The Ultimate Guide to Auto Accidents in Hidalgo County (2022 Edition)

Interesting Trends

Alton and Peñitas experienced the biggest drops in reported accidents in 2022.

• In Alton, there were fewer accidents in 2022 caused by failing to control speed (52 versus 58), driver distraction</a href> (10 versus 26), tailgating</a href> (20 versus 25), and drug intoxication (0 versus 6), among others.
• However, more accidents occurred due to driver inattention (82 versus 74) and driving under the influence of alcohol (10 versus 9).
• In Peñitas, accidents caused by driver inattention fell by 45% (from 58 to 32). Fewer accidents (69 versus 79) also occurred due to a failure to control speed.
• However, driver intoxication was more of a problem in Peñitas in 2022, with 6 accidents citing it as a factor (compared to 0 in 2021).

Interesting Trends

2,737 accidents were reported on I-2 across the county in 2022.

596 of these accidents (over 20% of the county total) occurred in Pharr, with 469 reported in San Juan and 367 happening in Weslaco.

These cities are among the smallest in Hidalgo County by land area; according to the United States Census Bureau</a href>, the land area of Weslaco, Pharr, and San Juan are as follows:

• Pharr: 23.63 square miles
• Weslaco: 16.38 square miles
• San Juan: 11.64 square miles

For context, McAllen has a land area of 62.31 square miles — more than Pharr, Weslaco, and San Juan combined.

So why did so many accidents occur on I-2 in these cities, considering they are much smaller than other cities in the RGV?

The answer could lie in their population density. Weslaco, Pharr, and San Juan have lower population counts compared to larger cities, but data from the Census Bureau yields some interesting insights when we consider the population per square mile:

• Pharr: 79,715 population; 3,374 population per square mile
• Weslaco: 40,160 population; 2,451.9 population per square mile
• San Juan: 35,294 population; 3,031.3 population per square mile.

For comparison, McAllen has a much higher population (142,210), but residents are spread across a much larger land area — the city has a population per square mile of 2,282.4.

It’s likely, then, that significantly more accidents occurred on I-2 in these cities because there are more people — and, therefore, more motorists — to potentially get in a crash in what are smaller areas dominated by a single road (not to mention a key access point to other cities in the county).

Interesting Trends

“Failed to control speed” was the most cited contributing factor of reported accidents in Hidalgo County in 2022, featuring in crash reports 6,633 times versus 6,482 in 2021.

“Driver inattention” was in second place, cited 1,868 times in 2022 and 1,797 times in 2021.

But that doesn’t mean these were the two leading causes of accidents in every city, nor that the individual city figures increased from 2021 to 2022.

For example, in Alamo, “failed to control speed” was cited 155 times in 2022, an improvement compared to 2021 (185). However, more accidents were caused by driver inattention (199 versus 140).

Driver inattention was also the leading cause of accidents in Alton and Palmhurst:

Palmhurst notably saw accidents caused by driver inattention skyrocket in 2022, almost doubling from 135 to 262.

In several cities, other contributing factors featured prominently in crash reports:

• In Edinburg and Pharr, “failed to control speed” was the leading contributing factor by a landslide. Driver inattention was a less common cause, with “changing lanes when unsafe” taking second place.
• “Backed without safety” was also a common cause in several cities, taking second place behind “failed to control speed” in Weslaco (cited 251 times) and Mission (225).

Interesting Trends

Driver error is the leading cause of accidents across the country and comprises several behaviors, from falling asleep at the wheel to speeding.

But among the most egregious and dangerous is driving while intoxicated.

Driving while under the influence of alcohol was cited 686 times across Hidalgo County in 2022, with “had been drinking” — a separate contributing factor — being cited 270 times.

But were drivers more likely to drive under the influence at a specific time of the year?

in Mission and McAllen, driving under the influence of alcohol was most prevalent in December.

In Weslaco, we see the reverse, with no drunk-driving accidents reported in December.

In Edinburg, driving under the influence of alcohol was most commonly cited in October.

Over in Pharr, February was the most dangerous month for driving while intoxicated accidents. December and October were quieter periods, with this factor cited just once each. September and April saw no crashes reportedly caused by driving under the influence.

