The memorials dot the roadways of Montgomery County like fallen trees after a storm. The crosses and wreaths, bone-dry from the summer heat, mark the names and the dates of instant tragedy. And as Montgomery County struggles to build and improve roads, the memorials keep appearing.

Since 2010, the county has seen 305 motor vehicle fatalities, the eighth-most of the 254 counties in the state during that period, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.

While the county ranks 11th in population among 254 counties in Texas, it has the second-most vehicle fatalities per capita with 12.5 deaths per 100,000 people, based on a statistical analysis conducted by Community Impact Newspaper.

Erik Burse, public information officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said one of the main reasons for the high number of fatalities on county roads is the rapid increase in population the county has experienced.

“The county is growing and nothing is changing,” he said. “The roadways are still the same. You have more drivers on the road than you had 10-15 years ago.”

According to the Houston-Galveston Area Council, Montgomery County’s population has increased 13 percent over the past five years from 459,421 in 2010 to 518,947 in 2014. Meanwhile, traffic at the FM 1488 and Hwy. 242 intersection has increased 50 percent, according to a traffic study conducted by The Woodlands Development Company.

Montgomery County will seek voter approval for a $280 million road bond package Nov. 3 that, in part, is designed to alleviate traffic congestion due to population growth.

Curbing drunken driving

On Sept. 22, a three-vehicle accident in the 15600 block of Hwy. 105 in Conroe led to the deaths of Roland and Melinda Sedlmeier as well as a 6-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl.

Hwy. 105 is among the five most common roadways for fatality accidents in Montgomery County, according to data provided by the Montgomery County sheriff’s office.

On those five roadways, which also include I-45, FM 1314, Hwy. 242 and FM 2090, there have been more than 73 fatal accidents over the past five years, an average of nearly 15 per year.

Ronald Cooper, 68, was arrested on four counts of intoxicated manslaughter and two counts of intoxicated assault in relation to the accident, which is still under investigation, according to the Conroe Police Department.

In 2014, 593 fatal accidents in Texas were caused by motorists driving under the influence of alcohol, more than any other cause reported by TxDOT. Over the past five years, there have been 101 fatal accidents in Montgomery County as a result of a motorist driving under the influence, according to TxDOT.

One longtime effort to curb drunken driving is the Shattered Lives program, which presents a mock drunken driving accident scene to high school students.

“Both of my daughters in high school participated in Shattered Lives, but you still saw some of those young people perish in major accidents,” County Judge Craig Doyal said. “Above anything, if [Shattered Lives] doesn’t have an impact, I don’t know what else could.”

Road safety

Compared to interstates and U.S. and state highways, farm-to-market and county roads are the site of about 70 percent of fatal vehicle crashes in the county, according to TxDOT. Doyal said much of the county features rural roads, which are often poorly lit two-lane roads.

“A lot of our roads are historically pretty rural and not designed to accommodate the volume of traffic we’re seeing today,” he said.

Farm-to-market and county roads in Montgomery County are the site of about 70 percent of fatal vehicle crashes, TxDOT spokesperson Danny Perez said.

Perez said the agency redesigns roadways—depending on available funding—if they become dangerous.

“We do this by program calls for construction, maintenance and operations for added safety features, such as widening, rumble strips, added signage, signalization, surface treatment [and] access management,” he said.

Doyal said the county has  also stepped up its efforts to cut down on the number of drivers traveling at a high rate of speed.

“We try to do everything we can to get people to slow down,” he said. “It just boils down to people being in a hurry and being distracted—looking at their radios or sending a text.”