Pedestrian and bicycle crash hotspots in Dallas-Fort Worth

Walking or biking almost anywhere in North Texas means sharing wide, fast arterial roads that were built to move cars, not to carry crossings. Dallas has the second-highest traffic fatality rate among the 15 most populous U.S. cities, trailing only Jacksonville, Florida, at 14.11 deaths per 100,000 residents against a national rate of 11.22. Fort Worth isn't far behind, ranking fourth at 10.84 deaths per 100,000.¹ Between 2010 and 2020, Dallas's total traffic deaths rose 80%, from 123 to 222 a year, while pedestrian deaths alone rose 172%, from 25 to 68.¹ That climb is why Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington and the region's planning agency have all spent the past few years mapping exactly where these crashes cluster, and the data points to a short, specific list of roads.

Dallas: a small share of streets, most of the deaths

Dallas's own crash analysis, built from Texas Department of Transportation Crash Records Information System (CRIS) data, found that from 2015 through 2019 just 7% of the city's streets accounted for 62% of all fatal and severe-injury crashes. That 7% is the city's High Injury Network. Split it out by mode and the pattern narrows further: 4% of streets carried 59% of severe pedestrian crashes, and 1% of streets carried 38% of severe bicycle crashes. Pedestrians make up only 2% of how people get around Dallas, yet they account for 30% of the city's traffic deaths.¹

The worst pedestrian segments in that analysis include Maple Avenue between Hudnall Street and Oak Lawn Avenue, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between S.M. Wright Freeway and Botham Jean Boulevard, Northwest Highway between Harry Hines Boulevard and Timberline Drive, and a run of roads through southern Dallas: Great Trinity Forest Way, Ledbetter Drive, Bruton Road and Buckner Boulevard. The worst stretches for cyclists include West Lawther Drive along White Rock Lake, Lamar Street near downtown, Pacific Avenue, Munger Boulevard and Beckley Avenue.¹

The city backed that map with money. Dallas won more than $21 million in federal Safe Streets and Roads for All funding for Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and another $25.8 million through the Highway Safety Improvement Program to rebuild signals at high-injury locations.² Corridor studies are underway or finished on Ferguson Road, Lake June Road, Camp Wisdom Road, Maple Avenue, and Akard and Ervay streets, and this year the city added new signals along the Loop 12/Buckner corridor while DART pulled some bus stops to cut pedestrian exposure there.²³

The trend is finally bending the right direction. Dallas recorded 108 traffic deaths in 2025 through late December, down from 208 in 2024, the first year since 2015 that the count fell below 200.³ Speed is still the single biggest factor: 44 of those fatal crashes were blamed on speeding, against 23 tied to impaired driving. Transportation director Gus Khankarli and a stepped-up Dallas Police Department push, including a two-week "Operation Slowdown" that produced 1,752 citations, both got credit for the drop.³

Fort Worth's own high-injury network

Fort Worth has a smaller version of the same problem. The Federal Highway Administration named it a pedestrian-safety "Focus City" in 2016, and a five-year study of crashes from 2014 through 2018 counted more than 140 pedestrian deaths and over 700 serious pedestrian injuries, with pedestrian fatalities up 100% over that span.⁴ The city adopted its own Vision Zero Safety Action Plan in September 2025, backed by a $524,381 federal Safe Streets and Roads for All grant and built around a High Injury Network covering just 6% of Fort Worth's streets that accounts for 54% of its fatal and severe crashes.⁵

One of those network segments, Camp Bowie West Boulevard at Broadmoor Drive, is getting a $2 million redesign after residents kept flagging pedestrians crossing six lanes of traffic to reach Western Hills High School. About 23,000 vehicles pass through that intersection daily; construction is set to start in 2027.⁶

TxDOT is separately funding safety upgrades at five more Fort Worth intersections through its Highway Safety Improvement Program:

• Mansfield Highway (U.S. 287 Business) and Wichita Street, a $1.4 million project where a new signal went live in December 2025
• North Main Street (U.S. 287 Business) and Northwest 29th Street, near the Stockyards, budgeted around $1 million
• Boat Club Road and Golf Club Drive, east of Eagle Mountain Lake, at $816,474
• Risinger Road and Poynter Street, at $1.1 million
• Ephriham Avenue (State Highway 183) and Northwest 24th Street, budgeted up to $915,031⁷

Arlington and the region are mapping the same pattern

Arlington adopted its own Safe Streets Arlington Action Plan in December 2024, targeting zero traffic deaths by 2050. Its numbers track Dallas and Fort Worth closely: 70% of the city's fatal and severe crashes happen on just 6% of its road network, and crashes involving cyclists and pedestrians are concentrated on an even smaller 1.5% of streets. Arlington logged 27 traffic deaths through October 2025.⁸

