New Mexico

Torrance Co. leads as most dangerous for motorists. See what other counties made the list.

Published

2 years ago

May 1, 2024

Torrance Co. leads as most dangerous for motorists. See what other counties made the list.

Motorists traveling through Torrance County in central New Mexico are at a greater risk of injury or death by traffic accident, according to an analysis of fatal crash data.

H&P Law, a for-profit Las Vegas-based personal injury law firm analyzed data from Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the Federal Highway Administration (FWHA) on the number of licensed drivers in New Mexico from 2017 through 2021 involved in fatal crashes, ranking the analysis’ results based on a 10,000 county population scale.

With a population of 15,000 people, Torrance County had 39 fatal crashes from 2017 until 2021, according to the analysis ― that’s a rate of 25.7 fatal crashes per 10,000 licensed drivers. That’s 126% above the state average of 11.36 per 10,000 people.

And Torrance County isn’t alone when it comes to rural roads in the state that allegedly pose a danger, though James Murray, spokesperson for the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) District 5, said the analysis does not show the progress made to secure drivers who travel New Mexico roads.

Among the Top 10 “most dangerous counties” were Cibola, Socorro, McKinley, Sierra, Luna, Colfax, Quay, Taos and Rio Arriba.

New Mexico Department of Transportation challenges findings

Murray said NMDOT works to maintain state roads in Torrance County, helping to keep motorists safe and their vehicles in good condition.

“Just a few of the things our patrols do on a daily basis includes pothole repairs, mowing the grass on the shoulders to improve visibility, sweeping up dirt and dust from the shoulders to improve drivability,” he said.

Murray said in District 5, which encompasses Santa Fe and surrounding area, crews also repair right of way fences to prevent large animals from entering the roadway along with sealing roads to preserve structural integrity.

Interstate 40 starts in Wilmington, North Carolina and travels through Tucumcari, Albuquerque, Gallup and Grants and ends in Barstow, California.

“Almost 60 miles of I-40 runs through Torrance County and that it is a heavily travelled stretch of road, especially for large vehicles,” Murray said. That’s why the State in 2023 invested in completing a repaving project of 40 lane miles of roadway, which was removed and replaced, he said.

Other rural New Mexico counties make list for high rates of fatal crashes

Located west of Albuquerque, Cibola County, which ranked second in highest number of reported fatal crashes per population, reportedly had an average of 23.2 fatal crashes per 10,000 people.

Socorro County, ranked third, had a rate of 18.2 fatal accidents per 10,000 residents with 105 fatal crashes across the five-year period included in the analysis.

“The conditions of our roads are of great concern to me and I am troubled to see that Socorro County ranks among the most dangerous counties for drivers,” said State Sen. Crystal Diamond Brantley (R-35).

Brantley, of Elephant Butte, lives in Sierra County. With a population of around 11,000 people, Sierra County had 19 traffic crash deaths from 2017 to 2021 ― that’s a rate of 16.5 crashes per 10,000, and according to the analysis ranked fifth behind McKinley County at fourth with a rate of 17.1.

“In recent years, the (New Mexico) Legislature has prioritized our transportation infrastructure, and this past Legislative Session, we appropriated $205 million for road projects across the state,” Brantley said.

“However, this just a drop in the bucket when you consider the needs statewide.”

Brantley is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, and her District encompasses Luna and Sierra counties – both on the most dangerous list – as well as Hidalgo County and Doña Ana County.

Increased investment needed for New Mexico highways

Brantley said New Mexico’s interstates, interchanges and bridges can pose a hazard to public safety.

“We must ensure that the needs of rural New Mexico are not overlooked,” she said.

A report released in early 2024 by the Washington, D.C.-based National Transportation Research Group (TRIP) noted a lack of sufficient funding for transportation in New Mexico, a fact that made it difficult to maintain and improve the existing transportation infrastructure in the state.

“Increased investment in transportation improvements could relieve traffic congestion, improve road, bridge and transit conditions, boost safety, and support long-term economic growth in New Mexico,” read part of TRIP’s report.

