Thursday, Apr. 10, 2025
Is El Paso one of the safest Texas counties in which to drive?
More auto accidents happen in El Paso than most Texas counties.
The Texas Department of Transportation recorded 180,825 crashes between 2014 and 2023 — the fifth highest amount in the state.
From 2019 to 2023, Harris County reported about 559,463 crashes – the highest in the state. El Paso reported 90,173 over that same time period.
Harris County averaged 2,351 crashes per 100,000 people in that time period, while El Paso averaged 2,104 per 100,000.
The national average crash fatality rate, reported by the National Safety Council, was 13.8 per 100,000 in 2022. That year, El Paso County reported 89 fatalities, with a rate of 10.26 per 100,000 – lower than the national average.Within the last five years, El Paso’s biggest contributing factor to suspected serious injury and fatal injury crashes was failure to control speed, TxDOT reports.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Texas Department of Transportation Annual Crashes and Injury by County 2023
- Texas Department of Transportation Crash Data Analysis
- National Safety Council Historical Fatality Trends
- El Paso Matter Analysis Crash Rate for Harris County and El Paso County
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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El Paso Matters is a member-supported nonpartisan media organization that uses journalism to expand civic capacity in our region. We inform and engage with people in El Paso, Ciudad Juárez and neighboring communities to create solutions-driven conversations about complex issues shaping our region.
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