Bradley James Nelson was riding his yellow BMW motorcycle north on FM 1413, a quiet two-lane country road east of Houston in Liberty County.

For an "unknown reason," Nelson, 63, slammed into the back of a stopped car that was waiting in the main lane to turn left onto a small private road, according to a Liberty County sheriff's deputy. The impact killed Nelson instantly; the driver of the vehicle he hit was not injured. Witnesses said Nelson had sped past them, weaving between the edge of the road and the center stripe.

The crash was the first fatality in a typical week on the streets across the nine-county region surrounding Houston. By the end of the seven-day stretch beginning June 8, drivers would crash at least 2,777 times, according to state traffic records. In 40 of those incidents, someone would be seriously injured. In 11 crashes, at least one person would die.

About this story: On average, 640 people die on Houston-area roads every year, making the region, by almost any measure, the most deadly major metro area in the country in which to drive, a Chronicle analysis reveals. So we set out in early June to learn more about why driving in Houston is so deadly, reporting on each fatal accident for a week. The seven-day stretch from June 8 to June 14 was chosen to encompass a full weekend and an average week that did not have any holidays that might affect traffic patterns. About the series: "Out of Control" is an occasional series that explores why the Houston area is such a dangerous place to drive. Part 1: Houston's roads, drivers are country's most deadly



Later in September: Driving drunk and drugged

The week turned out to be utterly average: 12 people died in the grisly maw of commuting, distracted driving and collisions with tow trucks and other vehicles.

Drivers, nearly all men, would crash on city streets and highways, on small county roads and along the region's hundreds of miles of parkways. Victims included an 11-year-old boy, a standout high school baseball player and a 71-year-old travel enthusiast.

OUT OF CONTROL: Houston's roads, drivers are country's most deadly

Firefighters, police officers and paramedics hurried to crash scenes, prying victims out of mangled cars, desperately working to save lives. In some cases, they would rush them to local hospitals. Other times, it was too late: Other drivers would inch to a standstill, gawking at the mayhem, wasting time and fuel as traffic stalled for hours.

Families and loved ones of the 12 victims would gather in churches and living rooms and roadside vigils to search for answers and mourn lives snuffed out too early, victims of drivers traveling too quickly, too carelessly, or impaired by one too many drinks.

"It's like murder," said Paul Taylor Sr. of League City, whose son was killed by an inattentive driver on June 9. "When you climb behind the wheel of a vehicle, you're in charge of that vehicle."

Click below to view this story as interactive map or scroll down.

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Friday, 5:30 p.m.: The same day Nelson died, Brendan Tyler Belt of Winnie was driving north on a strip of rural highway in Chambers County. Belt drifted off the right side of the two-lane road, then overcorrected, veering west across the pavement off the road. Belt, who was driving at an "unsafe speed," according to an accident report, hit a tree.

Rescuers flew him to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he died. He was 18.

Friday, 10 p.m.: Four-and-a-half hours later, a man in a black Ford F-150 in northwest Houston, headed north on Wirt, a major, four-lane road with medians and turn lanes bisecting a swath of northwest Houston suburbia. At the intersection of Hammerly Boulevard, the driver pulled into the turn lane and turned left. According to police, he failed to yield at the intersection's flashing yellow signal and slammed headfirst into a southbound silver Honda Civic carrying five people, including three children aged 11, 6 and 4.

REPORT THE PROBLEM: Want to see Houston drivers slow down?

Ambulance crews took the 11-year-old, Alexander Lee Mendiola, and the other children to Memorial Hermann Hospital, but weren't able to save the young boy. The two other children survived.

The driver has not been charged with any crime; according to prosecutors, the case is still being investigated.

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Unanswered questions

Saturday, June 9, 2:54 a.m.: Later that evening, Roberto Antonio Alas, 47, was driving a white Honda Accord on the North Sam Houston Parkway, an eight-lane divided toll road that loops around the outer edges of Houston. Ahead of him, a wrecker driver had arrived at a crash scene, parking sideways across the toll road's middle lanes to shield the area from oncoming traffic.

The truck driver and father of four apparently did not see the wrecker's emergency lights and slammed into the truck. A Houston police officer who responded to the wreck attributed the crash to Alas' failure to control speed on the road — which has a speed limit of 65 mph — though it's not clear how fast Alas was going.

Alas died at the scene. Stephany Diana Alas, Alas' 20-year-old daughter, said she was told that her father was texting at the time of the crash and that he had been drinking beforehand. A copy of his autopsy shows his blood-alcohol content was between three and four times the legal limit.

She wonders why her father, a professional driver who texted photos from far-off assignments, would have driven impaired and possibly distracted.

"I wish that last day I could have hugged him as hard as I could and told him 'I love you,' " she said, choking up as she spoke. "And 'be careful and be safe.' "

Saturday, 4:59 a.m.: Thirty-five miles southeast, Paul Taylor Jr. was driving home early in the morning when he spotted a disabled Toyota Prius parked on the outside lane of FM 646, a major four-lane road cutting through Dickinson and League City.

The 26-year-old wrecker driver flipped on his emergency lights and pulled over. As Taylor was loading the disabled vehicle onto his truck, a man driving a black pickup careened up the lowered tow ramp. The pickup slammed into the Prius, then flipped off the ramp and hit Taylor, killing him.

Taylor's father wonders if the driver fell asleep or wasn't paying attention. And he wonders why, two months after the crash, police have yet to arrest the man who caused his son's death.

"I'm still baffled," he said. "I have so many unanswered questions."

League City police listed "driver inattention" as a factor in the crash, later saying that they believed the 48-year-old driver probably hadn't seen Taylor in the predawn darkness.