The cost of deteriorated, congested and unsafe conditions across New Mexico’s roads and bridges can reach as high as $3.3 billion each year, according to TRIP, placing a financial burden on motorists, in addition to lost time and vehicle wear and tear.

From 2018 to 2022, 2,162 people were killed in traffic crashes in New Mexico. In 2022, New Mexico had 1.77 traffic fatalities for every 100 million miles traveled, the third highest rate in the nation and significantly higher than the national average of 1.35, according to the report.

New Mexico’s safest counties for drivers

The news isn’t all bad as Los Alamos was ranked the safest county for drivers in New Mexico in the same analysis.

Doña Ana was second with only 4.6 accidents per 10,000. Sandoval County was third with a rate of 5.2 and Otero was fourth with 5.9 incidents per 10,000 people.

The rest of the Top 10 safest list was rounded out with Valencia, Santa Fe, Curry, Chaves, Bernalillo and San Miguel.

Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5546 or by email at MSmith@currentargus.com or @ArgusMichae on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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New Mexico

2 killed in New Mexico plane crash, investigation ongoing

Published

17 hours ago

November 28, 2025

Press Room

2 killed in New Mexico plane crash, investigation ongoing

A private plane that was last known to be near the Alamogordo White Sands Regional Airport, roughly 60 miles northeast of Las Cruces, crashed sometime after takeoff around 11:30 a.m. Nov. 26.
The plane was found burned with two bodies inside near Cloudcroft, New Mexico, on Nov. 27.
The crash follows high-profile aviation incidents around the country in 2025, including a commercial plane crash that killed 67 in January and a UPS cargo plane crash that killed 14 in November.

Two people were killed in a private plane crash in southern New Mexico ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

The plane took off around 11:30 a.m. Nov. 26 and was scheduled to return to its “airport of origin” an hour later, according to New Mexico State Police.

Officials didn’t specify what airport that was, though they said the plane was last known to be near the Alamogordo White Sands Regional Airport, around 60 miles northeast of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

A family member of one of the passengers reported the plane missing after the person didn’t return from the flight, according to KOAT-TV in Albuquerque.

Search and rescue personnel found the plane on the morning of Nov. 27 near Cloudcroft, New Mexico, a small community within the Lincoln National Forest that’s just over a dozen miles away from the Alamogordo White Sands Regional Airport.

New Mexico State Police, the Alamogordo police and fire departments and New Mexico Search and Rescue were among the agencies involved in the effort.

The plane was found burned with two bodies inside. The names of the deceased were not immediately made public.

The incident was listed as an accidental crash on the National Transportation Safety Board’s incident database as of Nov. 28. An investigation is ongoing.

Incident follows other plane crashes in 2025

The New Mexico crash comes toward the end of a tumultuous year for aviation.

A mid-air collision between a commercial passenger jet and a military helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., killed 67 people in January. It marked the first high-profile commercial aviation crash since 2009, when a commercial plane crashed near Buffalo, New York, killing 50 people.

Two more people were killed several weeks after the Potomac River crash when two fixed-wing, single-engine planes crashed mid-air near Marana, Arizona.

Earlier in November, a UPS cargo plane burst into flames and crashed shortly after takeoff in Louisville, Kentucky, killing 14 people.

Amid flight and airport chaos stemming from the historic government shutdown, President Donald Trump pledged on Nov. 10 that the United States would soon be “getting the finest air traffic control system anywhere in the world.”

Trump did not provide many details but said companies including IBM and Raytheon were bidding to build the new national infrastructure.

“…We’re going to pick the best one, and it’ll get built relatively quickly, and we’re going to have the greatest air traffic control system anywhere in the world,” he said.

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New Mexico

Thanksgiving evening forecast

Published

1 day ago

November 27, 2025

Press Room

Details affecting local, regional and national news events of the day are provided by the Eyewitness News 4 Team, as well as updates on weather and traffic.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The weather is expected to be quiet Friday with mostly sunny skies and temperatures a little warmer than usual.

A backdoor cold front will bring low temperatures into the teens and 20s overnight Saturday.

Some slick and icy roads are expected from snow across the northern and west central high terrain from Sunday night into Monday morning.

Early next week, colder weather will bring high temperatures slightly below average in western and central New Mexico.

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