Texas Drivers Lead a Depressing Crash Category in New Study

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We often make fun of the drivers here in Lubbock, but we have a statewide problem.

AAA Texas says that Texas is number one in fatalities for crashes involving people going the wrong way. This is really, really bad. Even worse, that number is going up.

Wrong-way crashes are pretty much the worst category of traffic accidents because you have the velocity of two vehicles coming at each other. AAA Texas looked at three years, from 2015 to 2018, and found that Texas had 309 of the 2,008 deaths. That number is up 29 percent from the previous three years.

The top causes of wrong-way crashes are impaired driving, old age and, believe it or not, driving without a passenger.

It's crazy to think that this is such a problem in the first place. While city streets don't have all of the dividers or signs, I believe most engineers have made it very hard for people to get the wrong way on a highway. It does happen though, and I have personally experienced someone going the wrong way on our own Loop 289.

I really think the best we can do is impress on people that when they are driving that they are engaging in a potentially dangerous activity that has to be taken seriously at all times. That may sound a little harsh, but it's the same thing with firearms: you have to respect them in order to have fun with them.

May I suggest one last thing? When I was 18 years old, a state trooper dropped by the place where I was employed and mentioned he was doing a defensive driving class that night. I went to that class out of boredom and it's served me well my whole life. So maybe it would be smart to make defensive driving part of the high school curriculum.