Fatal crash profile · State

Traffic deaths in Texas in 2021

State in United States

Deaths, 2021
4,500
Fatal crashes
4,070
Population
29.6M

In 2021, 4,500 people died in 4,070 fatal crashes in Texas, about 12 a day. That was 16.1% more than in 2020 (3,876) and the most since 1981. The death rate was 15.2 per 100,000 residents, compared with 13.0 in the United States. Texas had the 2nd most traffic deaths of the 51 states and DC and the 19th-highest death rate. Pedestrians accounted for 18% of deaths, and 34% of fatal crashes were speeding-related.

Deaths

Traffic deaths

15.2

deaths per 100,000 residents in 2021

  • About 1.2 times the rate in the United States: 13.0

+16%

change in deaths from 2020 to 2021

3,876 deaths in 2020, 4,500 in 2021

  • The United States: +11%

Texas traffic deaths by year goes back to 1975.

Profile by year: 2024 · 2023 · 2022 · 2021 · 2020

Road users

Who died

18%

of deaths were pedestrians

  • About the same as the share in the United States: 17%
Who died in 2021
Category Deaths
Vehicle occupants and others 3,068
Pedestrians 817
Motorcyclists 524
Cyclists 91
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Deaths by type, 2021
Type Deaths Share in Texas Share in the US
Pedestrians 817 18% 17%
Motorcyclists 524 12% 14%
Cyclists 91 2% 2%
Alcohol-impaired driving crashes 1,925 43% 31%
Speeding-related crashes 1,571 35% 29%

Alcohol-impaired and speeding-related count everyone killed in those crashes, so a death can appear in more than one row.

Crash factors

Speeding, alcohol, night and weekend crashes

34%

of fatal crashes were speeding-related

  • About 1.2 times the share in the United States: 28%

24%

of fatal crashes involved a drinking driver

  • About the same as the share in the United States: 26%
Crash factors in 2021
Category Texas United States
Speeding-related 24.5% 26.3%
Alcohol-involved 34.2% 28.2%
At night 58.8% 53.9%
At weekends 35.2% 32.8%

Share of fatal crashes. Alcohol-involved means a police-reported drinking driver.

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Timing

When crashes happen

59%

of fatal crashes happened at night

  • About the same as the share in the United States: 54%

35%

of fatal crashes happened at weekends

  • About the same as the share in the United States: 33%
Fatal crashes by hour of day
Category Fatal crashes
12am 185
1am 180
2am 240
3am 163
4am 115
5am 157
6am 162
7am 146
8am 108
9am 94
10am 109
11am 132
12pm 124
1pm 143
2pm 130
3pm 184
4pm 163
5pm 181
6pm 215
7pm 203
8pm 227
9pm 275
10pm 214
11pm 220

All crashes 2021.

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Fatal crashes by day of week
Category Fatal crashes
Sun 720
Mon 537
Tue 470
Wed 492
Thu 520
Fri 620
Sat 711

All crashes 2021.

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Fatal crashes by month
Category Fatal crashes
Jan 319
Feb 242
Mar 336
Apr 339
May 317
Jun 331
Jul 354
Aug 379
Sep 374
Oct 372
Nov 336
Dec 371

All crashes 2021.

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Conditions

Weather and light

Weather at the time of the crash
Category Fatal crashes
Clear 3,033
Cloudy 692
Rain 239
Fog, Smog, Smoke 65
Severe Crosswinds 9
Sleet or Hail 9

All crashes 2021. Crashes where conditions were not reported are left out.

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Light conditions at the time of the crash
Category Fatal crashes
Daylight 1,637
Dark - Not Lighted 1,262
Dark - Lighted 1,000
Dawn 64
Dusk 55
Dark - Unknown Lighting 42

All crashes 2021. Crashes where conditions were not reported are left out.

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Roads and vehicles

Where and what, 2021

Roads with the most fatal crashes

  1. I-1095
  2. I-2093
  3. I-3579
  4. I-4557
  5. I-3047
  6. US-5946
  7. US-28733
  8. SR-630
  9. US-28128
  10. US-9028

Road names as recorded in police reports.

Vehicles involved, by type
Category Vehicles
Cars 2,250
Pickup trucks 1,398
SUVs 1,085
Medium and heavy trucks 839
Motorcycles 549
Other vehicles 217
Vans 159
Buses 17

All crashes 2021.

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Vehicles most often involved

  1. Chevrolet Silverado320
  2. Ford F-150308
  3. Dodge Ram137
  4. Toyota Camry123
  5. GMC Sierra115
  6. Freightliner Cascadia115
  7. Honda Accord111
  8. Ford F-250102
  9. Nissan Altima101
  10. Toyota Corolla90

Reflects how common a vehicle is as well as crash involvement; not a safety rating.

