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Dallas is the 2nd deadliest city for drivers on Memorial Day weekend

Dallasites need to pay special attention while on the road this Memorial Day.

Photo by Clark Van Der Beken on Unsplash

Dallasites, keep your eyes on the road throughout the holiday weekend. A new study has revealed Dallas is No. 2 deadliest U.S. city to drive in during the Memorial Day weekend.

The report by insurance agency Jerry analyzed traffic fatality data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) from 2018 to 2022 to determine the most deadly cities and the average number of fatal vehicle accidents throughout the holiday period, which the NHTSA says begins from Friday at 6 pm through Tuesday at 6 am.

Texas is the deadliest state for Memorial Day driving, experiencing 218 traffic fatalities on average during the holiday period from 2018 to 2022. Houston swerved into the No. 1 spot for the deadliest city, with 20 fatalities on average.

Dallas ranked right behind Houston as the second most dangerous U.S. city during the Memorial Day weekend with an average of 19 fatalities during the five-year period from 2018-2022.

"Memorial Day weekend is a time of celebration for most Americans, but it's deadly for hundreds of people each year," the report said. "And it has grown deadlier since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic."

In an analysis of large U.S. counties with most fatal crashes per capital (defined as counties with populations of at least a million people), Dallas County ranked No. 5 with .88 crashes per 100,000 residents during the Memorial Day holiday period.

San Bernardino County, California (aka the Los Angeles area) is the deadliest U.S. county during Memorial Day weekend with 1.19 crashes per 100,000 residents, followed by Wayne County, Michigan (No. 2); Hillsborough County, Florida (No. 3); and St. Louis County, Missouri (No. 4).

Nationally, fatal crashes are most likely to occur between 11 pm and midnight on the Saturday before Memorial Day. A majority of the fatalities (38 percent) are men between the ages of 20-29, as they made up 380 fatalities between 2018-2022.

According to the study's findings, the number of nationwide fatal crashes during the Memorial Day holiday period in 2022 (where the most recent data is available) jumped 8.6 percent from pre-COVID figures in 2019, and it was an 8.1 percent increase from 2021.

The top three deadliest states – Texas, California, and Florida – each had more than twice the average number of deadly crashes than any other state. Georgia, which ranked No. 4, saw an average of 79 fatal crashes between 2018-2022.

The top 10 deadliest cities with the most traffic fatalities during Memorial Day are:

Houston, Texas (average of 20 fatalities)
Dallas, Texas (19)
Indianapolis, Indiana (18)
Chicago, Illinois (16)
Los Angeles, California (12)
Detroit, Michigan (11)
Phoenix, Arizona (11)
Memphis, Tennessee (9)
New York, New York (9)
Jacksonville, Florida (9)

The full report can be found on getjerry.com.

holiday reports traffic traffic fatalities transportation

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