Dallas-Fort Worth car accident guide and data hub

If you were just in a wreck somewhere across the Metroplex, you're dealing with what a lot of North Texans face every week. This page collects the hard local crash numbers from state and regional agencies and lays out the steps that matter in the hours and weeks afterward.

How many crashes happen in DFW

Traffic deaths across the 12-county North Central Texas region reached 849 in 2024, down about 1.16% from the 859 recorded in 2023, according to the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), the region's transportation planning agency.¹ Even with that dip, the toll works out to one person killed on the region's roads every 10 hours and 19 minutes and one reportable crash every 4 minutes and 23 seconds.¹ Across the year, 59,569 people were injured in North Texas crashes.¹

Most of that weight falls on the two anchor counties. In Dallas County, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) counted 305 fatal crashes, 331 deaths, and 46,257 total crashes in 2024.² Tarrant County recorded 189 fatal crashes, 201 deaths, and 28,074 crashes.² The fast-growing collar counties carry real numbers too: Collin County saw 73 deaths across 15,348 crashes, and Denton County 50 deaths across 12,339 crashes.²

Break it down by city and the picture stays grim. Dallas alone logged 207 fatal crashes and 227 deaths in 26,109 crashes, while Fort Worth had 106 fatal crashes and 116 deaths in 12,865 crashes.³ The suburbs aren't spared. Grand Prairie recorded 23 deaths, Garland 17, and Irving 14 in the same year.³

Here's a piece of context worth holding onto. Per mile driven, North Texas is a little safer than the state as a whole: the regional fatality rate was 1.035 deaths per hundred million vehicle miles in 2024, below the statewide 1.35.¹⁴ The raw crash counts track the size and growth of the region more than any special recklessness on its roads.

The roads and corridors where it happens

I-635, the LBJ Freeway, is the clearest example of the strain on DFW's road network. The 11-mile stretch from US 75 (Central Expressway) east to I-30 was designed in 1969 to carry 180,000 vehicles a day. It now handles around 230,000, which lands it on the state's most-congested list and is why TxDOT rebuilt its eastern half under the I-635 East project.⁵ The interchange where I-635 ties into I-30 in Mesquite sits at the end of that same corridor.⁵

Surface streets are where many of the worst crashes cluster. When the City of Dallas set up its Vision Zero program, the analysis singled out specific corridors. Great Trinity Forest Way was the worst road for fatal and serious-injury crashes between 2015 and 2019, and Buckner Boulevard was close behind with 138 such crashes and 24 people killed, half of them pedestrians, in under five years.⁶ Loop 12 shows up on the same list of dangerous corridors.⁶

Intersections deserve their own line. Across the region, 196 people died in crashes at or related to an intersection in 2024; statewide that figure was 1,050.¹⁴ Turning left across traffic on one of North Texas's wide arterials puts you in one of the higher-risk situations on the road.

What is actually causing the deaths

The causes repeat year after year, and most are preventable. In North Texas in 2024:

• Alcohol was cited by police in crashes that killed 214 people, one in four of all traffic deaths, and more than half of those crashes happened between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.¹
• Single-vehicle, run-off-the-road crashes killed 270 people, roughly 32% of the total.¹
• Pedestrians accounted for 173 deaths and motorcyclists another 157, with about a quarter of those riders not wearing a helmet.¹

Two more patterns round it out. Of the people killed in vehicles where seatbelt use was known, 23% were unrestrained.¹ And distracted driving, the one category that rose in 2024, was tied to 34 deaths.¹

The agencies working on the problem

Texas hasn't gone a single day without a traffic death since November 7, 2000. That streak, now past 25 years, is what drives TxDOT's #EndTheStreakTX campaign.⁷ Closer to home, several agencies own pieces of the fight. TxDOT's Dallas and Fort Worth districts run the state highways and the big freeway rebuilds.⁵ NCTCOG leads the regional Roadway Safety Plan, which sets a target of zero roadway deaths by 2050 and is backed by a $57 million safety program approved by the Regional Transportation Council.⁸ The City of Dallas has pledged to eliminate traffic deaths and cut serious injuries in half by 2030 through Vision Zero.⁶ Fort Worth committed to the same approach after its fatal crashes climbed 31% over five years, and it's now mapping its most dangerous locations.⁹

What to do after a crash in DFW

Right after a collision, get to a safe spot if you can and call 911. On a Metroplex freeway, sitting in a live lane is its own danger. Ask for police, and for medical help if anyone is hurt. The responding officer, whether Dallas or Fort Worth PD or a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper on the highways, files a Texas Peace Officer's Crash Report (the CR-3) that becomes the backbone of any insurance claim, so make sure a report is taken.

See a doctor within a day or two even if you feel fine. Adrenaline masks soft-tissue and head injuries, and any gap in treatment is the first thing an insurer will point to. Before you leave the scene, photograph the vehicles, the road, the signals, and your injuries, and collect names and numbers from any witnesses.

Texas is a fault state, so the driver who caused the wreck, and their insurer, is responsible for the damage. You generally have two years from the date of the crash to file an injury lawsuit under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003; when a crash causes a death, those two years run from the date of death.¹⁰ That's a firm deadline, and evidence like signal timing and vehicle data can vanish long before it. If your injuries are serious or fault is contested, talk to a licensed Texas attorney early. You can start with the thatcarhitme.com legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. North Central Texas Council of Governments, Regional Crash Fact Sheet (Calendar Year 2024). https://www.nctcog.org/getContentAsset/0fa88941-1c1f-4250-a452-9de4804f5a1e/dfc3d011-8f63-43f6-9ed8-4b444333a1d0/NCTCOG-Crash-Facts-Calendar-Year-2024-Final.pdf

2. TxDOT, Crashes and Injuries by County, 2024. https://www.txdot.gov/content/dam/docs/division/trf/crash-records/2024/13.pdf

3. TxDOT, Crashes and Injuries, Cities and Towns, 2024. https://www.txdot.gov/content/dam/docs/division/trf/crash-records/2024/14.pdf

4. TxDOT, Texas Motor Vehicle Traffic Crash Facts, Calendar Year 2024. https://www.txdot.gov/content/dam/docs/division/trf/crash-records/2024/01.pdf

5. TxDOT, I-635 East Project (US 75 to I-30). https://www.txdot.gov/projects/projects-studies/dallas/635-east-us75-i30.html

6. NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Dallas plan to cut traffic deaths rolls slowly years after council OK'd Vision Zero. https://www.nbcdfw.com/investigations/dallas-plan-to-cut-traffic-deaths-rolls-slowly-years-after-council-okd-vision-zero/3374545/

7. TxDOT, #EndTheStreakTX traffic safety campaign. https://www.txdot.gov/safety/traffic-safety-campaigns/endthestreaktx.html

8. North Central Texas Council of Governments, North Texas Sees Significant Decline in Traffic Fatalities as Regional Safety Efforts Gain Momentum. https://www.nctcog.org/trans/about/news/north-texas-sees-significant-decline-in-traffic-fatalities-as-regional-safety-efforts-gain-momentum

9. NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Fort Worth fatal crashes up 31% in 5 years as city talks Vision Zero. https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/fort-worth-fatal-crashes-up-31-in-5-years-as-city-talks-vision-zero/3455091/

10. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Section 16.003 (Two-Year Limitations Period). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/GetStatute.aspx?Code=CP&Value=16.003