Fatal car crashes in Killeen, TX: deadliest roads, 2020-2024

From 2020 through 2024, federal crash records list 69 fatal crashes inside Killeen, in which 72 people died. The roads with the most were State Route 195 (street name not recorded) with 8 fatal crashes, I-14 with 8 and Rancier Ave (FM 439) with 7.

Filing deadline, fault rule, insurance and the court for a crash in Killeen: Killeen, TX injury guide.

FARS, NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, is the national record of fatal crashes on public roads, and its files for 2020 through 2024 list 69 fatal crashes in Killeen with 72 deaths. The counts for 2020 to 2023 are from NHTSA's Final Files. The 2024 counts are from its Annual Report File, the first release for that year, so they may change when NHTSA publishes the 2024 Final File.

Killeen's yearly count dipped in the middle of the period. There were 16 fatal crashes in 2020, 15 in 2021, 10 in 2022 and 14 in both 2023 and 2024, with deaths of 17, 16, 10, 14 and 15. The low year, 2022, had 10 crashes and 10 deaths, and 2020 had the most of both. Deaths exceeded crashes by one in 2020, 2021 and 2024, meaning that in each of those years at least one crash killed more than one person.

Bell County recorded 247 fatal crashes and 268 deaths over the same years, and Texas 19,209 crashes and 21,238 deaths. Among the Texas places in our guides, Killeen's 72 deaths rank 21st, so 20 places recorded more; the five highest were Houston with 1,582 deaths, Dallas with 1,112, San Antonio with 917, Fort Worth with 588 and Austin with 525. FARS coded 66 of Killeen's crashes as urban and 3 as rural, and none as happening in a work zone.

Two rows tie at the top of Killeen's table, with 8 fatal crashes each. State Route 195 (street name not recorded) had 8 crashes that killed 9 people, the latest in 2024, and I-14 had 8 crashes and 8 deaths, the latest in 2023. Two more rows are one crash behind with 7 each: Rancier Ave (FM 439), where the crashes killed 8 people, the latest in 2024, and Fort Hood St (State Route 195), with 7 deaths and the latest in 2023. Elms Rd follows with 5 crashes and 5 deaths, the latest in 2024.

In the other five rows, Clear Creek Rd (State Route 201) and Frontage Rd (I-14) had 3 fatal crashes each, both with one in 2024, and FM 439 (street name not recorded) had 3, the latest in 2022; 38th St (FM 439) and Old Florence Rd (FM 3470) had 2 each, both with one in 2024. The ten rows hold 48 of the 69 crashes and 50 of the 72 deaths, so 21 crashes were on roads outside the table. These counts show where deaths were recorded, not a road's risk per mile.

Darkness is the defining condition in Killeen's record. The most common light condition for a fatal crash was dark with no lighting, 28 of the 69, more than the 22 that happened in daylight; another 19 happened in the dark where there was lighting, so 47, or 68 percent, happened after dark. By the clock, 27 crashes happened between 6 p.m. and midnight and 20 between midnight and 6 a.m., against 12 between noon and 6 p.m. and 10 between 6 a.m. and noon.

Sunday had 15 fatal crashes and Saturday 14, more than any weekday; Friday had 12, so 41 of the 69 fell between Friday and Sunday, while Monday had only 4. The weather was clear for 59 crashes, and rain and clouds were each recorded for 5. By location, 36 crashes were away from any junction, 24 were at or related to an intersection and 4 were related to a driveway.

In 39 crashes the first harmful event, the first event that caused injury or damage, was not a collision with another vehicle in transport, which in FARS covers a vehicle moving or stopped in the roadway. A pedestrian was the first thing struck in 19 of those. The other 30 crashes began with a collision with a vehicle in transport: 16 angle collisions, 8 rear-end and 6 head-on. Thirty-two crashes involved two vehicles, 31 a single vehicle and 6 three or more.

Drivers were 42 of the 72 people killed in Killeen and passengers 9, 51 vehicle occupants in all. Twenty of those occupants were on a motorcycle or moped, 28 percent of all deaths; FARS counts riders within the driver and passenger totals, not in addition to them. Twenty pedestrians and 1 bicyclist also died, and 21 of the 69 crashes, 30 percent, involved a pedestrian, cyclist or other person outside a vehicle.