The North Central Texas Council of Governments, which covers a 12-county planning area, has run road safety audits across the region, including on Vickery Meadow and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Dallas, Belknap Street in Fort Worth, West Spring Valley Road in Richardson, Akard and Ervay streets in Dallas, and Center and Cooper streets in Arlington. The Federal Highway Administration designated Texas a pedestrian "Focus State" after statewide pedestrian deaths jumped 46% between 2010 and 2019, more than nine times the 5% rise in all other traffic deaths over that period.⁹

County-level numbers show how much is still at stake. Dallas County logged 305 fatal crashes and 331 fatalities in 2024; Tarrant County logged 189 fatal crashes, 201 fatalities and 28,074 crashes overall.¹⁰ Statewide, 768 pedestrians and 78 cyclists died on Texas roads in 2024, both down from 2023 but still well above where they stood a decade earlier.¹¹

Why these crashes turn deadly

Dallas's crash analysis spells out why speed matters so much: a pedestrian struck at 20 mph has roughly a 10% chance of death or severe injury; at 30 mph that risk climbs to 40%; at 40 mph it reaches 80%. Most High Injury Network corridors are principal arterial roads with wide lanes and few marked crossings, and 51% of Dallas's severe crashes happen on that single road type. Forty-nine percent of severe crashes happen at intersections rather than mid-block, and of those intersection crashes, 62% occur at signalized locations, meaning a green light is no guarantee of safety for someone crossing on foot.¹

If you're hit while walking or biking

Texas gives most personal injury claims, including pedestrian and bicycle crashes, a two-year window to file suit under Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003(a).¹² Because fault often turns on the same crash-report codes cities use to build their High Injury Network maps, securing that report, along with any dashcam, doorbell or traffic-camera footage, matters early. An attorney who handles pedestrian and bicycle cases can help sort out how Texas's comparative-fault rules apply if a driver claims you crossed outside a marked crosswalk. You can find one through the legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. City of Dallas Department of Transportation and Public Works, "Dallas Vision Zero Action Plan: Crash and Survey Data Analysis" (Spring 2022). https://dallascityhall.com/departments/transportation/Documents/VisionZeroDataAnalysis_080822_FINAL.pdf

2. City of Dallas, "Vision Zero Update and FY 2024-2025 Budget" memorandum, August 30, 2024. https://dallascityhall.com/government/citymanager/Documents/FY23-24%20Memos/Vision%20Zero%20Update%20and%20FY%202024-2025%20Budget.pdf

3. Emma Ruby, "Dallas Traffic Fatalities Fall by Nearly Half in 2025," Dallas Observer, December 26, 2025. https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/dallas-car-crash-fatalities-drop-by-half-40627701/

4. Fort Worth Business Press, "Fort Worth approves a Vision Zero policy to improve traffic safety." https://fortworthbusiness.com/health-care/fort-worth-approves-a-vision-zero-policy-to-improve-traffic-safety/

5. Hoodline, "Fort Worth City Council Approves Ambitious Vision Zero Plan Aiming for Zero Traffic Fatalities by 2050," October 2025. https://hoodline.com/2025/10/fort-worth-city-council-approves-ambitious-vision-zero-plan-aiming-for-zero-traffic-fatalities-by-2050/

6. Patrick Banis, "$2M pedestrian safety project at Fort Worth's Camp Bowie West intersection in the works," Fort Worth Report, July 18, 2026. https://fortworthreport.org/2026/07/18/2m-pedestrian-safety-project-at-fort-worths-camp-bowie-west-intersection-in-the-works/

7. Eric E. Garcia, "Pedestrian safety improvements planned for Fort Worth intersections," Fort Worth Report, January 17, 2026. https://fortworthreport.org/2026/01/17/pedestrian-safety-improvements-planned-for-fort-worth-intersections/

8. City of Arlington, Texas, "Safe Streets Arlington Plan Annual Report," November 18, 2025. https://www.arlingtontx.gov/files/assets/city/v/2/transportation/documents/safe-streets-arlington-plan-2025-annual-report.pdf

9. North Central Texas Council of Governments, "Pedestrian Safety Action Plan." https://www.nctcog.org/trans/plan/bikeped/pedestrian-safety-action-plan

10. Texas Department of Transportation, "Crashes and Injuries by County, 2024." https://www.txdot.gov/content/dam/docs/division/trf/crash-records/2024/13.pdf

11. Texas Department of Transportation, "Texas Motor Vehicle Traffic Crash Facts, Calendar Year 2024." https://www.txdot.gov/content/dam/docs/division/trf/crash-records/2024/01.pdf

12. Texas Law Help, "Statutes of Limitations in Civil Lawsuits" (citing Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003(a)). https://texaslawhelp.org/article/statutes-of-limitations-in-civil-lawsuits