Statistics confirm that more Oil Patch workers (40%) are killed in highway collisions than any other type of on-the-job accident. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cites data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries to report that “roughly 4 of every 10 workers killed on the job in this industry are killed as a result of a highway vehicle incident.”
In Texas, merely driving through one of its five largest-producing oil and gas areas can be deadly for anyone: almost half (50%) of all state traffic fatalities are reported to occur within these five regions. Read, “Here’s Why These Parts of Texas See More Fatal Crashes and What Could Save Lives,” written by John C. Moritz of the USA Today Network and published in the Corpus Christi Caller Times on November 26, 2019.
The Death Highway: Route 285 in the Permian Basin
One particular stretch of roadway in West Texas has had so many fatal Oil & Gas related accidents that it has been nicknamed the “Death Highway.” A two-lane road originating in Sanderson and moving on through Fort Stockton and Pecos in Texas to the New Mexico border and onward to end in Denver, Colorado, Route 285 became a vital link for the petroleum industry in the fracking boom arising in the Permian Basin. The Texas “Death Highway” is reported to have cost 93 lives in fatal Oil Field Traffic Collisions in one year alone. See, “’Death Highway’ In Texas’ Permian Basin Sees Accidents, Fatalities Pick up as Oil Price Rises,” published in the Dallas Morning News on July 30, 2018.
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