Key Takeaways:
- Community colleges experience some of the highest crash rates, with Houston Community College topping the list at 76.21 crashes per 1,000 students annually.
- Seven major universities reported zero traffic fatalities during the study period, including Rice University, UT Austin, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M College Station.
- Texas Tech University had the highest proportion of speeding-related crashes, with 42.86% of nearby incidents involving excessive speed or a failure to control speed.
- Driver inattention was a major factor near Texas A&M Commerce, accounting for 66.46% of crashes – by far the highest rate among all institutions in the study.
- Alcohol-related crashes were most common near Texas State University, where more than 1 in 10 incidents involved alcohol use.
College campuses create unique traffic challenges. Unlike elementary or high schools with defined start and end times, university activity flows throughout the day as students come and go for classes, work, and social activities. Many live nearby while others commute from across town, creating a constant mix of pedestrian activity, student drivers, and urban traffic patterns that can make roads around large universities complex.
To understand where these risks are highest, we analyzed crash data from the Texas Department of Transportation around the state’s 30 largest universities. The list was compiled using IPEDS data and includes institutions with more than 7,500 full-time, year-round students enrolled in four-year degree programs.
Although typically considered two-year schools, some community colleges on this list offer four-year degrees and meet the criteria. We examined every Texas car crash within a one-mile radius of each campus — a distance that captures the various entrances, parking areas, and traffic patterns that extend beyond campus boundaries.
This analysis reveals which areas around major Texas universities experience the highest crash frequencies. It presents a summary of crash statistics, a breakdown of contributing factors often associated with campus environments, along with an interactive map showing schools’ locations sized by crash rates.
Higher crash rates around universities don’t necessarily indicate unsafe driving by students, faculty, or staff. These institutions exist in diverse environments — from small college towns to major urban centers — and crash patterns often reflect broader traffic dynamics, including rush hour congestion, nearby highways, and commercial activity.
However, understanding crash density around universities can provide valuable insights into the safety challenges of navigating these high-activity areas and inform targeted improvements.
Crashes Near Campus
The summary below ranks colleges by the number of yearly crashes per 1,000 full-time students. Again, while students are not necessarily responsible for all crashes, adjusting for enrollment helps balance differences in the number of students commuting daily to campus. Other variables reported include total crashes, injuries, and fatalities.
Community colleges lead the rankings in crash frequency, with Houston Community College recording 76.21 crashes per 1,000 full-time students annually. This rate is at least 65% higher than that of any other institution in the study. Dallas College follows with 46.13 crashes per 1,000 students, while San Jacinto Community College, ranked fourth, has 41.98 crashes per 1,000 students.
Among traditional universities, Texas Southern University has the highest crash rate at 45.41 per 1,000 students annually, followed by Rice University at 32.95 per 1,000 students. Rice’s location in Houston’s medical center area likely contributes to this number, as heavy traffic from the broader community intersects with campus activity.
Several major state universities show moderate crash rates despite their large size. Texas A&M University in College Station, the state’s largest university by enrollment, ranks 29th with 2.55 crashes per 1,000 students.
The University of Texas at Austin, with over 50,000 students, ranks 23rd with 7.47 crashes per 1,000 students. Larger traditional university campuses in college towns appear to have better-developed traffic infrastructure and more predictable traffic patterns.
The injury and fatality data reveals additional safety concerns. Houston Community College leads in both total injuries (1,589) and fatalities (13). The University of Houston recorded 11 fatalities while ranking 14th for crash rate, and Austin Community College recorded 10 fatalities.
In contrast, several traditional universities, including Rice, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, UT Austin, Texas Tech, Texas A&M College Station, and Prairie View A&M reported zero crash fatalities during the three-year period.
Why are community colleges seeing higher crash rates?
A key reason may lie in the nature of the student population. Community colleges tend to serve local, commuting students who drive to campus regularly, and often multiple times per week. This steady flow of vehicle traffic, combined with campuses situated in densely developed areas, can result in elevated crash activity.
Unlike traditional universities where a substantial portion of students live on or near campus and may walk, bike, or use campus shuttles, community college students often rely entirely on personal vehicles for transportation.
Infrastructure differences may factor in as well. Traditional universities often have dedicated campus roads and controlled access points developed over decades. Community colleges typically rely on existing city streets not designed for institutional traffic patterns.
