4 January 1 - 7, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Crashing Out (Less) Dallas traffic fatalities fall by nearly half in 2025. BY EMMA RUBY D allas is still far from achieving the goals outlined in Vision Zero, the 2019 pledge to reduce injuries from car crashes and eliminate traffic-related fatalities citywide by 2030. However, for the first time since the plan was passed, 2025 saw significant progress made toward that objective. According to city data that tracks fatali- ties and serious injuries in accidents in- volving cars, pedestrians, motorcycles, bicycles and other forms of transporta- tion, incidents resulting in death fell by nearly half this year compared to 2024. Dallas’ streets saw 107 accidents resulting in fatalities this year, down from 208 in 2024. 2025 was the least 2015. Accidents result- ing in serious injury have also fallen drasti- cally. Across all types of accidents, 595 resulted in serious injury in 2025 compared to 935 in 2024. Between midnight and 3 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings are the most deadly times of the week for accidents to occur. The city dashboard is compiled using the Texas Department of Transportation’s Crash Records Information System, which reports severe accidents reported by various agencies, including the Dallas Police Department, the Department of Public Safety and the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office. According to the data, around 7% of roads in Dallas are responsible for more than half of the city’s severe crashes. Part of the Vision Zero strategy has been to study and address those high-risk city streets by adding safety improvements. In recent years, some city council members have voiced concerns that the plan was not progressing quickly enough, although this year saw several Vision Zero projects hit significant milestones. In November, city leaders highlighted improvements made along Loop 12, which had long been considered one of Dallas’ deadliest roads, under the Vision Zero framework. New stoplights are being in- stalled along the loop, and DART is remov- ing some bus stations to help reduce pedestrian traffic in the area. Council mem- ber Cara Mendelsohn said the progress made on Vision Zero, along with the 2025 data that suggests the plan is making prog- ress, is a testament to the city staffers who have advocated for the strategy. “Since Gus Khankarli became [Dallas’] transportation director, he has just been devoted to [Vision Zero],” said Mendelsohn. “There’s no easy fix. It’s just constantly being mindful of high injury locations and making improvement after improvement after improvement. So I think that’s a win for him.” She also pointed to the increased traffic enforcement measures introduced by the Dallas Police Department this year as a pos- sible reason for the improvement in the data. Following the hiring of police Chief Daniel Comeaux, the department intensified its en- forcement of seatbelt use and speeding. In July, the department’s “operation slow- down” resulted in 1,752 traffic citations over a two-week period. Over the course of the year, road rage and DWI enforcement ef- forts resulted in 3,847 citations issued dur- ing road rage enforcement and 451 DWI arrests year-to-date, the police department said. Additionally, an August program dedi- cated to school zone monitoring resulted in nearly 1,000 citations. “These efforts, combined with ongoing Vision Zero initiatives through Transportation and Public Works, have led to 46 fewer traffic deaths [at accidents responded to by DPD] year-to-date compared to this day in 2024,” the department said. Speed is overwhelmingly the top factor leading to fatal accidents across Dallas; it has been the top driver of deadly crashes in nine of the last 10 years. Of Dallas’ 108 fatal accidents in 2025, 44 are believed to have been caused by speeding. The next highest contributing factor was impair- ment, which was responsible for 23 fatal accidents. According to Melissa Kingston, a city plan commissioner who also helped lead a multi-year audit of the city’s street design processes as part of the Street Design Man- ual Work Group, Dallas has long held on to an outdated, car-centric approach to city planning, which could contribute to faster speeds on the roads. When Kingston pre- sented the report’s findings to the council in November, she warned that some policies aimed at facilitating safer streets, such as lower speed limits and sharper curb radii, are being “overlooked.” Overall, however, the work group found that recent changes in city leadership have led to city departments complying more closely with the Vision Zero plan. “It’s sort of the old school way of looking at things, where you want to move as many cars as fast as you can, and you accept that the consequence for that is going to be more deaths and injuries,” Kingston told the Observer. “Vision Zero takes a more modern approach, which is, yes, we want to be mindful of traffic and congestion and environmental impacts that are produced by that. But we also have to share the road. And there is a certain amount of delay or traffic that we’re going to have to accept if we want to stop killing the people that use the roads.” ▼ EDUCATION LAGGIING BEHIND 101 LOW INCOME STUDENTS ARE BEING LEFT OUT OF HIGHER EDUCATION . BY EMMA RUBY O ne in four students who were en- rolled in 8th grade at a Texas public school during the 2013-14 school year have gone on to earn a professional certificate or degree, according to new data from the Texas Higher Education Coordi- nating Board. But that average fluctuates significantly depending on the economic makeup of a particular district. The report, known as the Texas Talent Trajectory, tracks the outcomes of students who graduated from a Texas public high school within four to six years of enrolling in 8th grade. The survey tracks the gender, ra- cial and socioeconomic breakdown of stu- dents to monitor education outcome trends across demographics. Over the last 15 years, Texas has seen an improvement in the number of students successfully attending two- and four-year institutions, according to an analysis of state data by The Texas Tribune. Female students are more likely to attain a degree or certificate than their male counter- parts, and white students have a higher completion rate than Black and Hispanic students. Still, economically disadvantaged school districts are less likely to see high numbers of students seeking those higher education opportunities. Nearly 60% of Texas students are classified as economically disadvan- taged, the report states. Of the 26% of Texas students in the 2014- 2014 8th grade cohort that received a degree or certificate, only 9% were classified as eco- nomically disadvantaged. This means that in districts where students from low socioeco- nomic backgrounds make up a larger per- centage of the student body, successful higher education outcomes are significantly less likely. For example, the data shows that of Dallas ISD’s nearly 10,000 students tracked, 88% were economically disad- vantaged compared to the 60% state aver- age. The number of students who graduated from high school, enrolled in a degree program and graduated with a de- gree or credential all lagged behind the state average. Only 13% of the 8th graders in that Dallas ISD cohort went on to re- ceive a degree or certificate. In Arlington ISD, 66% of students were classified as economically disadvantaged, and 80% graduated from high school. 22%, just under the state average, obtained a degree. While Grand Prairie ISD had a student body comprising 74% economi- cally disadvantaged students, 82% of its students graduated from high school, which is slightly above the state average. Still, only 18% graduated from a degree program. It isn’t easy to compare these outcomes with some wealthier districts due to the state’s privacy laws. In smaller districts, re- sults are redacted to ensure privacy. That means the data for a district like Highland Park ISD, which records fewer than 500 8th graders in a given school year, is not avail- able. Carroll ISD, in Southlake, reported higher-than-average numbers of students who graduated from high school and en- rolled in a college, but an outcome tally was not available. In Plano ISD, where 26% of 8th graders were economically disadvan- taged, 35% of students have gone on to re- ceive a degree. “Texas is a tale of two states,” Jesse Hen- drix, executive director of College Possible, told the Texas Tribune. “On one hand, Texas is the eighth largest economy in the world; on the other, Houston now holds the highest pov- erty rate of any major U.S. city.” Adobe Stock Vehicle crashes are common in the most dangerous Dallas intersections. | UNFAIR PARK |
