HOUSTON, TX, UNITED STATES, May 12, 2026 — As Houston-area drivers prepare for Memorial Day weekend, newly published Texas Department of Transportation data shows that 517 people died in Harris County traffic crashes in 2025, and 2,758 more suffered serious injuries.
Within the City of Houston, 300 people lost their lives, according to TxDOT crash data compiled by Axios Houston in April.
The figures arrive at a time when traffic fatalities in Houston have approached or exceeded the city’s reported homicide totals. In 2024, Houston recorded more than 300 traffic deaths. That’s a number that exceeded the city’s reported homicide total of 330, which includes murder, manslaughter, and justifiable homicide, according to Axios Houston’s analysis of TxDOT and Houston Police Department records.
Paul H. Cannon, managing partner at Houston-based Simmons and Fletcher, P.C., and one of the few Texas attorneys board-certified in personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, said the data should change how Houston residents think about road safety.
“Most Houstonians don’t realize they live in a city where traffic crashes have been killing people at roughly the same rate as homicide,” Cannon said. “That’s not an abstract statistic. It’s a public safety issue, and Memorial Day weekend is historically when it gets worse.”
Memorial Day Weekend Risk
A 2024 study by car insurance app Jerry, analyzing National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data from 2018 through 2022, found that Texas led the nation in Memorial Day weekend traffic fatalities, with an average of 218 deaths during the holiday period each year. Houston ranked as the No. 1 deadliest city in the country during the same weekend, averaging 20 fatalities annually, followed by Dallas at 19.
According to the same Jerry analysis, fatal crashes during Memorial Day weekend nationally are most likely to occur between 11 p.m. and midnight on the Saturday before the holiday, and 42% of the people killed are between the ages of 16 and 35.
The 2025 Houston Picture
According to TxDOT data and Axios Houston’s reporting, Houston’s 2025 traffic toll included:
• 300 traffic deaths citywide and 1,516 serious injuries
• 280 fatal crashes total, with 154 occurring on city-operated streets rather than interstates • 99 pedestrian deaths and 10 cyclist deaths
• A leading contributing factor cited by police: a driver’s failure to maintain a single lane across all of Harris County, including Houston, suburban cities, and unincorporated areas, 517 people died, and 2,758 were seriously injured.
Cannon said the “single-lane failure” finding carries specific legal significance. “In personal injury law, single-lane failure is often the evidentiary fingerprint of distracted driving, fatigue, or impairment,” Cannon said. “When we investigate a fatal or serious-injury crash, the question of why the driver left their lane is usually the most important question we have to answer. The answer often determines liability, the available insurance coverage, and what a victim’s family can recover.”
Guidance for Houston-Area Drivers
Cannon offered the following guidance for Houston, Katy, Cypress, Memorial, and Sugar Land residents heading into the holiday weekend:
• Plan to drive during daylight hours when possible, given that the majority of holiday weekend fatalities occur at night or in the early morning.
• Confirm every passenger is wearing a seat belt before the vehicle moves.
• Designate a sober driver before the celebration begins, not after.
• Avoid distracted driving, including phone use, GPS adjustments, and infotainment system interaction at highway speed.
• If involved in a crash, seek medical attention immediately, even if injuries appear minor, and consult a board-certified personal injury attorney before giving any recorded statement to an insurance carrier.
About Simmons and Fletcher, P.C.
Simmons and Fletcher, P.C., is a Christian personal injury law firm founded in 1979 and headquartered at 9821 Katy Freeway, Suite 590, Houston, Texas. The firm exclusively represents injury victims in Houston, Katy, Cypress, Memorial, Sugar Land, and across Texas in cases involving truck accidents, 18-wheeler collisions, car accidents, motorcycle accidents, premises liability, slip and fall, dog bite, wrongful death, and maritime injury claims.
The firm is led by President Sharon Simmons-Cantrell and partners Christopher K. Fletcher and Paul H. Cannon. Cannon is board-certified in personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a designation held by fewer than 3% of Texas attorneys, and has been rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell for 10 consecutive years. Fletcher has held the AV Preeminent rating since 2017 and was named to the National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40. The firm has also been recognized by the Houston Chronicle Best of the Best Readers’ Poll, Thomson Reuters Super Lawyers, and the National Trial Lawyers Top 100.
Founded by the late Robert S. Simmons and Keith M. Fletcher and continued today by their family members, the firm has served Texas injury victims for more than four decades. Learn more at simmonsandfletcher.com or call 713-932-0777.
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