NBC 5 DFW is reporting that a look at drivers on Central Expressway in Dallas shows the 119 mph allegedly driven by an NFL player in the moments before a stunning high-profile crash last March, may not be that uncommon.
For several months NBC 5 DFW Investigates has reported on the number of high-speed crashes along U.S. 75. This major thoroughfare runs north out of downtown Dallas where the Texas Department of Transportation raised the speed limit to 70 mph and where the number of tickets written by the Dallas Police Department dropped sharply in some recent years.
NBC 5 DFW Investigates returned to Central Expressway with our colleague Don Peritz, a retired traffic commander with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department.
Peritz used lidar to clock drivers at three locations along Central Expressway between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. on a recent Monday night. At least a dozen times drivers topped 100 mph, some hitting speeds of 115 mph or more. Another driver was clocked at a shocking 133 mph, 63 mph over the legal speed limit.
We showed our video to Dallas City Councilmember Paul Ridley who represents neighborhoods that run adjacent to the expressway.
“I’m very concerned. And this is the first time that I’ve seen empirical evidence of people speeding that fast on Central Expressway,” Ridley said.
The city councilman said his concerns were magnified by the recent crash involving Kansas City Chiefs player Rashee Rice, who police said was driving 119 mph before a chain-reaction crash that injured several people in March.