For both pedestrians and riders, darkness tends to be central to a claim. With a pedestrian, the questions are where the person was, what the driver could see and how fast the car was going; with a rider, whether a turning or merging driver saw the motorcycle in time. Because 28 of Killeen's fatal crashes happened in the dark with no lighting, photos taken at the same time of night can show the lighting a driver actually had, which daytime photos cannot.

Every number in this example is hypothetical. Suppose you were driving in Killeen at 11 p.m. on a dark road when an oncoming car drifted over the center line and hit you head-on. You suffer a broken hip and a concussion, with $95,000 in medical bills and $25,000 in lost pay, and your pain and suffering is valued at $80,000, for $200,000 in damages. The other driver's insurer concedes the drift but argues that you were driving too fast to react and assigns you 30 percent of the fault.

Texas uses modified comparative negligence with a 51 percent bar: you can recover as long as you were not more than 50 percent at fault, and your award is reduced by your share of fault. At 30 percent, $200,000 becomes $140,000. At exactly 50 percent it would be $100,000, but at 51 percent it would be nothing, so the gap between 50 and 51 is the whole claim. Speed estimates, the vehicles' crash data and where the debris fell are the usual evidence on that question.

In Texas, an at-fault state, payment starts with the other driver's liability policy. Texas requires at least 30/60/25 in liability coverage: $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 for everyone hurt in one crash and $25,000 for property. If the other driver carried only that minimum, the policy would cover $30,000 of the $140,000, and any source for the remaining $110,000 depends on the policies involved. A lawsuit would generally be due within two years of the crash (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003).

Texas places the reporting duty on the driver at the scene. After a collision that injures or kills anyone, or damages a vehicle so that it cannot be driven normally and safely, the driver must report it immediately by the quickest means of communication; inside a city such as Killeen, the report goes to the local police (Tex. Transp. Code § 550.026). There is no driver's form to file afterward: TxDOT stopped taking the driver's report, the CR-2, after September 1, 2017, and the officer files the crash report, the CR-3, with TxDOT within 10 days.

• Note the report number and the police agency that responded; copies of the officer's CR-3 can be bought through TxDOT's Crash Report Online Purchase System.
• Write down where the nearest working light was, whether headlights were on and how far ahead a driver could see; in 28 of Killeen's fatal crashes it was dark and there was no lighting.
• For a pedestrian or rider, keep the clothing, helmet and any lights as they were after the crash.
• Ask homes and businesses nearby whether a camera recorded the crash before the footage is overwritten.
• Be careful estimating your own speed in a recorded statement to an insurer; above 50 percent fault, Texas bars recovery.

For a crash in Killeen, the usual trial court would be the Bell County District Court, although some cases belong in another county's court or in federal court. Texas generally allows two years from the date of injury to sue (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003), and a family's wrongful death claim generally has two years from the date of death (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(b)).

Some situations add a step. A claim against a government body must reach that body within 6 months, and some city charters set a shorter time (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.101), which matters if a city vehicle or employee may be involved. For an injured child, the two-year clock generally pauses until 18. A crash on the job can bring in workers' compensation, run by the Texas Division of Workers' Compensation, where notice to the employer is generally due within 30 days and a claim within one year.

Texas's 51 percent bar decides the example's edge: at 50 percent fault the driver recovers half, at 51 percent nothing. Contributory negligence, used in Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, is far stricter, because an injured person found even slightly at fault can be barred, so the insurer's 30 percent figure could end the claim there instead of reducing it to $140,000.

Insurance differs too. Florida, Michigan, New York and New Jersey are no-fault states, where an injured person's own policy pays certain losses first, whoever was at fault, while in Texas the at-fault driver's liability coverage is the main source of payment. Deadlines vary as well: Tennessee gives one year for most injury claims, half of the two years Texas generally allows.

An attorney must evaluate the facts of any crash. Ask Legal Matters is a personal injury lead-generation service that collects free case review requests from injured people in the United States and shares them with independent attorneys and law firms. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in Texas. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency. If you or a family member was hurt in a crash in Killeen, you can request a free case review.

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• What should you do after a car accident?

More on this type of claim: Car accidents: evidence, deadlines and when to ask an attorney.

• Killeen, Texas: local injury guide, court and deadlines
• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Pedestrian Accident Claims: Rights, Fault and Compensation

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