In other cities, most collisions involving driving under the influence occurred during the summer months — in Alamo and Weslaco, this factor was most frequently cited in July.

San Juan also yields some interesting insights: driving under the influence of alcohol was most commonly cited in March, August, April, and January, but no accidents listed this cause in the run-up to Christmas (September, October, and November). However, this does not mean there were no crashes involving alcohol during these months. It appears law enforcement officers preferred to highlight “had been drinking” as a factor — cited twice in November, October, and December, and once in September.

Above all, what this data illustrates is that driving while under the influence of alcohol is common throughout the entire year. It is only in a handful of smaller cities where no accidents cited either “driving while intoxicated” or “had been drinking” during a given month.

Interesting Trends

Car accidents were the most frequently reported accident type across Hidalgo County in 2022, with the majority involving 4-door passenger cars.

However, trucks also featured prominently in crashes. TxDOT data separates trucks by type, differentiating pickup trucks from truck tractors</a href> and trailer trucks (pole and semi-trailer).

Across the county, 11,832 trucks were involved in accidents, with the majority (1,914 — or 16%) in Pharr.

Edinburg and McAllen were close behind, with 1,440 and 1,391 trucks involved in accidents, respectively.

Interesting Trends

Fewer 4-door passenger cars were involved in crashes in 2021 (13,999), owing to the fact there were fewer reported accidents in 2021 compared to 2022.

There were also fewer trucks involved in crashes in 2021, but the difference is much smaller (11,405 in 2021 compared to 11,832 in 2022). Despite the number of trucks involved in crashes growing year on year, we can take some small comfort that this was a modest increase given the catastrophic damage truck accidents cause</a href>.

At a city level, the same three cities were responsible for the majority of truck accidents:

• 1,861 trucks were involved in crashes in Pharr.
• 1,441 trucks were involved in crashes in Edinburg.
• 1,220 trucks were involved in crashes in McAllen.

Edinburg and Weslaco were among the cities that saw the number of accidents involving trucks drop from 2021 to 2022 — albeit by a single truck in Edinburg (1,440 in 2022 versus 1,441 in 2021).

Interesting Trends

Unsurprisingly, more people sustained possible injuries out of any other injury type (excluding those not injured).

Accidents outside city limits and in McAllen resulted in the most fatalities (34 and 11, respectively), but it’s crucial to consider not only the number of fatal accidents but also the relative severity of accidents in different locations.

When looking only at accidents that resulted in actual injuries, Alton had the highest proportion of deaths. Here, 10% of crashes led to fatalities.

McAllen is also a standout (albeit for the wrong reason!). In this city, 42% of all reported crashes caused no injuries, compared to 68% when looking at crashes across the whole county.

The 1,604 McAllen crashes resulting in injuries break down as follows:

• Possible injury: 1,052 (66%)
• Suspected minor injury: 485 (30%)
• Suspected serious injury: 56 (3%)
• Fatal injury: 11 (<1%)

Interesting Trends

There were 20,502 accidents reported in the county in 2021, resulting in 5,839 actual injuries.

Of the 21,747 accidents that occurred in 2022, there were 5,812 actual injuries reported.

Given that there were 1,245 more accidents reported in 2022, it’s reassuring to see that the number of actual injuries decreased — this means the additional accidents reported in Hidalgo County in 2022 did not cause any injury.

Interesting Trends

We know that crashes in McAllen resulted in more actual injuries than accidents in any other city, but drilling down into the different injury types yields some interesting insights.

According to the data, there were 123 actual injuries reported in Alamo — a tiny slice when looking at the entire county. But when it comes to fatal injuries, Alamo represents a sizeable chunk.

The significance of this becomes clear when we compare the numbers to McAllen. There were 1,480 fewer injuries reported in Alamo (123 versus 1,604), but there were just seven fewer fatalities (4 versus 11).

Interesting Trends

In 2021, McAllen accidents resulted in 1,508 actual injuries, eight of which were fatalities.

In nearby Edinburg, there were 812 actual injuries reported — just over half the figure for McAllen — but just one fewer fatality (7).

The number of actual injuries dropped from 5,839 in 2021 to 5,812 in 2022, driven by drops across several cities, including Alton, Mission, Palmhurst, Pharr, and Weslaco.