Half of Texas' Alcohol-Related Crashes Involved a Driver Who Was Twice the Legal Limit, Grossman Law Offices Analysis Finds

DALLAS, Nov. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Among 12,000 Texas crashes where a driver tested positive for alcohol, the typical blood alcohol content (BAC) recorded was 0.167, more than twice the 0.08 level at which Texas law considers a driver to be legally intoxicated. That is the central finding of a new analysis by Grossman Law Offices, a Dallas law firm whose practice includes dram shop litigation.

The firm reviewed Texas Department of Transportation crash report data covering July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026. Over that 12-month period, the data contains 11,976 crashes with usable BAC results, an average of nearly 33 alcohol-involved crashes every day.

Key Findings

• Half of the crashes involved a BAC of 0.167 or higher. The median BAC per crash was 0.167, and the average was 0.169.
• About 1 in 8 crashes (12.0%) involved a BAC above 0.24, more than three times the legal limit. That is 1,434 crashes in one year.
• 215 crashes (1.8%) involved a BAC above 0.32, more than four times the legal limit.
• 21 crashes involved a BAC above 0.40, more than five times the legal limit and a level at which alcohol poisoning can become life-threatening.

Why It Matters: Where Was the Alcohol Served?

Reaching a BAC of 0.167 or higher usually takes a substantial amount of drinking. That raises a question the crash data alone cannot answer: where were these drivers served, and did anyone stop serving them?

Texas's dram shop law, found in Chapter 2 of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code, can hold a bar, restaurant, or other licensed alcohol provider liable for subsequent car accidents when it serves alcohol to a customer who is obviously intoxicated. The TxDOT data does not show where any driver drank or whether anyone was over-served. But levels this far above the legal limit suggest that, in many cases, the signs of intoxication would have been hard to miss.

Statement From the Firm

"For those of us who litigate dram shop cases, these results are hardly surprising," says Cory Carlson, an attorney with Grossman Law Offices. "We've seen the worst of what negligent alcohol sellers are capable of, and we know that some bars and restaurants just flat-out refuse to follow the rules established by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. So, is it any wonder there were 12,000 alcohol-related crashes in Texas in a single year? If you want to get serious about stopping drunk driving accidents in Texas, you need to go hard after the bars that break the rules."

Methodology

Grossman Law Offices analyzed Texas Peace Officer's Crash Report (CR-3) data from TxDOT's Crash Records Information System (CRIS), as processed by TxDOT as of November 4, 2026. The query covered crashes from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, in which a driver's BAC test result was greater than zero.

Entries listed as "No Data" were excluded, as were 41 results above 0.50, which were treated as likely data-entry errors. Where a crash had more than one BAC result, the results were averaged to produce one figure per crash for the median and average. For the threshold figures, a crash was counted if any recorded BAC result in it exceeded the threshold.

This analysis was conducted by Grossman Law Offices. Its opinions and conclusions are the firm's own and do not represent those of the State of Texas or the Texas Department of Transportation.

About Grossman Law Offices

Founded in 1991 by attorney Michael Grossman, Grossman Law Offices is a Dallas law firm that represents people who have been seriously injured and families who have lost a loved one. Its practice includes dram shop claims against businesses that over-serve alcohol, as well as commercial truck accidents, wrongful death, and workplace injury cases. Headquartered at 3890 W. Northwest Highway, Suite 100, in Dallas, the firm represents clients throughout Texas.

SOURCE Grossman Law Office, P.C.