Continued: Traffic crashes often seem isolated, showing up in the newspaper or on the evening news one at a time, but they share striking similarities, including the places where speed is the most common cause of a crash. Of 956 fatal crashes in Harris County and surrounding counties involving speeding during the past eight years, only 43 were inside Loop 610, the densest part of Houston, according to state crash records. Most of those were on either Interstate 45 or Interstate 69 during late-night hours. Or they were on state-maintained highways where people are accustomed to high speeds, even as use of those roads rises because of nearby development, such as Texas 249 north of Tomball. It has swelled from carrying about 27,000 vehicles per day in 2010 to more than 42,000 in 2016. It was along that stretch that Aaron Johnson, 22, lost control of his Pontiac G8 on May 7, 2017. Johnson was headed south on the major three-lane thoroughfare with a posted speed limit of 60 mph. He was going between 70 and 80, depending on whom police asked later that night. GRAY MATTERS: Why write another op-ed about another fatal crash in Houston? Up ahead, Johnson saw a car pull out onto 249 and knew he wouldn't be able to stop, he told investigators. He struck the curb, and the Pontiac launched into the air and rolled over and over through the open, green meadow. His stepbrother, Dustin Parmely, 19, a freckled high school football player who dreamed of joining the Marines, was killed in the wreck. Parmely's mom, Charlotte Brown, calls him "my big guardian angel." She misses him every day, she said. She even misses him teasing his little sister. Brown said there have been other crashes off that road in recent years, near an old mobile home park. The wreck that killed Parmely was the second fatal crash at that intersection since 2015, out of 27 wrecks. It's not surprising, said her boyfriend, Clarence Daley, since the street is so wide and people drive so fast. "It's 60 there and three lanes." Speed-related crashes are far more prevalent in suburban areas. In the city, a startled driver is more likely to see someone zip through an intersection, sometimes when the light is already red. Explore our interactive map here. Harris County sheriff's deputies, for example, issued 28 percent fewer speeding tickets in 2017 than they did in 2015, even though the county gained 100,000 people during that period. Houston police officers issued 16 percent fewer speeding tickets in 2017 than in 2015. Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers operating within the greater Houston region are the exception; they issued 11 percent more tickets for speeding than they did in 2015. Elsewhere, the numbers aren't much better: The Dallas Police Department issued 13 percent fewer speeding tickets in 2017 than it did two years previously — and in Atlanta, tickets declined by 48 percent during that same time period. These cities are ignoring an important tool for curbing crashes, experts say. Greg DeAngelo, an economics professor at Claremont Graduate University who consults for Houston police, looked at the impact of a 2003 budget crisis in Oregon that led to 35 percent fewer state troopers patrolling state roads. The study, which attempted to directly address the question of how much traffic enforcement impacts roadside safety, found the layoffs led to dramatically reduced citations that the authors said "strongly correlated" with a 17 percent rise in highway fatalities and an 11 percent rise in highway injuries. REPORT THE PROBLEM: Want to see Houston drivers slow down? DeAngelo said he and his co-author saw a "sizable decrease" in safety on roads in conditions that would normally not be treacherous to drive. "The thing that used to keep drivers in check was police, but when you remove those, you've removed a significant concern for drivers who might otherwise drive recklessly," DeAngelo said. "We see those areas becoming more dangerous." In a study published in 2015, Dara Lee Luca, an economist with the public policy institute Mathematica Policy Research, examined years of ticketing records from Click it or Ticket campaigns in Massachusetts and found that for every 1 percent increase in tickets issued, crashes fell by a corresponding 0.28 percent. Injuries fell by 0.17 percent. "You can see a causal relationship between the number of tickets given and the number of traffic motor vehicle accidents and injuries," she said. "As unpopular as (tickets) are, they're effective." In the Houston area, however, records show that at any given time, a small percentage of officers are enforcing traffic laws across a region with a population larger than most states. Houston's police department remains at approximately 5,200 officers, near its lowest levels in 20 years. Staffing records show approximately 150 officers assigned to its Traffic Enforcement Division — 10 fewer than were assigned to the division in 2009. Outside consultants advised HPD in 2014 to reorganize the traffic division and reassign 33 of its officers. HPD would not say if it acted on that recommendation. Police Chief Art Acevedo, who took over the department in 2016, said enforcement is "important in terms of correcting behavior" but that the department must juggle traffic enforcement with other necessities. "Traffic enforcement is a way to save lives and reduce violent crime," he said. "One of the challenges, if you think about resource allocation — we're just a lean police department." OPINION: Houston needs safer streets. We also need better drivers. The situation is similar — or worse — at other large departments. At the end of 2017, the Dallas Police Department had 62 of its roughly 3,000 officers assigned to its traffic section, 18 of whom were devoted to traffic enforcement. That's 17 fewer than in 2015. In Phoenix, a police department of approximately 2,900 full-time sworn personnel, 57 officers are assigned to the department's traffic unit, according to department records. Of those, 25 officers and sergeants focus exclusively on traffic enforcement, said Lt. Patrick Hofmann, who oversees the unit. The group also uses a mixture of red-light cameras, speed enforcement vans and targeted enforcement programs in areas where pedestrian fatalities are more common to try to curb bad driving. After years of staff shortages, the department is putting more officers back on traffic patrols, he said. It's never been easier to drive safely. Why are there so many crashes? Houston police officer Aaron Richberg reached up to the visor of his Chevy Tahoe last summer and pulled down three folded sheets of paper with the locations and causes of recent fatal accidents. "Failure to control speed" was among the top causes. Richberg approached the intersection of Westheimer and Kirkwood roads as a black-and-white Dodge Charger and a red Nissan started to race. "Right in front of me?" he said incredulously, flipping on his flashing lights. "That's ridiculous."
