Drunk Driving Reaches ‘Crisis’ Level in Dallas, Responsible for 75% of Vehicular Fatalities

Texas has been ranked one of the worst states in the nation for drunk driving for years, a problem that has only gotten worse since the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent study conducted by a California criminal lawyer group found six Texas cities were included in the 10 worst nationally for car accidents involving a drunk driver.

The study, which considers the percentage of fatal accidents involving a drunk driver and the percentage of individuals over 18 who report engaging in binge drinking, ranks Dallas as the third worst place in the United States for drunk driving. The group found that 75% of fatal accidents in Dallas involve a drunk driver.

Austin, where that number is 83%, ranked first on the list, San Antonio came in fourth and Fort Worth was ranked seventh worst.

“This is a real crisis around the country and especially in Texas,” Stacey D. Stewart, CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), told the Observer. “And, of course, fatalities are one thing. We're not even mentioning injuries that happen, which are usually multiple times more than the fatalities.”

2022 is the most recent year data on impaired-driver-involved accidents is available, and Stewart found 411 fatalities linked to drunk driving that year in Dallas alone. Across Texas, more than 1,800 individuals died in a drunk driver accident in 2022, a 40% increase from 2019 numbers. Nationally, that increase was 33%.

Experts worry the normalization of impaired driving may be a byproduct of the pandemic era when individuals reported higher rates of mental health challenges and increased alcohol or substance usage. For that reason, trends like an increased number of individuals binge drinking are a “public health crisis” directly correlated to the drunk driving crisis, she said.

In Dallas, nearly 23% of residents over 18 report regularly engaging in binge drinking, which is defined as consuming more than five drinks on a single occasion for men or four drinks for women.

While MADD is not entirely sure why Texas’ increase in drunk driving outpaces national trends, Stewart believes the issue is both legislative — other states have taken more aggressive measures to build guardrails around impaired driving — and cultural.

“People pretty much live on the highways, they live on the roads, they live in their cars in Texas,” Stewart said. “Many people do rely on Ubers and Lyfts after they've been out for a night and having a good time, and that's really helpful, but ride share isn't available sometimes in all areas. About 40% of all crashes happen in rural areas where ride share may not be as readily available.”

Stewart added that Texas' leaders have the “onus” to help curb the “preventable accidents.” MADD is currently lobbying for political leaders to implement the HALT Act, which was passed in 2021 but has yet to be implemented. The act directs the federal government to require new cars be fitted with “technology that passively ... detects and stops impaired driving” and was supposed to be implemented in November last year.

The U.S. Department of Transportation missed that deadline despite data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimating that 10,000 of 2022’s 13,000 fatalities nationally could have been prevented by technology.

In Texas, some legislators are starting to take note. Several representatives have filed bills during the legislative session that would raise the sentencing minimums for those found guilty of intoxication manslaughter. Stewart said this “extremely helpful” measure would help prevent repeat offenders.

“We don't just have an opioid crisis in this country. We have an alcohol and substance use crisis,” Stewart said. “And we have a lot of people who've lost sight of the fact that any amount of impairment actually could be dangerous on the roads.”