The Up-to-Date 2023 Guide to Auto Accidents in Texas

Texas Fatalities by County

Harris County reported the most fatalities in 2023, owing to its high population density. Despite large decreases in fatalities in more population-density counties, several saw fatalities climb.

Of the top 30 counties featured in the list for 2023, just less than half — 14 counties — saw fatal crashes increase. These included Hidalgo (73 versus 70), Smith (65 versus 46), Fort Bend (40 versus 34), Hunt (33 versus 14), and Comal (25 versus 15).

Many of the most dangerous Texas roads are Interstate Highways. Highways are vital in today’s US transportation network, providing high-speed routes for long-distance travel and transport. They also span many of Texas’s regions, cities, towns, and beyond, so it is not surprising many accidents in the Lone Star State occur on these roadways.

Interstate Highway 10

Interstate Highway (I-10) stretches 2,460 miles across the Southern United States. It begins in Santa Monica, California, and travels eastward through Arizona, Texas, and New Orleans to Florida.

I-10 is a major Texas roadway, connecting cities including El Paso, San Antonio, and Houston.

I-10 also has several junctions connecting to various major cities, including I-35 in San Antonio and I-45 in Houston.

Interstate 10 topped the list as the most dangerous road in 2023, with 126 fatal crashes reported versus 140 in 2022.

Interstate Highway 45

Interstate Highway 45 (I-45) runs from Galveston to Dallas. At 284.9 miles long, this highway is shorter than the I-10 but forms a crucial north-south transportation corridor in Texas, linking major cities such as Houston and Dallas.

Interstate Highway 35

Another major north-south highway, Interstate Highway 35 (I-35) stretches from Laredo, Texas, on the American-Mexican border up to Duluth, Minnesota.
Along its extensive route, I-35 traverses several major cities, including San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, and Oklahoma City.

Interstate Highway 45 and 35 also feature in the top three deadliest roads of 2023 — unsurprising given their coverage of the state — although the positions reversed year on year, with 96 crashes on IH-45 in 2023 (versus 106 in 2022) and 95 reported crashes on IH35 (compared to 113 the year before).

Interstate Highway 35E

The Deadliest Texas Accidents

A single auto accident is capable of creating incredible devastation, injuring or killing many individuals. In 2022, TxDOT recorded two accidents causing six or more fatalities. In 2023, this figure more than doubled; five crashes killed at least six people, with two crashes tied for most fatalities.

The first occurred On May 7th, 2023, in Brownsville, Cameron County. The second happened outside city limits in Zavala County on November 8th. Both killed eight people and, notably, cited “unsafe speed” as contributing factors.

The difference is shocking. The benefits of wearing a helmet should speak for themselves, but if motorcyclists and passengers need any reassurance of how life-saving they can be, it’s here in black and white.

Pedestrian and Pedalcyclist Fatalities

Pedestrians are the most vulnerable users on the road. Pedestrian fatalities in Texas fell to 802 in 2023 from 816 in 2022. However, the number of pedalcyclists killed in auto accidents increased from 91 to 103.

Deadly Texas Auto Accidents Involving Unlicensed Drivers and Lack of Financial Proof

We also explored the number of people who either died or sustained suspected serious injuries in crashes involving unlicensed drivers.

This speaks to the tragedy of such accidents in that these people should not have been on the road — these crashes, like so many on our roads, could have been avoided.

But it’s particularly interesting for our Texas law firm because crashes involving unlicensed drivers pose challenges for those who may be entitled to compensation after such an accident.

In 2023, 501 people died in crashes involving unlicensed drivers, down from 513 in 2022.

However, the number of people who sustained suspected serious injuries increased year on year, with 2,881 injuries recorded versus 2,770.

When the attending officer at an accident scene gathers the information that will form their crash report, they note whether the parties involved have proof of financial security or, in other words, a Certificate of Motor Insurance. This record proves a vehicle owner has insurance coverage, allowing injured parties to recover compensation when they are hurt in an accident caused by the vehicle owner’s negligence or recklessness.

When a motorist does not have insurance, it can make recovering compensation difficult. Those who drive without insurance rarely do so maliciously — often, they cannot afford it, so it’s also unlikely they do not have the means to pay significant compensation.

When a person is injured because of the actions of another individual who does not have insurance, they can explore other options for recovery, such as putting liens on owned property or receiving compensation over time from the responsible party’s wages. But this isn’t an ideal scenario for someone who likely has medical bills to pay and cannot work.

Another option is to explore other avenues, such as pursuing compensation from another party that may be liable for the crash. However, this can be challenging, especially if there is little proof another party — such as an employer if the driver was working when they caused the accident — was at fault.

Just how many people potentially found themselves in this scenario in Texas?

In 2023, 1,265 people were killed in accidents where at least one party either did not have proof of financial security or where the financial proof had expired. This figure increased from 2022 when 1,229 people suffered fatal injuries.

Likewise, the number of people who sustained suspected serious injuries in this type of crash increased year on year, with 5,664 people seriously injured in 2023 accidents where at least one party had expired or insufficient proof of financial security (versus 5,443 the previous year).

But what is a “serious” injury?

Since 2010, the Texas Department of Transportation has referred to “incapacitating” injuries as “suspected serious” injuries, but that raises another question: “How do we define an incapacitating injury?”.

This vocabulary comes from the KABCO injury scale — created by the Federal Highway Administration to measure the severity of an auto accident. The scale comprises five codes, each corresponding to an injury severity, although there is a sixth code when the injury severity is unknown, such as if a potentially injured party fled the scene.

• Killed (K)
• Incapacitating injury (A)
• Non-incapacitating injury (B)
• Possible injury (C)
• Not injured (O)
• Unknown (99)

This is a federal scale and the definitions across jurisdictions are mostly consistent, but each state may impose additional criteria on injury classification, leading to some variations for different injury types.

The general guidance for incapacitating injuries is as follows:

“An incapacitating injury is a severe injury that prevents an accident victim from continuing normal activities. Examples include broken or distorted limbs, internal injuries, and a crushed chest.”

However, the TxDOT helpfully defines incapacitating injuries specifically for Texas as:

“Any injury, other than a fatal injury, which prevents the injured person from walking, driving or normally continuing the activities he was capable of performing before the injury occurred.”

Examples of incapacitating or serious injuries include broken bones, burns, head trauma, and spinal cord damage. These injuries can have a life-changing impact, so the effects of not being able to recover compensation because the party responsible lacks financial security are often more keenly felt by victims.

Even a fracture that heals without complication can leave an injured person out of work for several months. But some may never recover full function and be left with permanent weakness that limits what they can do.

Other incapacitating injuries can prove even more devastating — somebody with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) might never work again. A person with a spinal cord injury may be left permanently paralyzed.

But these injuries don’t just have a physical impact. A TBI might affect relationships because an injury victim struggles to regulate their emotions. A person with burns might have permanent, visible scars that cause them to lose self-esteem, affecting their ability to form relationships and making them withdrawn and depressed.

These are all damages a person wrongfully injured in an accident is entitled to recover, so it can seem a massive injustice when they cannot recover the compensation they rightfully deserve because an individual has consciously decided to drive without insurance.