Texas Launches Its Be Safe, Drive Smart Campaign
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) recently launched a one-year campaign to educate the public about how our driving practices contribute to dangerous traffic accidents and to raise awareness about what we can do to help save lives. The campaign – Be Safe. Drive Smart. – focuses on the general practices of safe driving, and it is intended to help motorists become more aware of the unsafe driving practices in which they engage. The TxDOT wishes to remind you that how you behave and react when you are behind the wheel of your vehicle can mean the difference between arriving alive at your destination and not doing so. If another driver’s unsafe driving leaves you injured, consult with an experienced Central Texas personal injury attorney today.
Campaign Safety Tips
The TxDOT campaign forwards a variety of safety tips that all drivers are well-advised to follow:
- Drive courteously
- Make sure everyone in your car is buckled up – every single time
- Pay attention to the road ahead of you – put distractions like your smartphone away
- Drive in accordance with the conditions of the road – if you experience bad weather, low visibility, road construction, or a poorly maintained roadway, slow down accordingly
- Come to a complete stop at every stop sign and red light
- Pass with care – and only when it is legal and safe to do so
- Do not get behind the wheel if you have been drinking or if you have taken other drugs or medications that could cause you to become drowsy
- If you see the flashing lights of a law enforcement vehicle, an emergency vehicle, a tow truck, or a TxDOT vehicle stopped on the roadside, change lanes or slow down
Texas Traffic Accident Statistics
While the fatality rate on Texas roadways is down, traffic accidents remain a serious threat in Texas. The TxDOT forwards the 2017 accident statistics that helped inspire its Be Safe, Drive Smart Campaign:
- There were 14,299 serious-injury crashes that resulted in 17,546 people being seriously injured.
- The overall number of vehicle miles traveled in the state increased by 1.22 percent (over 2016).
- Rural crashes accounted for more than half of all traffic fatalities.
- Intersection crashes accounted for 761 fatalities.
- There were no days that Texas roadways saw zero fatalities.
- One person was killed on a Texas roadway every 2 hours and 21 minutes.
The statistics are sobering; we all need to do our part to help keep our highways and byways safer for everyone who travels on them.