’s not OK to drink and drive,” David Elizalde said. “It’s not OK as a father to go through the death of your daughter at the hands of people who are drinking and driving.”
After losing his daughter, Elizade founded Andrea’s Project to educate the community to do something about drinking and driving.
TxDOT, as part of its campaign, is asking drivers and the community to take these three measures it is calling "the three Es" of engineering, education and enforcement to keep drivers safe:
Make the best and safest decisions behind the wheel, do not drive under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs; always obey traffic laws; always wear your seatbelt.
Post pictures on social media with this downloadable sign displaying the hashtag #EndTheStreakTX.
Share personal stories on social media of loved ones who have been lost in a crash and use the hashtag #EndTheStreakTX.
Follow @txdot social media pages and share the content they post.
To find out more information about Andrea’s project, go to https://www.andreasprojecttx.org/ and for more safety information from TxDOT, go to https://www.txdot.gov/safety.html .
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: As traffic deaths rise, TxDOT urges drivers: It's time to care
