70,000 Road Deaths in 20 Years: Texas Struggles With Traffic Safety

Dug Begley reports on a grim milestone in Texas: 70,000 people dead on the roads around the state over 20 years. Drivers have killed someone every single day over that period, in a string of unceasing carnage.

The milestone passes as local and state officials have promised in recent years to improve traffic safety, but the fruits of those labors have yet to make an impact on the traffic safety data in the state, according to experts cited in the article.

It will take efforts on numerous fronts to make a meaningful change, according to the article, "Plans call for spending millions on education campaigns to change driver behaviors and keep impaired drivers from choosing to get behind the wheel. Engineers expect to use crash data to identify and then build better intersections and crosswalks. Upcoming state highway repairs include rumble strips to warn drivers when they drift from the road."

"Whatever changes officials have in store, the intent is to encourage drivers to do what they need to keep themselves and other safe, or not enable whatever it is that leads to poor choices," adds Begley.

More details of the scale of the tragedy on Texas roads is included in the article.