As far as state statistics go, Texas is a pretty safe place for drivers and passengers. Montana and Wyoming, not so much.
The Auto Insurance Center (AIC) used data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to conduct a study on fatal crash statistics from 2005 through 2015. Texas runs roughly in the middle of the pack, which is impressive considering we have more miles of road (330,000+) than any other state. However, it’s now clear that speeding and racing are our weaknesses behind the wheel.
Racing is one of Texas' biggest safety problems
When you drill down further into the data you start to see which cities in Texas improve our safety ratings and which areas still need improvement. We dug through crash reports from the Texas Department of Transportation to uncover some of the cities with the best and worst drivers in 2016. Here’s what we found.
5 Texas Cities With Some of the Best Drivers
The Woodlands
The Woodlands is home to some extremely safe drivers!
Unlike other cities in the area, The Woodlands has an amazing driving record. With a population around 110,000, the fact no fatalities were reported by the Texas DOT in 2016 is impressive.
McKinney
McKinney has only one accident for every 117 people.
At just one injury or fatality-related car accident per 117 people, McKinney has a great highway driving record for a city with more than 160,000.
Austin
Of all the major metros in Texas, Austin has the best driving record by far. In 2016 the Texas DOT reported a total of 15,814 crashes and only 79 were fatal. Pretty good considering the city had a population of nearly 950,000.
Austin has some surprisingly safe drivers for how bad its traffic is.
Mesquite
Mesquite has some pretty safe roads
There may be a lot of accidents in Dallas County (55,797 to be exact), but not many of them happen in Mesquite. There were just 1,706 reported crashes in 2016, which is exactly half of the accidents reported in Grand Prairie (see below).
Garland
For a sizable city, Garland is another safe place to drive in Dallas County. Per capita there’s only about a 1 in 68 chance you’ll be involved in an accident.
Garland is both beautiful and a safe place to drive!
5 Texas Cities With Some of the Worst Drivers
Houston
Houston while a great city has a very high rate of accidents.
Maybe it’s the long commute that makes driving in Houston so dangerous. Even factoring in the huge population, the 65,241 crashes in 2016 is a high number. Another notable point is that Harris County had more DUI-related accidents than any other county.
Waco
Waco has many accidents for its population size.
Given that the population was under 135,000 in 2016, Waco’s 3,571 crashes was high per capita.
Van Horn
Van Horn has a very high per capital accident rate even though it is a small town
This small city in Culberson County doesn’t have many crashes, but it also doesn’t have many people on the road. In 2016 there were 13 reported crashes involving injury or fatalities, which is high per capita. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has noted that in 2015 Culberson County had the second highest per capita fatality rate.
Grand Prairie
Grand Prairie also has a high amount of accidents
For a mid-size city, Grand Prairie doesn’t have the best track record. In 2016 there were 3,418 reported crashes, which is on par with cities that are 25% more populated. Ellis Country where Grand Prairie is located also had more speeding related crashes than the much larger El Paso County.
Edinburg
Edinburg has a surprisingly large amount of accidents for its size.
Edinburg has one of the highest per capita crash rates. Even though Edinburg has roughly the same population (84,000) as neighboring Mission, TX, it had over 1,000 more accidents in 2016. Hildago County, where Edinburg is the country seat, also ranks 6th for the most DUI-related accidents. Earn a spot in the best drivers group with Aceable’s online Texas defensive driving courses . They’re state-approved and available on all your devices!