View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/mag-features/2014/03/24/323852.htm
Texas’ rapidly expanding population has given rise to something else: more deadly car crashes.
The number of fatal automobile crashes in Texas has been on the decline since 1980, but for the past two years, both injury and fatal car accidents in Texas have risen. The increase in traffic fatalities has been linked to the state’s growth and economy, the Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) reported.
With Texas’ rapid population growth and strong economy more people are on its highways “and that translates into more accidents and more people getting hurt,” said Anne McCartt, senior vice president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
In 2003, Texas Department of Transportation figures showed the state had 190,878 injury crashes, but the number had dropped to 139,690, or a 27 percent decline by 2011. In the past two years the numbers have risen, exceeding 152,000.
Fatal crashes in Texas dropped from 3,371 in 2003 to 3,067 in 2011, or a 10 percent decline. But during the past two years the numbers increased to more than 3,330, the ICT said.