As Erin Mulvaney reports for the Beaumont Enterprise, the day after Election Day this week marked the 12-year stretch of an ugly trend: since Nov. 7, 2000, not one day has passed when someone hasn’t been killed in a car or truck accident in Texas.
The total of deaths since that time is 41,252. This number prompted the Texas Department of Transportation to speak up. “One fatality on a Texas roadway is one too many, and to see as many as eight or 10 in a single day is unacceptable,” said executive director Phil Wilson, as Mulvaney reports.
According to the Texas Department of Transportation, these are the causes of most accidents:
- Not wearing a seat belt
- Drinking and driving
- Distracted driving (like texting)
Some organizations blame the “independent anti-government intrusion culture,” which led to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s rejection of a bill that would have banned texting while driving statewide.