News & opinion Frequent Fatalities: Why Houston is the Deadliest Place to Drive

Frequent Fatalities: Why Houston is the Deadliest Place to Drive

Why Houston is the Deadliest Place to Drive

Houston is

big, bustling city, but it’s

lso

n ete

n

l

o

k-in-p

og

ess, th

nks to f

equent

o

d

o

k. In ou

met

opolit

n melting pot, Houstoni

ns e kno

n fo

thei

p

ide. One l

bel

e might not be so p

oud of, ho

eve

, is th

t of “de

dliest m

jo

met

o e

fo

d

ive

s in the count

y.” Look no fu

the

th

n

eddit fo

p

oof of ou

gg

essive h

bits.

quick gl

nce

t the fo

um b

ings up

ple

f

om

n out-of-to

ne

: <

h

ef="https:

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houston/comments/8gzq6f/

h

t_the_hell_is_it_

ith_houston_d

ive

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get=”_bl

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el=”noopene

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“>“

h

t the hell is it

ith Houston d

ive

s?”<> Ove

600 comments

nd

necdotes follo

. D

ive

eo

s

e

esponsible fo

most c

ccidents. B

d beh

vio

s like <

h

ef=”https://c

inju

yvictims.com

f

t

l-speeding-

ccident-pe

cent/”>speeding >,

olling stops,

nd <

h

ef="https:

/c

inju

yvictims.com

dist

cted-d

iving-negligence-

nd-the-inju

ies-th

t-

esult

“>dist

cted d

iving<> put people in d

nge

eve

y d

y. But the

e’s mo

e

t pl

y he

e.

In o

de

to

ns

e

the question “

hy is Houston t

ffic so b

d?”

e must fi

st

ns

enothe

: “

hy e Houston

o

ds so b

d?”

Houston h

s ove

16,000 miles of st

eets, feying mo

e t

ffic th

n it eventicip

ted. Houston

lso h

s mo

e c

ccidents th

n

ny othe

city in Tex

s.

pp

oxim

tely <

h

ef="https:

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lopnik.com

houstons-

o

ds-

e-the-de

dliest-in-the-u-s-1828881806" tget="_bl

nk”

el="noopene

nofollo

">

dozen people lose thei

lives in Houston c

ccidents e

ch

eek >. Ou

city’s design is not

ithout its fls. The infst

uctu

e ound us is outd

ted,

nd it sometimes l

ys the g

ound

o

k foccidents iting to h

ppen.

h

t ex

ctly m

kes Houston t

ffic so d

nge

ous? Belo

e t

ke

look

t some of the culp

its.

  • i

    -level="1">ong>Long commutes ong>. ound 80% of Houstoni

    ns d

    ive

    n

    vege of 30 minutes e

    ch

    y to

    nd f

    om

    o

    k. Mo

    e time spent on the

    o

    d me

    ns mo

    e ch

    nces of getting into

    c

    ccident,

    nd long commutes c

    n

    lso cont

    ibute to d

    ive

    f

    tigue

    nd i

    it

    bility.<

    li>

  • i

    -level="1">ong>

    isky

    o

    d

    egul

    tions<

    st

    ong>. In

    n

    ttempt to move

    s m

    ny people

    s possible

    s quickly

    s possible, Houston’s

    o

    ds

    e designed fo

    m

    ximum speed. In some

    e

    s - including po

    tions of the G

    nd P

    k

    y – the leg

    l speed limit is hopping 75 MPH.<

    li>

  • i

    -level="1">ong>Poo

    l enfo

    cement ong>. M

    ny politici

    ns still

    em

    in st

    unchly opposed to

    utom

    ted enfo

    cement methods. Tex

    s st

    te lm

    ke

    s h

    ve

    est

    icted use of speed c

    mes

    nd video enfo

    cement of

    ed-light

    unne

    s,

    nd they’ve even b

    nned sob

    iety checkpoints. Houston police office

    s

    ote 41% fe

    e

    tickets in 2017 th

    n they did in 2012, even though the numbe

    of vehicle miles t

    veled in Houston inc

    e

    sed by 23%. To get mo

    e specific, H

    is County issued 28% fe

    e

    speeding tickets in 2017 th

    n in 2015, even though the county’s popul

    tion h

    d g

    o

    n by 100,000.<

    li>

  • i

    -level="1">ong>No sp

    ce fo

    cyclists o

    pedest

    i

    ns<

    st

    ong>. Let’s f

    ce it: the u

    b

    n design of Houston f

    vo

    s c

    s ove

    ny othe

    fo

    m of t

    nspo

    t

    tion. This fo

    ces cyclists

    nd pedest

    i

    ns to be close

    to tffic th

    n

    e’d like. The city h

    s ove

    6,200 miles of

    o

    d, but less th

    n h

    lf of those miles h

    ve side

    lks,

    nd Houston h

    s fe

    e

    th

    n 300 miles of on-st

    eet bike l

    nes. <

    h

    ef="http:

    /ftp.dot.st

    te.tx.us

    pub/txdot-info/t

    f

    c

    sh_st

    tistics

    2018/01.pdf” t

    get=”_bl

    nk"

    el=”noopene

    nofollo

    “>Tex

    s bicycle

    ccident de

    ths spiked 26%<> bet

    een 2017

    nd 2018, m

    king this

    n issue in di

    e need of

    dd

    essing.