Crashes

Fatal crashes

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Fatal crashes in 2021. Crashes without reported coordinates are not shown.

Filter crashes
Crash factors
Date Location Deaths
Dec 31, 2021 Sabine County 1
Dec 31, 2021 Quanah, Hardeman County 1
Dec 31, 2021 Bexar County 1
Dec 31, 2021 Montgomery County 1
Dec 31, 2021 Kaufman County 1
Dec 31, 2021 Houston, Harris County 1
Dec 31, 2021 Richardson, Dallas County 1
Dec 31, 2021 Hudspeth County 1
Dec 31, 2021 Cuero, DeWitt County 1
Dec 31, 2021 Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County 1
Dec 31, 2021 Sabine County 1
Dec 31, 2021 Deer Park, Harris County 1
Dec 31, 2021 Lubbock, Lubbock County 1
Dec 31, 2021 San Antonio, Bexar County 1
Dec 30, 2021 Pasadena, Harris County 1
Dec 30, 2021 Houston, Harris County 1
Dec 30, 2021 Beaumont, Jefferson County 1
Dec 30, 2021 North Richland Hills, Tarrant County 1
Dec 30, 2021 Bell County 1
Dec 30, 2021 Dallas, Dallas County 2
Dec 30, 2021 Robstown, Nueces County 1
Dec 30, 2021 Seagoville, Dallas County 1
Dec 30, 2021 Ferris, Ellis County 1
Dec 30, 2021 Lewisville, Denton County 1
Dec 29, 2021 Anderson County 1

