The Scary Reason This Texas Road is Called ‘Death Highway’

The deadliest road in Texas lies in West Texas, not very far from El Paso so there's a good chance you may find yourself on it.

On average, TXDoT says at least one person has died, EVERY DAY, on Texas highways for the last 23 years.

The road most of those deaths occurred on starts a couple hours east of El Paso.

It's not particularly curvy or otherwise "tricky" and the weather isn't, typically, all that crazy. So, what's the big deal?

US Highway 285 has actually been christened "Death Highway" due to the crazy fatality rates along the Texas stretch of it.

For El Paso drivers, the closest portion of it to us starts in Carlsbad, New Mexico and runs east to Pecos, Texas. Yep, oil country ... which wasn't planned for

The highway was built in the 1920's and was absolutely NOT designed for the huge traffic demands placed on it today mostly by oil industry related travel.

Truckers and workers by the thousands are now using this road to get back and forth to work and/or to get oil and supplies in and out of the area.

What's Going On?

Attorney Dean Boyd says many of those truckers are inexperienced and a lot of them, as well as other oil field employees, are overworked and very tired. Not to mention the usual issues with distracted and impaired drivers.

What's Texas Doing About This?

To try and make the road a little safer, speed limits have been lowered and an expansion project is in the works.

In the meantime, be damn careful and on high alert if you find yourself on "Death Highway".