About Us
Drive Aware North Texas is an educational campaign aimed at improving negative driver behaviors that are the leading contributing factors for serious injury and fatality crashes in the North Central Texas region.
2016-2020 16-County Crash Totals
What’s Causing So Many Crashes?
Contributing Factors for Serious Injury and Fatality Crashes
Note: The Contributing Factor Analysis above includes Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Contributing Crash Factors on limited access facilities in the NCTCOG 12-County MPA only. Speeding has been the number one contributing factor for all analysis done from 2010-2020. For more information on contributing factor trends for previous years, please visit the NCTCOG Safety Program webpage.
Speeding
Speeding crashes occur when drivers either exceed speed limits or drive at unsafe speeds for road conditions. Speeding was an identified crash factor in 151,404 total crashes, 1,252 fatal injury crashes, and 4,619 suspected serious injury crashes in the North Central Texas region from 2016-2020, by far the most common crash factor. Injury severity increases as crash speed increases.
Impaired Driving
Crashes involving a driver impaired by alcohol, illegal drugs, legal medication or drowsiness have remained one of the top ten contributing factors in both the state of Texas and NCTCOG region. The graph below highlights these crashes in the North Central Texas 16-county region from the past five years. During this time period, the number of crashes involving an impaired driver has decreased close to four percent overall and included a drop in the number of crashes where medication was cited as a contributing factor. Impaired Driving was identified as a contributing factor in 30,189 total crashes, 577 fatal crashes and 1,674 suspected serious injury crashes in the North Central Texas region from 2016-2020.
Distracted Driving
Distracted driving can be any activity that takes a driver’s attention away from the roadway. Distractions can include anything from texting, talking on a mobile device, using social media, eating, drinking, putting on makeup, shaving, reading, programming a navigation system, watching a video, adjusting the radio, and even talking to passengers. Although believed to be greatly underreported, distracted driving crashes were reported in 77,827 total crashes, 235 fatal crashes and 1,921 suspected serious injury crashes in the North Central Texas region from 2016-2020.
Wrong-Way Driving
The National Transportation Safety Board identifies wrong-way driving crashes on high-speed divided highways as the most serious type of highway collision. Although wrong-way driving collisions occur less frequently than other crashes, they are more likely to result in fatal and serious injuries than other types of crashes. Wrong-way driving crashes also known as head-on collisions involve two motor vehicles traveling straight and in opposite directions prior to the event of impact. Wrong-Way Driving crashes were the identified crash type in 3,567 total crashes, 203 fatal crashes, and 274 suspected serious injury crashes in the North Central Texas region from 2016-2020.
Distracted Driving Tips
Drive Aware North Texas offers these tips to prevent distracted driving that can lead to a ticket, or worse, a crash:
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Always give driving your full attention.
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Pull off the road entirely and come to a complete stop before you talk, text, or use social media.
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Put your smart device or phone away, turn it off, or use an app or your phone settings to block texts and calls and/or send auto reply texts while you are driving.
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Tell friends, family and coworkers you won’t respond to calls or texts when you are behind the wheel.
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Remember that all distractions are dangerous, so pay full attention when behind the wheel.