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Nearby and related

Counties in Texas in 2021

Area Deaths, 2021 Per 100,000
Anderson County 17 29.1
Andrews County 10 54.3
Angelina County 19 21.9
Aransas County 5 20.4
Archer County 7 80.4
Armstrong County 3 163.1
Atascosa County 9 18.0
Austin County 4 13.1
Bailey County 0 —
Bandera County 2 9.3
Bastrop County 26 25.4
Baylor County 1 28.9
Bee County 4 13.0
Bell County 43 11.3
Bexar County 239 11.8
Blanco County 6 50.5
Borden County 0 —
Bosque County 3 16.2
Bowie County 22 23.8
Brazoria County 48 12.7
Brazos County 14 5.9
Brewster County 1 10.5
Briscoe County 1 71.4
Brooks County 12 170.9
Brown County 6 15.7
Burleson County 11 60.7
Burnet County 10 19.5
Caldwell County 14 29.8
Calhoun County 5 25.2
Callahan County 9 63.8
Cameron County 34 8.0
Camp County 5 39.7
Carson County 3 52.4
Cass County 19 66.5
Castro County 2 27.2
Chambers County 16 32.9
Cherokee County 18 35.1
Childress County 4 58.9
Clay County 2 19.4
Cochran County 1 40.4
Coke County 0 —
Coleman County 5 64.8
Collin County 51 4.6
Collingsworth County 0 —
Colorado County 10 48.3
Comal County 20 11.4
Comanche County 6 43.4
Concho County 1 29.9
Cooke County 8 18.9
Coryell County 11 13.0
Cottle County 0 —
Crane County 2 43.2
Crockett County 5 165.5
Crosby County 4 78.7
Culberson County 17 778.4
Dallam County 2 27.9
Dallas County 354 13.7
Dawson County 8 64.7
DeWitt County 6 30.1
Deaf Smith County 4 21.8
Delta County 0 —
Denton County 71 7.5
Dickens County 0 —
Dimmit County 2 23.6
Donley County 3 89.4
Duval County 5 49.9
Eastland County 5 28.0
Ector County 43 26.7
Edwards County 1 69.8
El Paso County 99 11.4
Ellis County 35 17.2
Erath County 13 30.0
Falls County 4 23.4
Fannin County 9 24.4
Fayette County 10 40.4
Fisher County 0 —
Floyd County 4 75.6
Fort Bend County 55 6.4
Franklin County 4 38.1
Freestone County 13 65.7
Frio County 6 33.5
Gaines County 15 68.6
Galveston County 35 9.8
Garza County 4 63.9
Gillespie County 6 22.0
Glasscock County 2 176.1
Goliad County 2 28.0
Gonzales County 9 45.9
Gray County 10 47.4
Grayson County 29 20.8
Gregg County 20 16.1
Grimes County 14 46.4
Guadalupe County 21 11.8
Hale County 3 9.3
Hall County 1 35.1
Hamilton County 1 12.1
Hansford County 1 19.5
Hardeman County 1 28.2
Hardin County 8 14.0
Harris County 576 12.2
Harrison County 27 38.8
Hartley County 6 111.4
Haskell County 0 —
Hays County 29 11.3
Henderson County 22 26.3
Hidalgo County 71 8.1
Hill County 19 52.2
Hockley County 13 61.2
Hood County 13 20.2
Hopkins County 11 29.6
Houston County 9 40.9
Howard County 17 49.4
Hudspeth County 5 152.7
Hunt County 38 36.7
Hutchinson County 2 9.8
Irion County 1 65.3
Jack County 4 46.8
Jackson County 9 59.5
Jasper County 15 46.1
Jeff Davis County 0 —
Jefferson County 60 23.6
Jim Hogg County 0 —
Jim Wells County 11 28.3
Johnson County 39 20.8
Jones County 12 60.3
Karnes County 3 20.3
Kaufman County 36 22.7
Kendall County 13 27.7
Kenedy County 5 1,470.6
Kent County 1 134.4
Kerr County 14 26.3
Kimble County 5 114.9
King County 0 —
Kinney County 0 —
Kleberg County 4 13.1
Knox County 2 60.3
La Salle County 9 135.1
Lamar County 11 21.8
Lamb County 5 38.8
Lampasas County 5 22.5
Lavaca County 5 24.3
Lee County 6 33.9
Leon County 14 87.2
Liberty County 21 21.6
Limestone County 9 40.8
Lipscomb County 0 —
Live Oak County 5 43.8
Llano County 7 31.6
Loving County 2 3,508.8
Lubbock County 63 20.0
Lynn County 2 35.4
Madison County 4 29.6
Marion County 6 61.6
Martin County 12 230.0
Mason County 1 25.4
Matagorda County 12 33.0
Maverick County 2 3.5
McCulloch County 1 13.3
McLennan County 37 14.0
McMullen County 0 —
Medina County 10 19.1
Menard County 2 101.7
Midland County 35 20.8
Milam County 7 27.7
Mills County 5 111.4
Mitchell County 4 44.2
Montague County 9 44.0
Montgomery County 69 10.6
Moore County 4 18.9
Morris County 5 41.6
Motley County 0 —
Nacogdoches County 34 52.4
Navarro County 16 29.8
Newton County 2 16.4
Nolan County 6 41.1
Nueces County 47 13.3
Ochiltree County 5 51.2
Oldham County 4 230.7
Orange County 21 24.8
Palo Pinto County 8 27.8
Panola County 22 97.5
Parker County 32 20.4
Parmer County 1 10.2
Pecos County 9 59.5
Polk County 20 38.7
Potter County 29 24.9
Presidio County 4 65.5
Rains County 5 40.1
Randall County 16 11.1
Reagan County 2 61.4
Real County 7 249.1
Red River County 9 77.8
Reeves County 13 99.9
Refugio County 4 59.7
Robertson County 6 35.4
Rockwall County 10 8.6
Runnels County 6 60.7
Rusk County 18 34.2
Sabine County 9 89.8
San Augustine County 7 88.5
San Jacinto County 14 50.3
San Patricio County 16 22.9
San Saba County 1 17.2
Schleicher County 1 41.0
Scurry County 3 17.8
Shackelford County 0 —
Shelby County 4 16.6
Sherman County 1 36.0
Smith County 63 26.5
Somervell County 6 63.3
Starr County 4 6.1
Stephens County 3 31.8
Sterling County 0 —
Stonewall County 1 82.4
Sutton County 5 151.6
Swisher County 2 28.5
Tarrant County 229 10.7
Taylor County 24 16.7
Terrell County 2 275.9
Terry County 1 8.5
Throckmorton County 1 66.2
Titus County 11 35.2
Tom Green County 24 20.1
Travis County 156 11.9
Trinity County 7 50.6
Tyler County 13 65.3
Upshur County 16 38.2
Upton County 3 92.7
Uvalde County 8 32.3
Val Verde County 15 31.6
Van Zandt County 28 45.7
Victoria County 14 15.4
Walker County 15 19.1
Waller County 22 37.0
Ward County 10 90.1
Washington County 11 30.6
Webb County 23 8.6
Wharton County 20 48.0
Wheeler County 3 61.4
Wichita County 15 11.5
Wilbarger County 6 47.2
Willacy County 3 14.8
Williamson County 54 8.4
Wilson County 10 19.5
Winkler County 3 40.6
Wise County 18 25.0
Wood County 12 25.9
Yoakum County 0 —
Young County 2 11.1
Zapata County 3 21.6
Zavala County 8 84.4

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Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2021. A fatal crash is one in which at least one person died within 30 days. Population: US Census Bureau estimates.