Texas leads the U.S. with the most traffic-related deaths during Thanksgiving, study shows
Thanksgiving #Thanksgiving
A new study shows that the Thanksgiving holiday is the most dangerous time to drive, especially in Texas.
The study by car insurance savings app Jerry ranks the Thanksgiving holiday period as the deadliest major holiday for American drivers, with 6% more fatal crashes than Labor Day, the second-deadliest, and 43% more than Christmas, the least deadly. The study also found that Texas is the deadliest state, with 749 traffic-related deaths during the Thanksgiving holiday week, beating California by 10 to rank the highest in the U.S.
The study examined data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for the years 2006 through 2020 and defined the holiday period as the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving through the Monday morning after. The most fatalities are seen on Saturdays, according to Jerry, with the most dangerous hours in the early evening.
Among cities, Los Angeles topped the ranks with 74 Thanksgiving traffic fatalities — 57% more than second-ranked Houston. But overall cities in Texas dominated the list of those with the most fatal crashes over Thanksgiving. Dallas ranked at No. 3, San Antonio at No. 4 and Fort Worth at No. 7.
Texas and Houston ranking at the top of the list didn’t come as a surprise to Houston Police Sgt. Salvador Corral, given the size of the state’s population and fewer public transit options in major cities.
“The population of Texas and California is always going to be a determining factor. Los Angeles and Houston with similar demographics, everywhere is about 20 minutes with no traffic and you don’t have a lot of transit systems like in Chicago where you can hop on a train and get home,” he said.
The study also found that young people make up the age group with the most frequent casualties. One quarter of all people killed in Thanksgiving traffic crashes in the past 15 years were between the ages of 16 and 25 years old. It also found that 60% of fatal crashes involve either alcohol consumption or excessive speeding — something that local authorities are aware of and plan to combat by staffing extra patrol officers in conjunction with the NHTSA.
The long, four-day weekend in comparison to other holidays like Christmas and New Year’s Eve is the differentiating factor, Corral said. On those other major holidays the agency typically makes fewer driving under the influence arrests than during the Thanksgiving holiday.
“You’ve got a lot of people with a lot of down time,” he said to the Chronicle Friday afternoon. “You want to self-medicate and get away from all the stressors of life. Throw in some alcohol and you have a bad mix.”
Certainly DWI arrests still happen during other holidays, he added, but New Year’s Eve historically has been quieter than Thanksgiving and Christmas in Houston.
“New Year’s Eve is the one holiday where everyone wants to be where they’re at for the countdown and typically they’ve already been celebrating at that place for a while,” he said. “Everyone is cognizant that at midnight I need to be where I need to be.”