High Houston Crash Rate Drives Up Insurance Costs

Insurance Journal ^ | April 20, 2004 | Associated Press

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

The Houston area far exceeds the national average in the number of serious traffic collisions, contributing to skyrocketing medical costs and giving Harris County the most expensive auto insurance rates in Texas, according to the Associated Press.

County officials said one reason drivers in Harris County are at greater risk of collisions is because the area is growing faster than roads can be improved or patrolled. Now area drivers are even crashing into the new MetroRail trains, putting Houston on course to top the national high for light rail collisions.

"We lead the state in crashes no matter how you define them,'' said Ned Levine, transportation safety program coordinator for the Houston-Galveston Area Council. "We are among the worst in the country. I haven't found a metropolitan area that's higher than ours.''

The HGAC has spent nearly three years gathering collision statistics from several local, state and federal agencies.

Among the findings: The eight-county Houston region has an average of 242 serious crashes every day. For every crash involving a death, injury or property damage of at least $1,000, there are two to three times as many minor ones. Houston drivers also are 21/2 times more likely to be hurt or killed in a traffic collision per mile traveled than the national average. Nearly 600 people a year die on the region's highways, and about 90,000 are injured.

The data is has been compiled through 2000, and officials are working on data for 2001, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Safety experts say engineering and enforcement are needed to limit the number of crashes.

Houston's population boom has resulted in more cars on the roads. Highway builders are unable to keep up with the growth and there is not enough mass transit to handle the population. The area also has a large number of illegal immigrants with no driver's licenses or training, the newspaper reported.

Gridlock causes the most accidents on freeway. Experts say as traffic backs up drivers' stress levels build resulting in and increased number of rear-end collisions.

The gridlock-inspired crashes are a statewide phenomena, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

"In the large metropolitan areas, people are in a big hurry to get where they are going, and they feel a lot of pressure to be places,'' said DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange. "They don't leave themselves enough time to get there, so they drive too fast and take a lot of risks that end up contributing to or causing wrecks.''

The Texas Department of Transportation's Houston District has 22 ongoing safety projects, including adding paved shoulders and turn lanes, placing dedicated merge lanes at freeway connectors, constructing new overpasses and replacing signs with a new material that is easier to see at night.

The city and the Transportation Department also are instituting a ban on trucks in the left lane of some freeways.

[m87339]

An undocumented worker is someone in America who did not follow the offical route for citizenship and/or holds no visa

Oh, you mean a criminal. An illegal alien who flaunts our laws and jumps the line, thus punishing those who actually follow our laws.

There is no such thing as an "undocumented worker." Just illegally employed criminals.

[sarcasm]

I smell cecilrhodesghost

[motzman]

Hey, c'mon, Jim McGreevy said that insurance rates are down. He said it on the TV, it has to be true.

My insurance went up $720 this year. No accidents, no points, no claims, just basic liability on a 13 year old car driving less than 5 miles to work.

I pay about double the value of my car in insurance every year. At least my insurance agent "is sorry about that".

[babaloo999]

High Houston Crash Rate Drives Up Insurance Costs

I'm trying to remember when this wasn't a headline.

[Missouri]

Cecil is a troll? Who would have guessed.

I'm outta here for now. Its just a waste of time to argue with a corporate socialist. Having illegals in this country is a net-minus just as the FAIR article has laid out.

[babaloo999]

That works when that person won't speed up or get out of the way in the left lane. Go to the other lane, if possible, and they usually step on the gas because they want to stay in front of you. That's not just Houston, though.
It's bad, but I've complained about the driving in almost every major metro area in the US, though Houston can hold its own with any of 'em.

[babaloo999]

They are trying to slow down the pace of progress for globalization

That's too funny. Do you do parties?

[Diddle E. Squat]

The reason for the high rate is far simpler than the article suggests. Its not growth, DFW is growing faster than Houston, has a similar backlog of needed road projects, has a similar proportion of illegal immigrants and transplants from other states, yet has a lower accident rate.

What's the real reason? Weather. Houston gets far more heavy downpours, fog, routine flooding, and has poor drainage compared to DFW. Another less significant factor is that in DFW jobs are somewhat more evenly dispersed(and thus there is slightly less congestion and miles traveled per commuter), but weather is the big factor here.

[xsmommy]

doggone says it counts as three... ; )

[Xenalyte]

So a so-called "undocumented worker" is really an illegal alien, is what you're trying to say.

[MeekOneGOP]

haha ! Aw, poor Clara ! ;^)

AP 2-7-2003
Defendant Clara Harris reacts as she
testifies about her husband's affair.

[Ditter]

I was talking about speeding & cutting in & out on city streets. The speed limit there is usually 35. I wasn't aware that freeways had different top speed limits in different lanes. Ask the nice officer to explain it to you next time he stops you going 85.

[Fred Hayek]

I lived in Houston for 12 years. I simply assumed that everyone else behind the wheel had a 0.3 percent blood alcohol concentration.

[Howie66]

"Revoke their licenses and make 'em ride the Metro."

Are you serious? Do you think that better than half the ILLEGAL population driving around Houston even has a flipping drivers license to revoke?