DALLAS — "You have to drive for yourself, as well as the next person."
That's the message Sonya Landrum gives to her own family members, but also wants you to hear.
"Stick to those rules of the road, don't pick up the bad habits, and a lot of people in Texas do have one: speeding."
Landrum is program manager over roadway safety for the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG).
She says bad habits like speeding, aggressive driving and not using turn signals are just some of the behaviors contributing to what government officials are calling alarming statistics across the country.
Data in the 2022 Safety Program Performance Measures Report shows that here in North Texas, overall traffic fatalities are down 6%. But in Dallas, Wise and Collin counties, those numbers jumped.
The most dramatic increase was seen in Collin County, where traffic fatalities are up 51% from last year.
Aside from the bad behavior, Landrum says the high numbers of people moving to North Texas are also contributing to the deadly crashes.
"The more people that move here, the more vehicles that we have on the road, so the more opportunities for crashes," she said.
In an effort to counter that, the NCTCOG is employing what it calls the "Four E's" of roadway safety:
- Engineering
- Education
- Enforcement
- Emergency response
“Enforcement definitely helps to correct negative driver behavior,” Landrum said. “But also we're trying to attack it from the standpoint of education.”
That education is made available through its array of resources, including the Drive Aware North Texas campaign, which addresses topics like distracted, wrong-way and impaired driving.
Another unique strategy is the digital message boards you may see while cruising the highways in North Texas – all with reminders for drivers about being courteous to others and following laws.
"It's up to all of us, we can all make a difference, every individual driver, as well as passenger can make a difference on what happens in that vehicle."
As always, if you have a traffic concern in your area, you can email us here.