Note to FY 2025 TxDOT-BTS subgrantees
The information contained on this page is intended for use by FY 2025 subgrantees of the Texas Department of Transportation’s Behavioral Traffic Safety Section (TxDOT-BTS) in developing strategic plans required for each grant-funded project. Note that in FY 2024, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) added a requirement that social equity be included in any analysis of data used to identify priority communities. All of the analysis described on this page has been completed, and the priority communities identified. The data behind the selection of these priority communities is not included but is available upon request. Subgrantees need only select (with the concurrence of their TxDOT project manager) which data tab is most appropriate for their project(s) and incorporate the list of priority communities into their strategic plan(s).
Begin this process by downloading the spreadsheet and selecting the tab that most suits your project’s intended program area. Here is a list of available program areas:
- 402 – Bike (KA crashes involving at least one pedalcycle)
- 402 – MC (KA crashes involving at least one motorcycle)
- 402 – MD (KA crashes involving at least one “Mature Driver” aged 65 or older)
- 402 – Ped (KA crashes involving at least one pedestrian)
- 402 – WZ (KA crashes occurring in work zone)
- 402 – YD (KA crashes involving at least one “Young Driver’ aged 25 or younger)
- 405B – All OP (KA crashes where at least one occupant was improperly or unrestrained)
- 405B – CPS (KA crashes where at least one child passenger aged 8 or younger was involved)
- 405D – All (KA crashes where at least one driver was impaired)
- 405D – YD+AL (A blend of YD and AL All KA crashes where both crash types were prominent)
If you do not see a list that best suits your project, please contact your TxDOT Program Manager.
About the data analysis
Traditionally, TxDOT has focused on analyzing K and A (Fatal and Suspected Serious Injury) crashes to determine priority communities across Texas on which to focus grant-funded resources. To that end, the data is “triangulated” using the following methodology:
- ~ Top 50 communities where the KA crash type in question occurs the most;
- ~ Top 50 communities where the KA crash type in question occurs at the highest percentage to all KA crashes; and
- ~Top 50 communities with the highest TxSTORM RIVALs (indicating the steepest adverse trend)
Introducing Equity into the data analysis process
With the addition of social equity into the equation, TxDOT has added a fourth element using the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s Equity Index (EI), which ranks Texas counties on a scale of 1 being the highest (most equitable) and 254 being the lowest (least equitable). For FY 2025, TxDOT has identified the counties ranked 128-254 on the EI and overlaid them with the triangulated data outlined above. Note that the FY 2025 EI computation aggregates each county from its various incorporated and unincorporated areas to provide a single score. Therefore, some counties with known areas of low social equity are not included if the county as a whole is not within the lower half (128-254) of all Texas counties. This has skewed the rankings toward counties which are poorer overall and largely rural in nature. However, since at least half of fatal crashes in Texas each year occur in rural areas, this methodology holds up. The ability to parse each county for areas of low EI should be available in future years.
Since NHTSA asked for areas of Texas with low equity rankings that were also overrepresented in crashes, TxDOT has identified those areas as a subset of all priority communities identified through the triangulation described above by identifying low EI counties (and/or cities within those counties) that were also “Flagged” in TxSTORM as having relatively steep adverse trends for that crash type. In addition to providing the triangulated data, any communities meeting those criteria have been highlighted in yellow in the data available for download from this page. Note that the first tab in the spreadsheet displays the EI for all Texas counties.