My two cents: Houston is MASSIVE and people haul ass to compensate. There is no mass transit and half the HOV lanes are too confusing to access (45s I'm looking at you). Turn signals to change lanes are for suckers. Any seasoned driver in Houston will see a signal to change lanes as 'Someone not from here or old wants to get in front of me and slow me down'. You simply can't signal if you want to make good time. However, it does drive me nuts when people won't use signals to turn. Just let me know that you're turning. No one stops at stop signs. It's a California stop 99.9% of the time. Sitting at a green light Get off your phone. Stopping at Yield Dude. It's yield. If there is no traffic you're supposed to keep going. Driving sloooow in neighborhoods and freaking out when you get passed. I have seen people go 10-15 mph in my neighborhood. I pass them, and they freak the F out, laying on their horns, cussing at me, even following me to my house a few times. Wake the F up. I don't care that I scared you while you were looking at your phone. If passing wasn't legal in neighborhoods, there would be a solid line. Lesson: Use your damn horn. If someone is drifting into your lane, sitting at a green light or any of the above, use your horn. It might wake them the F up.
Add these to the list When I allow a safe distance between me and the car in front of me... and someone else uses that space to squeeze into my lane without a signal. When someone who's in a turn-only lane drives straight through the intersection, cutting off others. When other drivers hit the brakes for no reason at all. When traffic has clearly backed up waiting to turn or exit, and people drive ahead and cut-in. Note: I'm pretty considerate when I see others use their blinker. My philosophy: let one car over (but not two). If we all let one car over, things would be a lot better for all of us.
This IMO is the worse out of all the things mentioned. Everything else can be accounted for with awareness and anticipating bad drivers. Break checking when I'm not tailgating you and there's like 10 car lengths ahead of you but I can't see because you're in a big ass truck pisses me off to no end. I think as traffic has gotten worse due to more transplants, drivers have gotten more aggressive in general. Also no one seems to live near their work (thanks suburbia).
@Houstunna Agree with @droxford about the braking thing. See it almost every time I drive. Left lane idiot: "Hey look! those people in the right lane are slowing down, I don't really know why, and there is nothing but clear road in front of me, but I better slow down too because I saw brake lights and I am on the mental level of a neanderthal!" Also add to the list of terrible places where people wait as long as possible to merge: I-10 E onto 45 N and then 45 S. The idiots getting onto 45 N will hog the left lane all the way til 20 ft before the exit, then stop completely until someone lets them in. Always a traffic jam, always caused by pickup drivers heading to (I assume) that idiot hive known as Dallas.
there was a lady driving down the wrong side of the street yesterday...I passed her and was like “Wtf?!?”
This is no joke. It's definitely getting worse, I have no answer for it, but I swear it seems people are getting dumber by the day.
I agree with this. Houston, based on its size, actually has good infrastructure. Compared to other cities, you make good time with the population and distance traveled.
Also no one knows how to drive around a curve here. Even if there's a 20 degree curve on a highway..people just slow down 20 mph below the speed limit. every fking overpass has a curve...and every one of them..there's a traffic jam! look at the warning signs..it gives you a rough speed to turn and those are for 18 wheelers..i am pretty sure your camry can turn at higher speeds than that.
Yeah, it's because everyone hauls ass and punishes those people who get in the passing lane. You learn real fast to stay out of the left lane in H-Town.
We have this intersection in MA which is kind of nonsensical called five corners. It can be a nightmare in the mornings when trying to make a left from West St on either side and Granite St on either side. In the 70's it didn't have a traffic light at all.
At a signal I'm at the line, but I wait a few seconds if I'm first in line and the light turns green. Usually there is some clown that thinks yellow means speed up and if the light just turned red they still have the right of way. I do leave more space if I'm first at a railroad crossing. I really don't want some fool not paying attention to push me into a train.
It's not complicated at all. Drive defensively Drive the limit or the flow Stay to the right as much as you can Don't be the lane changing guy Let people in Let people out Use your signals Oh... wear your seatbelt and don't race trains
Houston traffic has made me a vicious driver.. I don’t put my blinker on anymore because people won’t let you pass if you do, I speed right up on someone’s ass if they’re going slow, if they’re smart they get out the way. One thing I don’t do which I hate!!!!, is switching over on a double white line.. like wtf, they expect me to let them in when your not supposed to do that!! Ugh! Ahhh road rage activated! Lol
Ya people drive our the double white lanes before they exist and when they get on the highway. Yesterday on the beltway feeder near 288, it went from 3 lanes to 1. I was in one of the merging lanes. So I saw an opening just my lane ended to move over. I put on my signal quickly and start sliding over. The pickup truck in the lane I was merging to saw it and started speeding up quickly and try to force me back out of that lane. I didn't get a fk. He came inches close to the side of my car and then braked when it was obvious I wasn't move back to a lane that ended.
I honk at people that do this ****. Believe it or not, the majority of the time they give up and just go forward and get off on the next exit. It's so frustrating dealing with dumbass drivers. Forgot to say, **** people that speed up and don't want to let you in. If I have space, I'll speed the hell up and get in front of them. Jackasses. I have a Maxima, so at least it has a little bit of power if a piece of **** Prius doesn't want to let me in.
