Residents of one neighborhood in Northeast Dallas said speeding drivers have converted their community into a “raceway.”
Dallasites who live off of Forest Lane and Woodbridge Drive are demanding that city leaders do more to stop the cars they say are constantly racing and speeding down the road all hours of the day, especially after one man died in an accident allegedly caused by racing.
“It’s a known raceway,” Lynne Rains, who has been living in the neighborhood for over 10 years, told WFAA.
Rains said that, over the course of three months, there were at least four major crashes, one of which was fatal.
The victim was walking and talking on the phone with his mother when a speeding driver hit and killed him, according to Rains. No arrests have been made.
“His car had broken down. He was walking to an Uber, and he may have stepped off the curb, and a car hit him. The car was going an [excess of] 90 mph,” Rains said.
Other accidents were also mentioned. In one, a man was reportedly speeding down a nearby road in mid-October, crashed into a wall, and was thrown from the car.
While city officials put up a flashing sign saying “slow down,” residents said that is not enough to stop speeding drivers.
“We need help. Safety is first with all the bus stops and the speeding cars. It’s terrifying to think of what can happen,” said Rains.
Residents of the area have even been forced to use their own money to fix brick walls damaged from crashes, WFAA reported.
Dallas has the second-highest traffic fatality rate among the 15 most populated U.S. cities, reaching 14 deaths per 100,000 people. Fort Worth ranks fourth.
City council created a task force to help reduce these fatalities in 2019, but the problem has only worsened in the three years since — Dallas had the fifth-highest rate of traffic fatalities when the task force was formed.
Alongside the issue comes an increase in many other categories of crime, especially auto-related offenses like thefts of motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
According to the downloadable data set made available by the City of Dallas Open Data website, 295 hazardous traffic violations were reported in December alone, a 17% increase over the same month the previous year.
It remains to be seen whether city leaders will get such car-related crimes under control to ensure the safety of Dallas’ pedestrians and motorists alike.