  • i

    -level="1">D

    nge

    ous by design. Houston d

    ive

    s e still suffe

    ing f

    om design decisions m

    de dec

    des

    go. The tight cu

    ves of olde

    f

    eey po

    tions such

    s Loop 610

    nd Inte

    st

    te 69 no

    the

    st of do

    nto

    n fo

    ce d

    ive

    s to step on the bkes to

    void

    b

    ie

    o

    iling. In me

    ge l

    nes

    long f

    ont

    ge

    o

    ds p

    llel to Inte

    st

    te 10, you’ve got to keep

    n eye out fo

    speeding c

    s th

    t could

    ppe

    f

    om

    ny di

    ection. (9% of f

    t

    l cshes in the

    egion occu

    on f

    ont

    ge

    o

    ds.)<

    li>

  • i

    -level="1">ong>Inte

    section confusion<

    st

    ong>. M

    ny spots

    long

    estheime

    nd FM 1960 no

    spo

    t

    ton of shopping cente

    ent

    nces. F

    om 2012 to 2016, 37% of cshes in nine Houston counties occued

    t inte

    sections like these. This

    ep

    esented mo

    e th

    n 25% of

    ll Houston f

    t

    lities.

  • i

    -level="1">ong>

    o

    ds in need of

    ep

    i

    <

    st

    ong>. It’s no sec

    et m

    ny Houston st

    eets

    e dotted

    ith potholes

    nd h

    ph

    z

    d

    sph

    lt p

    tches. Ouo

    ds h

    ve sevel issues in need of some TLC, f

    om f

    ded l

    ne m

    ke

    s to poo

    d

    in

    ge. It’s

    c

    tch-22, though,

    s d

    ive

    s

    e

    lso inconvenienced by...<

    li>

  • i

    -level="1"><

    h

    ef="https:

    /c

    inju

    yvictims.com

    b

    d-d

    ive

    s-in-

    o

    d-const

    uction-zones/”> ong>

    o

    d const

    uction ong><>. Loc

    ls often joke th

    t the const

    uction he

    e is pe

    petu

    l. Its unp

    edict

    ble n

    tu

    e b

    ings t

    ffic to

    c

    l

    hile

    lso setting the st

    ge fo

    plenty of

    ccidents.

    o

    d

    o

    k on

    ichmond,

    est of Post O

    k ne

    the G

    lle

    i

    , is

    n especi

    lly noto

    ious p

    oblem,

    nd detou

    s m

    ke those long commutes even mo

    e f

    ust

    ting.

  • i

    -level="1">ong>Outd

    ted const

    uction ong>. M

    ny

    o

    ds

    e old, outd

    ted,

    nd ove

    helmed by the

    egion's booming g

    o

    th. The mps

    t Loop 610

    nd Inte

    st

    te 69, fo

    ex

    mple,

    e

    e built in 1979

    nd only

    enov

    ted once, in 1999.

    s such, they e shpe

    th

    n cuent const

    uction st

    ndds

    ould pe

    mit.<

    li>

  • i

    -level="1">ong>“F

    m-to-m

    ket”

    o

    ds ong>. Subu

    b

    n development h

    s ch

    nged hoe use fm-to-mket

    o

    ds. D

    ive

    s zooming

    long FM 1960 no

    find themselves sl

    mming on the b

    kes to

    void

    e

    -ending people

    ho e m

    king sudden tu

    ns into

    esidenti

    l o

    comme

    ci

    l sp

    ces. This c

    uses f

    t

    l

    ecks. FM 1960

    lone sees mo

    e th

    n 60,000 vehicles pe

    d

    y

    nd

    bout

    dozen de

    ths pe

    ye

    .

  • i

    -level="1">ong>The

    oes of

    estheime

    <

    st

    ong>. Yep, this 19-mile-long

    o

    d gets its o

    n bullet point. The fou

    -l

    ne

    o

    d st

    ts in the congested Midto

    n end opens

    ide

    ftheest. The st

    eet c

    ies

    pp

    oxim

    tely 74,000 vehicles

    d

    y.

    s

    estheime

    st

    etches do

    nto

    n, its “slo

    l

    ne” becomes so

    bsu

    dly n

    o

    th

    t m

    ny d

    ive

    s

    efuse to use it

    t

    ll. This fo

    ces l

    ge

    vehicles such

    s buses to use both l

    nes. (In f

    ct, the Met

    opolit

    n T

    nsit

    utho

    ity inst

    ucts its d

    ive

    s to “stddle fo

    s

    fety”

    long

    estheime

    .) Ho

    eve

    ,

    estheime

    ’s most seve

    e

    ccidents occu

    outside Loop 610,

    he

    e it is ne

    e

    nd

    ide

    .

    estheimeveges nely fou

    f

    t

    l c

    shes

    nnu

    lly bet

    een Loop 610

    nd High

    y 6,

    he

    e the

    o

    d’s volumes

    e he

    viest. In 2005, the Tex

    s Dep

    tment of T

    nspo

    t

    tion cont

    ove

    si

    lly

    dded long medi

    ns to sep

    te e

    stbound

    nd

    estbound tffic in

    n effo

    t to limit sudden tu

    ns. No

    tffic flo

    s bette

    … but

    lso f

    ste

    . Emboldened by the oppo

    tunity fo stight shot, d

    ive

    s speed f

    om one inte

    section to the next.<

    li>

So ho

do

e st

y s

fe?

esidents fe ch

nge

nd often oppose

ny p

oposed modific

tions to st

eets in thei

e

s, but ou

city is m

king p

og

ess, slo

ly but su

ely.

hen the MT

ebuilt Scott St

eet fo

light

il lines, it fin

lly took pedest

i

ns

nd bike

s into considetion.

ide

sidelks h

ve

lso been

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“>Ste

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figc

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figu

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e’s mo

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izon in the fo

m of

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oposed $7 billion

ebuild of Inte

st

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emove m

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y one of us h

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esponsibility to keep ou

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