Residents along Harvest Hill Road, near the Dallas Tollway and Midway, have been struggling with motorists speeding at hazardous speeds for the past decade.
After several vehicles have driven into their properties, residents are seeking change after reporting that speeding is so common that they no longer feel safe in their homes.
One resident, Susan Martinez, heard a crash in the front of her house one February afternoon.
“Then there was like an explosion,” she said. “I got up and went running in there to see what was going on. The truck with the guy in it was in our sitting room.”
Martinez’s elderly mother had been sitting in that room just 15 minutes before the crash.
On Harvest Hill Road, nearly every resident has been the victim of such an accident. At least 11 cars have hit homes or parked cars over the last ten years.
Although the speed limit is 30 mph, it is rarely obeyed, said residents.
Between March and December 2020, 480 people died in car crashes in Dallas, Denton, Collin, and Tarrant counties.
In 2021, the US Department of Transportation revealed that pedestrian deaths now account for one in five traffic fatalities.
“We need help to stop these people that are speeding down our street,” said James Humpert, a resident of Harvest Hill Road.
Humpert’s surveillance cameras caught footage of the most recent accident. Early Saturday, a motorist drove off Harvest Hill Road and collided with Humpert’s brother’s parked Jeep.
Humpert says he is concerned about the neighborhood kids.
“People don’t let them out their front yards because of the way traffic is,” he said.
The residents have appealed to Dallas officials and signed a petition. Gay Donnell Willis, Council Member, said a reconstruction project in the area is set to end soon. After which the Transportation Department will evaluate and assess other options.
Speed cushions or additional road signage are potential options for making Harvest Hill safer.
“They don’t just take a cookie cutter approach. They’re going to go and assess exactly what traffic counts are, what the behaviors currently are that need to be modified so they can come up with the best solution for Harvest Hill,” said Willis.
Dallas Police Department has also been asked to focus its efforts on the area until the city can create a safer environment. Residents are still concerned and note the high importance of protecting their neighborhood.
“Someone’s going to get killed. At the rate it’s going, someone’s going to get killed,” said Martinez.
