WACO, Texas — Since November 7, 2000 there hasn't been a deathless day on Texas roads, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. That means Texas has hit 20 years of daily deaths on roads with more than 70,000 lives lost.
"It's been 20 years but we shouldn't give up and really we can start by ourselves as drivers applying just some basic safety enhancements for ourselves, buckling up, obeying speed limits, eliminating our distracted driving, and not drinking an driving," Jake Smith said, the public information officer for TxDOT Waco district.
In 2019, every two hours and 25 minutes a person lost their life in a vehicle crash on Texas roads, according to TxDOT.
"Here in the Waco district some of the top causes in these traffic deaths are failure to stay in a single lane, speeding, and drunk driving," Smith said.
A the height of the pandemic, Smith said there was a substantial decrease in cars on the roadway. Unfortunately there were still deaths in Central Texas.
"You would think that would actually help us at least curve the amount of deaths we saw but in fact it was the opposite. We saw that the amount of deaths was unchanged," Smith said.
TxDOT is encouraging everyone to join the campaign on social media by sharing why you want to end the streak.