Houston pedestrian crash statistics: deaths and serious injuries, 2018-2024

Crashes killed 174 pedestrians in Harris County in 2024 and seriously injured 343, according to the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC). Its counts come from the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) crash records.¹ Pedestrian deaths rose 70% from 108 in 2018 to a peak of 184 in 2022, then eased slightly.

Harris County pedestrian deaths by year

Pedestrian deaths climbed every year from 2018 to 2022, then dipped to 177 in 2023 and 174 in 2024. Serious injuries rose 36% over the seven years, from 253 to 343 (calculated by Texas Mobility Outlook from H-GAC’s fact sheets).¹

The 174 deaths in 2024 equal about 30% of the 579 traffic deaths TxDOT counted in Harris County that year. The two figures come from different extracts of TxDOT’s data, so the share is approximate.^1,2 Harris County also accounted for 174 of the 200 pedestrian deaths in H-GAC’s eight-county region in 2024.¹

An earlier H-GAC report, using an older extract, counted 70 pedestrian deaths in Harris County in 2013 and 93 in 2017.³ Read together, the two series suggest the county’s yearly pedestrian death toll more than doubled between 2013 and 2024. They are separate tabulations, so Texas Mobility Outlook does not join them into one series.

Pedestrian deaths in the City of Houston

Inside the city, the City of Houston’s Vision Zero reports counted 64 pedestrian deaths in 2018 and 115 in 2022. In 2022, people walking were 36% of everyone killed in Houston traffic and 16% of the seriously injured.^4,5 Texas Mobility Outlook found no City annual report for any later year.

For 2024, a Houston Chronicle analysis of TxDOT data counted 119 pedestrians killed in Houston. Police attributed 79 of those deaths to the pedestrian failing to yield the right of way.⁶ The Chronicle also found that more pedestrians (44) than drivers (43) died on Houston’s interstates that year.⁷ Axios Houston reported 99 pedestrian deaths in 2025.⁸

Overall city traffic deaths by year, and why sources disagree on them, are on City of Houston crash statistics.

Where and when pedestrians are killed

H-GAC’s Regional Safety Action Plan counted 1,283 fatal crashes involving pedestrians in the eight-county region from 2018 to 2024. That was 27% of all fatal crashes, though pedestrian crashes were 14% of crashes that killed or seriously injured someone. The fact sheets count 1,317 people killed and 2,630 seriously injured in these crashes.¹

Darkness is common in the region’s deadliest crashes. Dark conditions were present in 62% of all fatal crashes in the region from 2018 to 2024, counting every kind of road user.¹⁰ H-GAC’s published boards do not give the share for pedestrian crashes alone.

Signalized intersections stand out in Houston research. A Rice University Kinder Institute analysis of Houston crashes from 2010 to 2016 found that fatal crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists were more than nine times as likely as chance to occur at signal-controlled intersections. Stop-sign intersections were 1.48 times as likely. Intersections with four or more approaches and transit stops were 2.4 times as likely; uncontrolled intersections were half as likely.¹¹ Intersection rankings for Houston are reviewed on Houston’s most dangerous intersections.

Harris County’s 2022 Vision Zero Action Plan found that pedestrians and bicyclists made up under 3% of commute trips in the county but 31% of fatal crashes from 2014 to 2018.¹²

Pedestrian deaths across Texas

TxDOT counted 695 pedestrian deaths statewide in 2025, 10.1% fewer than in 2024 and 18.4% of all Texas traffic deaths.¹³ Statewide pedestrian deaths rose from 562 in 2015 to 819 in 2021.¹⁴ The full statewide series is on Texas traffic fatalities.

Bicyclist deaths in Harris County

H-GAC counted between 12 and 28 bicyclist deaths a year in Harris County from 2018 to 2024, with the high in 2023. Serious injuries reached 88 in 2024, the most in the period.¹ Across the region, bicyclists were involved in 199 fatal crashes and 655 serious-injury crashes over the seven years, 3% of all crashes that killed or seriously injured someone.

Inside the city, the Chronicle counted 8 bicyclists killed in 2024, down from 16 in 2023. Axios counted 10 in 2025.^6,8 Houston’s 2020 Vision Zero Action Plan found that every bicyclist killed in the city from 2014 to 2018 died on a street without a bike lane.¹⁵

Motorcyclist deaths in Harris County

Motorcyclist deaths in Harris County rose from 50 in 2018 to 84 in 2024, the highest count in the period.¹ Serious injuries peaked at 303 in 2022. Region-wide, motorcycles were involved in 727 fatal crashes and 2,906 serious-injury crashes from 2018 to 2024, 14% of all crashes that killed or seriously injured someone. Statewide, TxDOT reports that 31% of motorcyclists killed in 2025 were not wearing helmets.¹³

Limits of the data

• County figures stop at 2024. TxDOT’s published pedestrian and motorcyclist reports are statewide only. H-GAC’s fact sheets supply the county split and end with 2024.
• City figures after 2022 come from news analyses. The Chronicle and Axios counts are newsroom tabulations of TxDOT data, not official City totals.
• Counts are not rates. No source reviewed publishes how many miles Houstonians walk or bike, so these figures cannot show risk per trip.