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'By the grace of God'

Saturday, 11:30 a.m.: As the sun rose over southeast Texas, the roads quieted for more than six hours. Then an 18-wheeler that was carrying a load of flammable fuel veered off Texas 249, a six-lane highway flanked by access roads in northwest Harris County. The southbound truck bounced across the grassy median, barreling down the access road and sparking a pileup involving more than 10 vehicles.

"It was just by the grace of God it didn't blow up," said Thomas Gilliland, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office. "There were cars everywhere."

The crash snarled traffic for hours. First responders flew the 18-wheeler's driver and another driver to local hospitals. Somehow, everyone survived. The sheriff's office said the driver might have had a stroke or that another medical event caused the crash.

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Saturday, 7:34 p.m.: Dustin Gerke, 17, sped along FM 1484, a rural two-lane road north of Conroe in Montgomery County with a speed limit of 55 mph. Gerke lost control of his silver Nissan Frontier on a bend near Landry Lane, sliding off the south side of the road.

According to a crash report, Gerke drove back onto the road, where his pickup skidded and rolled several times before finally coming to rest, upright, facing north. Gerke, a well-liked Caney Creek junior on the district's baseball team, died at the scene. First responders managed to extricate and save an 18-year-old female passenger who was injured, but not seriously.

In a crash report, Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Nicholas Phillips attributed the crash to unsafe speed and noted that Gerke had amphetamines and methamphetamines in his system as well as a small amount of alcohol.

Sunday, June 10, 6:30 a.m.: Eleven hours later, Julian Orozco crashed his Mitsubishi Eclipse in north Houston. Orozco, 21, was traveling west on East Mount Houston Road and veered into a ditch, striking a concrete culvert. Orozco wasn't wearing his seat belt and died from the crash's impact. A Harris County sheriff's deputy who investigated the crash attributed it to Orozco's failing to drive in a single lane.

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An unexpected wall

Tuesday, June 12, 1:55 p.m.: It would be two full days before the next fatal crash, this one in north Harris County.

A white Volkswagen Beetle driving on Interstate 69's high-occupancy vehicle lane took the road's elevated exit ramp 20 miles northeast of downtown. The VW's driver appeared unaware of the off-ramp's abrupt end into a T-shaped perpendicular intersection leading off the highway, however, and slammed on his brakes only a few feet from the concrete wall. The car crashed into the dead-end barrier wall, the impact forcing it over the edge of the wall. There, it hung precariously over traffic zooming on the highway 21.7 feet below.

Two of the vehicle's passengers, Ronald and Kimberly Willhide, ages 71 and 68, died in the crash. The vehicle's driver — a childhood friend of Ronald's — was seriously injured and flown to Memorial Hermann Hospital, according to a crash report and Willhide's brother, Russell.

Russell Willhide said his brother and sister-in-law had recently retired and were traveling the slow way back to Arizona from the East Coast, after stops in the Carolinas and New Orleans. Willhide said his brother and sister-in-law were due to return to Arizona weeks later.

It wouldn't be the last crash that day.

Tuesday, 11:43 p.m.: In Conroe, just a few minutes before midnight, James Martinez lost control of his Nissan Maxima on Crighton Road and smashed into a tree, tearing the car in half and wrapping around it. Martinez, 27, died at the scene of the crash. A Conroe police officer said speeding may have been a factor in the crash.

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More deaths

Wednesday, June 13, 6:12 a.m.: As the sun rose Wednesday morning, John Suggs III, 60, drove off FM 521 in Brazoria County, about 50 miles southwest of downtown Houston. Suggs, who had been traveling west, veered into a ditch, where his silver Toyota Tundra flipped over, smashing into a culvert and a tree, killing him. Troopers could smell alcohol emanating from the pickup, according to a DPS trooper who investigated the crash.

Wednesday, 3:45 p.m.: The last fatal crash of the seven-day period came in northwest Houston when two vehicles crashed at the intersection of Wheatley and Wilburforce. According to Houston police, Venson Blackmon was riding with his wife in their white Chevrolet Silverado pickup and failed to yield the right of way to a black Chevy Camaro at the intersection.

WORST ROADS: These perilous Houston intersections have speedy drivers, design quirks and lots of crashes

Paramedics rushed Blackmon to Ben Taub General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Both drivers also were taken to the hospital but survived, police said.

Blackmon's death was the 12th fatality of the seven-day stretch. In the following two months, crashes killed at least 74 more. If 2018 is typical, expect a couple hundred more by year's end.

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Tell us your story

Have a story about a dangerous speeder, a drunk driver, or an accident you witnessed? Want to weigh in on the design of Houston's roads, or a driver who just wouldn't stop texting? Have thoughts about making the region safer for pedestrians or cyclists? Share your story using this form.

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St. John Barned-Smith joined the Houston Chronicle in 2014 and covers public safety and major disasters. He has worked on two teams named Pulitzer finalists in recent years – for covering Hurricane Harvey and for helping show how Texas unlawfully denied education services to children with special needs. He previously reported in Philadelphia and Maryland and spent two years in the Peace Corps in Paraguay. Follow him on Twitter or email tips to st.john.smith@chron.com.

Godofredo A. Vasquez is a staff photographer for the Houston Chronicle, primarily covering breaking news. Godofredo was born in El Salvador but grew up in the Bay Area, where he attended San Francisco State University and graduated with a B.A. in Photojournalism. Before joining the Chronicle in early 2017, Godofredo spent two years working for the Corvallis Gazette-Times and the Albany Democrat-Herald in Oregon. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @godovasquez, or reach him by email at godofredo.vasquez@chron.com.

Design by Rachael Gleason

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