On November 7, 2025, TxDOT marked 25 years since November 7, 2000, the last day without a traffic death on Texas roads. More than 91,000 people have died in Texas traffic crashes in that time.
November 7, 2000, was the last day without a traffic death on Texas roads. On November 7, 2025, TxDOT marked 25 years of that streak, reporting that more than 91,000 people have died in Texas traffic crashes since then. TxDOT's 2025 crash facts confirm that there were again no deathless days on Texas roads in 2025.
On November 7, 2024, the anniversary of the last deathless day, TxDOT and the Texas Department of Public Safety began working together to share safe driving messages aimed at ending the streak, with DPS troopers handing out safety tip cards during traffic stops. The campaign's message is simple: drive safe speeds, buckle up, get a sober ride, avoid distractions, and move over or slow down for vehicles with flashing lights. TxDOT's executive director put it this way in the 2025 announcement: ending the streak will take all of us.
Each of those five messages lines up with a pattern injury lawyers see in crash cases. Speed turns ordinary crashes into catastrophic ones. Unbelted occupants suffer more severe injuries; TxDOT's 2025 data shows that 45.94 percent of people killed, where belt use was known and applicable, were not restrained. Alcohol was involved in 906 deaths in 2025. Distraction is often the hidden cause behind rear-end and intersection crashes. And drivers who fail to move over put stopped officers, tow operators, and road crews at risk.
The move over law, Transportation Code section 545.157, requires a driver approaching certain stopped vehicles using lights to vacate the closest lane on a multi-lane road or slow to 20 miles per hour below the posted limit. In 2025 the Legislature expanded the list of covered vehicles to include animal control and parking enforcement vehicles, effective September 1, 2025.
For families, the statistics are not abstract. Behind every number is someone who did not come home, and often a surviving spouse, child, or parent with a Texas wrongful death claim. Those claims generally must be filed within two years of the date of death, and the evidence, from vehicle data to video, is best preserved early.
For people who were hurt rather than killed, the same campaign messages often show up in the claim itself. A speeding, distracted, or impaired driver is likely to be found at fault, and a citation for failing to move over or for speeding can support the claim. Under proportionate responsibility, the insurer will also look for anything the injured person did wrong, such as not wearing a seat belt, so the full picture of the crash matters.
TxDOT's data also shows how concentrated the risk can be. The deadliest single day of 2025 was Friday, July 25, when 25 people were killed on Texas roads, and March was the deadliest month, with 380 deaths.
The 2025 numbers show both progress and how far there is to go. TxDOT's 2025 crash facts report 3,769 people killed, down 9.38 percent from 2024, but that still works out to one death every 2 hours and 19 minutes. Harris County alone recorded 503 deaths.
Owsley Law Firm represents people hurt in Texas crashes and families who lost someone. The team answers calls 24/7, and there is no fee unless we win.
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