If you know Dallas, you know our traffic. It’s a running joke among locals that it takes nerves of steel to navigate roads like I-635, I-35E, and the Dallas North Tollway until it just isn’t funny anymore. Every day, thousands of drivers on these roads take risks that put innocent people in danger. When those risks turn into crashes, real people — commuters, parents, workers — pay the price with their health, their income, and sometimes their lives.
At O’Hare and Koch Law Firm, our experienced car accident lawyers have represented victims of serious traffic accidents across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for years. We know which violations cause the most devastating injuries, and we know what it takes to hold the at-fault parties accountable.
Here are the five most dangerous traffic violations we see on DFW roads and what you should do if one of them leads to a crash that injures you or someone you love.
1: Distracted Driving / Texting While Driving
Distracted driving is the leading preventable cause of crashes across the DFW Metroplex and the numbers are staggering. According to TxDOT’s data, nearly 1 in 5 Texas crashes involve a distracted driver. In 2024 alone, those split-second decisions to glance at a screen cost 380 people their lives and left thousands of others with serious, permanent injuries.
The physics are unforgiving: at 55 mph, a five-second glance at a phone means traveling the length of a football field with your eyes completely off the road. That’s not a momentary lapse; it’s a bad choice with potentially tragic consequences.
In 2026, with over 250,000 traffic injuries reported annually in Texas, distracted driving cases carry real legal weight. Phone records showing activity in the moments before impact are among the most powerful pieces of evidence in a negligence claim and they are obtainable. If a distracted driver injured you or someone you love, that digital trail doesn’t disappear and we know how to find it.
2: Running Red Lights and Stop Signs
According to the City of Dallas Vision Zero Action Plan, red-light running is officially one of the top six factors causing fatal and severe injury crashes citywide.
Running a signal is a Class C misdemeanor but the person on the other side of that intersection doesn’t get a misdemeanor. They get a broadside collision at full speed with no warning and no time to react.
Over 18,000 people suffer serious injuries at Texas intersections every year. Most of those crashes happen in seconds that nobody saw coming.
3: Speeding and Excessive Speed for Road Conditions
Texas law requires drivers to maintain a speed that is “reasonable and prudent,” meaning the posted limit is often still too fast for heavy rain, icy roads, poor visibility, or typical DFW congestion. It’s probably no real surprise that according to the TxDOT, speeding remains the #1 killer on Texas roads.
On busy corridors like IH 20, IH 30, SH-121, LBJ Freeway and Central Expressway, the problem isn’t just how fast people drive — it’s how much faster they’re going than everyone else. When one driver is doing 85 mph while traffic around them is doing 60, there’s no room for error and almost no time to react. A fender-bender can quickly become a fatality. In 2026, over 1,400 speed-related deaths were reported statewide, and that number doesn’t include the thousands left with permanent catastrophic injuries.
4: Drunk Driving (DWI) and Impaired Driving (DUI)
Texas has one of the highest DWI death rates in the nation. Despite Uber and Lyft available everywhere across DFW, drunk and impaired driving accidents remain tragically common. According to TxDOT, more than 1,000 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes in Texas in 2024. That’s three lives lost every single day because someone chose to drive while intoxicated.
Texas law sets the legal limit at a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of 0.08%, but impairment starts well before that number. There is a fine line between DWI and DUI, but in either instance, reaction time, judgment, and peripheral vision all degrade long before a driver would ever blow over the limit and Dallas roads simply don’t leave much room for any of that.
5: Aggressive Driving and Road Rage
Dallas traffic doesn’t just stress people out — it brings out the worst in some of them. According to an analysis by The Trace, Texas led the nation in road rage shootings from 2014 through 2023, recording 741 incidents involving firearms. Someone was hit in 72% of them, leaving 146 people dead and more than 430 injured.
The IH 35E, LBJ Freeway, the North Dallas Tollway, and the George Bush Toll Road are just a few of the major North Dallas thoroughfares where the aggression is prevalent. Tailgating, brake checking, abrupt lane changing, and horn honking are common causes of aggression and road rage. Under Texas Transportation Code Section 545.401, aggressive driving is illegal. When it escalates to violence, it stops being negligence and becomes assault.
Texas recently passed a law increasing penalties for road rage shootings to five years to life in prison: a direct response to numbers that state lawmakers called staggering and unacceptable. On any road, anger has consequences.
Injured by a Dangerous Driver in Dallas? Here’s What to Do.
If any of these traffic violations caused your crash, the at-fault driver can be held accountable but evidence disappears quickly.
The sooner you speak with an attorney, the sooner a strong case can begin to be developed. At O’Hare and Koch Law Firm, we’ve handled serious traffic injury cases across Dallas, Carrollton, and the surrounding cities in the Metroplex. We know these roads, we know these violations, and we know how to build a case that holds the right people accountable.
Contact us today for a free consultation. There’s no fee unless we win.
