The way forward: What can be done?

Speed is determined by each driver, but safety and traffic officials advocate a cluster of actions to reduce fatalities, lower risks and slow down motorists.

• Establish target speed limits and adhere to them.

Drivers often choose their speed based on conditions, so slowing them down involves changing their environment. Narrower lanes, for example, tend to slow drivers down and in some cases offer more room for sidewalks or bike lanes. Curves, even gentle ones, also tend to slow drivers down in places where officials might want to eliminate motorists moving at 60 mph in a 35 zone.

• Instill fear of a citation.

Places where traffic enforcement is highly visible have fewer speedrelated crashes, studies show. Even if the number of tickets written isn’t dramatically larger, the mere presence of a police car can have a calming effect on speed. Some departments have famously parked inoperable cruisers on highways with a mannequin to try to slow drivers. Federal transportation money for safety in the coming years will be used to award more Selective Traffic Enforcement Program grants, which fund many no-refusal and other holiday-related policing programs.

• Make the perils obvious.

Houstonians, many believe, are numb to the risk of the roadways because they are unaware of the severity of the problem. Officials, notably the Houston-Galveston Area Council, have proposed a regional safety campaign aimed at capturing drivers’ attention via billboards and television ads. State officials are increasing use of changeable message signs on the freeway to encourage slower speeds.

The Texas Department of Transportation, using federal money, also tours the state with crashed vehicles for seminars on not talking on a phone while driving, teen driver programs at high schools and proper use of child restraint seats in cars and trucks.

• Collect more information.

Officials acknowledge they cannot properly address some of the problems until they have more data. There is a belief that training police to better reflect accident conditions when they fill out initial reports is crucial to connecting the crash to its cause. Texas is evaluating further training for police, along with more attention to where exactly fatal crashes are occurring so officials can target those specific intersections or locations.