Car Accidents in El Paso: 2023 Crash Data and How a Claim Works

NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System records every fatal crash on public roads. For 2023, crashes coded to El Paso account for 84 deaths in 74 fatal crashes. The ratio, more than 1.1 deaths per fatal crash, is among the highest in the national top 25 and points to multi-fatality crashes on the highways rather than single-death crashes on city streets.

The pattern is I-10. Thirteen of 74 fatal crashes, 18 percent of the city's total, were on the interstate that runs the full length of El Paso from the New Mexico line to the Hudspeth County line. No single road in Houston, Dallas or San Antonio accounts for a comparable share. Loop 375, the beltway, added 7. Darkness was a factor in 56 of 74, 76 percent, second only to Fort Worth among large cities.

Twenty-nine fatal crashes were intersection-related, 39 percent, a higher share than the other Texas cities. Twenty involved a pedestrian or cyclist, 27 percent. Angle collisions, 18, were the leading two-vehicle type. FARS counts fatal crashes only; injury crashes in El Paso County, reported through TxDOT, are many times more numerous.

FARS roadway coding, as reported by Texas, identifies where fatal crashes concentrated in 2023. I-10 dominates to a degree seen in no other large Texas city.

• I-10: 13 fatal crashes along the interstate through the city.
• Loop 375 (SR-375, including the Border Highway and Transmountain sections): 7 fatal crashes, with 2 more coded to the loop separately.
• Dyer Street: 3 fatal crashes on the northeast side arterial.
• Pebble Hills Boulevard: 2 fatal crashes on the east side.
• Mesa Street (SR-20): 2 fatal crashes on the west side.
• Across all coding, I-10 and Loop 375 together account for 22 of the city's 74 fatal crashes.

A fatal or serious crash on I-10 at night often involves speed, impairment or a wrong-way driver, and frequently involves more than one vehicle, which is where the fault dispute begins. The vehicles' event data recorders, footage from TxDOT's camera network, and the Texas DPS or El Paso Police report are the evidence, and the recorders are lost when the cars are scrapped.

Commercial trucks are a larger factor in El Paso than in most cities because I-10 is a principal freight corridor between the ports of entry and the rest of the country. A crash involving a tractor-trailer brings federal motor carrier rules, a minimum $750,000 liability policy for most interstate carriers, electronic logging data and the carrier's own cameras into the claim, and the carrier's insurer will have investigators at the scene within hours.

El Paso's geography adds a jurisdiction question that no other Texas city has. A crash on I-10 a few miles west is in New Mexico, where pure comparative negligence applies, the deadline is three years, and claims against a government entity require notice within 90 days. A crash involving a vehicle from across the border can raise questions about the driver's insurance and the ability to collect. Which side of the line the crash was on is the first fact to establish.

Suppose you were driving west on I-10 at night when a tractor-trailer changed lanes into your car, forcing it into the median. You suffered a fractured pelvis and a lacerated spleen, with $140,000 in medical bills and five months off work. The carrier's insurer argued you were in the truck's blind spot and had been speeding, and assigned you 40 percent of the fault.

The truck's forward-facing camera, preserved by a letter sent to the carrier in the first week, showed the lane change without a signal, and your event data showed a speed at the limit. The fault assignment was renegotiated to 10 percent. The carrier's $1 million liability policy was adequate for the claim, so your own underinsured motorist coverage was not needed, and your health insurer's lien was reduced in the settlement.

Had the crash happened six miles further west, across the New Mexico line, New Mexico's pure comparative rule and three-year deadline would have applied instead of Texas's 51 percent bar and two-year deadline, and the venue for a lawsuit would have been different. The claim settled at month sixteen. All figures are hypothetical.

El Paso's crashes are highway crashes at night, often involving trucks, and the state line adds a question most cities never face.

• Get the El Paso Police Department or Texas DPS report number, and note which state and county the crash was in; Texas crash reports are available through TxDOT's online system.
• If a commercial truck was involved, photograph the carrier's name and USDOT number on the cab and trailer, and have a preservation letter sent to the carrier within days for its camera, logging and maintenance records.
• Ask that no vehicle be scrapped before its event data recorder is downloaded.
• Photograph the scene, lighting and the position of every vehicle; three quarters of El Paso fatal crashes are at night.
• Report to your own insurer the same day and confirm your uninsured and underinsured motorist limits and personal injury protection in writing.
• If the other driver's vehicle was registered outside the United States, record every insurance and identity detail available; collection questions arise later.
• If a road defect or government vehicle contributed, note the six-month Texas Tort Claims Act notice period, or the 90-day New Mexico notice period if the crash was across the line.

Texas is a fault state. The at-fault driver's liability insurer is the primary source of recovery. Texas insurers must offer personal injury protection of at least $2,500, which pays your own medical bills and lost wages regardless of fault unless rejected in writing, and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which can also be rejected. The minimum liability coverage is $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident and $25,000 for property damage.

Fault follows modified comparative negligence with a 51 percent bar under Texas's proportionate responsibility statute: you recover if your share is 50 percent or less, reduced by that share. The injury deadline is two years from the crash under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003. Claims against the City of El Paso, El Paso County, Sun Metro or TxDOT fall under the Texas Tort Claims Act with damage caps and a six-month notice requirement that city charters can shorten.

New Mexico, a few miles away, is different on every point: pure comparative negligence with no cutoff, a three-year deadline, $25,000 minimum liability limits, and a 90-day notice requirement under its Tort Claims Act. Crashes on Fort Bliss or involving military vehicles follow federal procedures. Workers' compensation for a crash on the job runs through the Texas Division of Workers' Compensation with a one-year claim deadline.

An El Paso claim is often an I-10 claim at night, frequently involving a commercial truck, where the fault percentage decides everything under Texas's 51 percent rule and the carrier's investigators are at work before you have left the hospital. The questions to answer early are which state the crash was in, what the trucks' and cars' recorders and cameras show, and what coverage exists on both sides. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency.

Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in Texas, and an attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say what the claim is worth. If you were hurt in a crash in El Paso or El Paso County, you can request a free claim review.

• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
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• Wrongful Death Claims: Who Can File, Deadlines and Damages
• At Fault in a Car Accident? Comparative Negligence Explained
• What Is the Average Car Accident Settlement? What Sets the Value
• Back and Neck Injury Settlement After a Car Accident: Factors
• Bicycle Accident Claim: Hit by a Car While Riding
• Can I Sue for a Slip and Fall? Premises Liability Explained
• Can I Sue My Employer for a Work Injury? Workers' Comp vs Lawsuit

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