Interactive Crash Map: Texas Colleges
The interactive map below helps visualize which areas of the state experience the highest crash rates near universities. Each point represents a school, with point size reflecting the number of yearly crashes per 1,000 full-time students. Hover over the points for more details.
Crash Behavior Around Campus
To go beyond the number of crashes and better understand the behaviors contributing to them, we analyzed four factors commonly associated with campus environments: speeding, alcohol involvement, driver inattention, and pedestrian-related incidents. While these are not necessarily the most frequently cited causes across all crashes, they reflect behaviors and risks often linked to student life, commuter traffic, and the unique structure of college campuses.
Among the four factors analyzed, speeding-related incidents, which includes driving over the speed limit and failing to control speed, appear frequently in campus-area crashes across Texas universities. Texas Tech University leads with 42.86% of crashes involving speeding, followed closely by Texas A&M Corpus Christi at 42.59%.
Even universities with lower overall crash rates show concerning speeding patterns. The consistency of this pattern suggests that speeding represents a notable concern regardless of campus type or location.
Driver inattention shows a dramatic variation. Texas A&M Commerce stands out as an extreme outlier, with 66.46% of crashes involving driver inattention – far exceeding any other institution in the study. Austin Community College District follows at 34.40%, while UT Austin records 28.97%.
Alcohol involvement in crashes remains relatively low across most universities but shows some exceptions. Most institutions report alcohol-related incidents in the 2-6% range, but Texas State University leads at 11.29%, followed by Austin Community College District at 10.83%.
Interestingly, Rice University reports less than 1% alcohol involvement despite its urban location, suggesting that proximity to nightlife doesn’t automatically translate to higher alcohol-related crash rates.
Pedestrian incidents represent a rare category but carry particular concern due to their potential severity. UT Dallas reports the highest percentage of pedestrian-related crashes at 5.3%, followed by Texas A&M College Station at 3.8% and Rice University at 3.3%. Most institutions report pedestrian incidents below 2%.
These patterns don’t explain every crash, but they offer insight into how specific behaviors may cluster differently across Texas’s largest universities.
The Path Forward
While most traffic crashes result from common violations like failing to control speed, unsafe lane changes, and failing to yield right-of-way, which are fundamental road safety issues that require consistent enforcement and driver education, the factors we examined reveal risks particularly relevant to campus environments.
Speeding, driver inattention, alcohol involvement, and pedestrian incidents connect directly to campus life: students rushing between classes on tight schedules, social activities and partying, and the constant flow of pedestrians navigating areas designed primarily for vehicles.
The crash data around Texas universities points to specific, actionable opportunities for improvement. Community colleges, which show the highest crash rates, could benefit from infrastructure investments like dedicated turn lanes, improved signage, and better-defined campus entrances that separate institutional traffic from city street patterns.
The prevalence of speeding-related crashes, affecting 35-40% of incidents at many campuses suggests targeted enforcement and engineering solutions could make a significant impact. Speed cameras, enhanced crosswalk visibility, and traffic calming measures like speed bumps or narrowed lanes in high-pedestrian areas could address crashes linked to students rushing to make class times or navigating unfamiliar campus roads.
For institutions like Texas A&M Commerce, where two-thirds of crashes involve driver inattention, awareness campaigns about distracted driving combined with improved road design, such as clearer lane markings and better lighting, could help drivers stay focused while navigating complex campus environments filled with pedestrians and frequent stops.
Universities can also address alcohol-related crashes through targeted education during high-risk periods and improved transportation alternatives. Institutions with concerning pedestrian crash rates should prioritize crosswalk improvements, campus walkway expansion, and better separation between pedestrian and vehicle traffic.
Ultimately, safer campus areas require collaboration between universities, local traffic authorities, and urban planners to address the unique challenges created when academic institutions intersect with community traffic patterns.
Methodology
We selected the top 30 colleges in Texas based on full-time 12-month enrollment, focusing on institutions that offer four-year degree programs, according to 2022-2023 IPEDS data. Each school had an enrollment exceeding 7,500 students.
Lone Star College System met the enrollment criteria but was excluded due to its multiple campuses without a single, defined central location. While other institutions may have additional campuses, each has a primary location that we used for analysis.
Crash data was sourced from the Texas Department of Transportation. We included all reported crashes that occurred within a one-mile radius of each school’s official address, covering the period from January 2022 through December 2024.
Fair Use Statement
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