Road Rules

Close-to-home fatality reopens the debate: Should Texas ban texting and driving?

The Texas legislature will consider another statewide ban on texting and drivingearly next year.
A 19-year-old Montgomery County native and student at Texas A&M University,Chandler Small died early Wednesday morning in a single-car accident. Officialssay that she was texting and driving at the time.
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Early Wednesday morning, Chandler Small, a 19-year-old Montgomery County native and a student Texas A&M University, was returning to College Station from a visit to friends at Sam Houston State in Huntsville.

DPS officials say that she was pecking out a text message while speeding along Highway 30 when she lost control of her truck and flipped it several times. Although another motorist found the vehicle and law enforcement arrived soon after, Small died at the scene.

An estimated 1.3 million crashes were attributed to cell phone usage in 2011, accounting for nearly a quarter of all auto collisions that year.

Her tragic, close-to-home death again breaches the topic of distracted driving, a bad habit that too many of us can't seem to shake — even if it's just an errant "On my way!" at a stop sign or an odd "OMG" along a neighborhood street.

An estimated 1.3 million crashes were attributed to cell phone usage in 2011, accounting for nearly a quarter of all auto collisions that year. Although there are bans on phone usage in school zones and some city-specific stipulations that outlaw texting and driving, Texas doesn't have any comprehensive anti-texting laws on the books (unlike 39 states and the District of Columbia, where text messaging is banned for all drivers).

For the upcoming state legislative session, Rep. Tom Craddick from Midland has pre-filed a bill that would establish a statewide law against distracted driving — similar to the one that Gov. Rick Perry vetoed in 2011, calling it overreach and a "government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults."

Lawmakers will convene for the 83rd Legislative Session on Jan. 8, 2013. Would you support an outright ban on texting and driving?

Watch KHOU's full report on Small's recent accident below:

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h-town tenacity

Houston punches in as one of 2026's most hardworking American cities

Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash

Houstonians are hard workers.

Houston and its residents are proving their tenacity as some of the hardest-working Americans in 2026, so says a new study.

WalletHub's annual "Hardest-Working Cities in America (2026)" report ranked Houston the 37th most hardworking city nationwide. H-town last appeared as the 28th most industrious American city in 2025, but it still remains among the top 50.

The personal finance website evaluated 116 U.S. cities based on 11 key indicators across "direct" and "indirect" work factors, such as an individual's average workweek hours, average commute times, employment rates, and more.

The U.S. cities that comprised the top five include Cheyenne, Wyoming (No. 1); Anchorage, Alaska (No. 2); Washington, D.C. (No. 2); Sioux Falls, South Dakota (No. 4); and Irving, Texas (No. 5). Dallas and Austin also earned a spot among the top 10, landing as No. 7 and No. 10, respectively.

Based on the report's findings, Houston has the No. 31-best "direct work factors" ranking in the nation, which analyzed residents' average workweek hours, employment rates, the share of households where no adults work, the share of workers leaving vacation time unused, the share of "engaged" workers, and the rate of "idle youth" (residents aged 16-24 that are not in school nor have a job).

However, Houston lagged behind in the "indirect work factors" ranking, landing at No. 77 out of all 116 cities in the report. "Indirect" work factors that were considered include residents' average commute times, the share of workers with multiple jobs, the share of residents who participate in local groups or organizations, annual volunteer hours, and residents' average leisure time spent per day.

Based on data from The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), WalletHub said the average American employee works hundreds of more hours than workers residing in "several other industrialized nations."

"The typical American puts in 1,796 hours per year – 179 more than in Japan, 284 more than in the U.K., and 465 more than in Germany," the report's author wrote. "In recent years, the rise of remote work has, in some cases, extended work hours even further."

WalletHub also tracked the nation's lowest and highest employment rates based on the largest city in each state from 2009 to 2024.

Source: WalletHub

Other Texas cities that earned spots on the list include Fort Worth (No. 13), Corpus Christi (No. 14), Arlington (No. 15), Plano (No. 17), Laredo (No. 22), Garland (No. 24), El Paso (No. 43), Lubbock (No. 46), and San Antonio (No. 61).

Data for this study was sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Travel Association, Gallup, Social Science Research Council, and the Corporation for National & Community Service as of January 29, 2026.

austin reports wallethub