Lighted signs carry serious message

The number of deaths on Texas roads is down. Officials with the Texas Department of Transportation estimate that since 2003, traffic fatalities have decreased 21 percent.

While the number is down, any death is one too many.

Starting this week, the Texas Department of Transportation is displaying a message reminding drivers to be safe. And that message, whether it be to avoid drinking and driving or to put down the cell phone, is coupled with the number of people who have been killed on Texas roads this year.

As of Monday, that number was 1,785. TXDOT officials will display that number all week. They will display that number the third week of each month. But the message, and likely the number, will change.

“Every month, what we’re going to is … update that number, said Monica O’Kane, a traffic safety specialist for TXDOT. “So one week out of the month you’ll notice those numbers, and hopefully they won’t be going up.”

The chances are, they will. On average, 250 people are killed on Texas roads each month. TXDOT officials hope the message reminds drivers and passengers that they, along with their family and friends, are susceptible to the risk of death just like everyone else.

“It’s not a scare tactic; it’s reality,” O’Kane said. “And every single driver out there has a responsibility to be careful, to watch out for what they’re doing and to watch out for what other motorists are doing.”