End the Streak: Texas roadways claim at least one life every day and TxDOT wants to end that

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - More than 79,000 lives have been claimed on Texas roadways since Nov. 7, 2000 and The Texas Department of Transportation’s End the Streak campaign is looking to break that cycle with the public’s help.

Since November 2000, Texas at least one person had died on a Texas roadway every day for the past 22 years.

“Within a second, an instant, it can cost you your life, like it did my daughter, Andrea,” said David Elizalde, as he snapped his fingers.

Elizalde lost his daughter in 2019 when she let two boys drive her convertible while under the influence.

In a Snapchat video taken moments before the crash, you can see Andrea sitting on the middle console between the two front seats, unbuckled, when the car flipped, ejecting her, and killing her.

Text on the video suggested the car was going 110 miles per hour.

According to TxDOT, ten people die on Texas roadways each day.

The End the Streak campaign believes that number can be brought to zero.

“Half of our fatalities, a little over half of our fatalities last year, if you look at the causes, were speeding and lack of being restrained,” said Texas Transportation Commissioner Laura Ryan.

Since the streak began in November of 2000, 2021 has been the deadliest year on record with 4,400 deaths on Texas highways and roads.

Dr. Art Markman with the University of Texas believes this increase stems from a lack of sense of community; Not thinking of others on the road and what they may be dealing with.

“It’s just something nobody needs to go through if you have the capability to realize it and stop it from the very beginning,” said Elizalde.

Andrea was a senior in high school when she passed away.

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