Council Member Paula Blackmon and Police Chief Eddie Garcia have teamed up to warn East Dallas drivers about the dangers of speeding in a new video spot.
“The men and women of the Dallas Police Department are doing what they can by educating drivers about our traffic laws and enforcing them. But we need the public’s help, too,” Garcia says in the PSA released earlier this week.
“Driving the speed limit is something you have control over, so please slow down, pay attention, and stay alert,” adds Blackmon.
Dallas regularly appears on lists ranking the most dangerous places to drive in the United States, as The Dallas Express has extensively covered. The metro area has a traffic fatality rate of over 17 deaths per 100,000 people annually, the eighth highest nationwide behind cities like Baltimore, Memphis, and Chicago.
Moreover, data from 2020 to 2022 shows the city’s traffic fatality rate for collisions involving drinking and driving as 6.25 per 100,000 and 5.69 per 100,000 for those involving speeding.
Forbes Advisor ranked Dallas the ninth worst city for driving and the 10th worst for overall safety.
However, Council Member Blackmon’s District 9 sees considerably higher numbers of traffic-related incidents than other council districts due to it hosting several major highways connecting Dallas with North Texas suburbs. Since increasing its presence on these East Dallas corridors in December 2023, DPD has issued over 300 citations along Peavy and Mockingbird, most of which were for speeding, per a City news release.
“We will continue to work with DPD, the Dallas Department of Transportation, and TxDOT to conduct traffic studies across our district to help come up with solutions to prevent speeding and speeding-related injuries and deaths,” Blackmon says in the video.
“Let’s all do our part and slow down,” adds Garcia, after which he and Blackmon conclude the video by saying, “Together, we will keep Dallas safe.”