Drivers will see lower speed limit signs on U.S. 75/Central Expressway from Downtown Dallas to Mockingbird Lane. Lower limits are also posted now on Loop 12 in Southern Dallas. NBC 5 senior investigative reporter Scott Friedman reports lower speeds are just the beginning of safety changes on the way after our Driven to Death investigative series.
Starting Thursday, drivers in North Texas will see new, lower speeds along Central Expressway near Downtown Dallas and on Loop 12 in Southern Dallas. The changes come after NBC 5 Investigates shined a light on the deadly crashes and dangerous speeds driven on those busy roadways.
Less than a month after the Dallas City Council voted to change the speed limit on Central Expressway, the signs making the change enforceable were swapped out on Thursday. According to a city map, speeds were dropped from 70 mph to 65 mph along U.S. Highway 75 between Mockingbird Lane and downtown.
The changes to the speed limit on Central Expressway come after NBC 5 Investigates clocked drivers hitting speeds of 130 mph earlier this year as part of our "Driven to Death" investigative series. The reporting revealed that at least 18 people have died and 78 more were seriously injured in speed-related crashes on Central Expressway in Dallas in less than five years.
While road safety experts said a speed limit change alone may not change driver behavior, it will allow police to write more substantial tickets at a lower speed threshold. With a 65 mph speed limit, drivers could be arrested and their vehicles impounded for traveling above 95 mph.
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Those experts told NBC 5 Investigates the 70 mph speed limit was unusually high for a freeway running into the heart of a major U.S. city. TxDOT increased the limit from 65 mph to 70 mph nine years ago, saying the higher speeds would help alleviate congestion.
Central Expressway also received national attention for high speeds in March after a crash involving Kansas City Chief’s wide receiver Rashee Rice. Police said Rice was driving a Lamborghini at 119 mph in the seconds before a crash that injured at least four people.
Last week, NBC 5 Investigates reported that police in Allen and the Collin County Sheriff's Office were warning drivers that they would face more than a traffic ticket and risk arrest if they were clocked driving at triple-digit speeds.
SPEED LOWERED ALONG LOOP 12 IN SOUTHERN DALLAS
The city also reduced the speed limit on part of Loop 12 in Southern Dallas from 45 mph to 40 mph.
With new signs installed, the 40 mph speed limit is now enforceable along Ledbetter/Loop 12 between South RL Thornton Freeway and Bonnie View Road/Sunnyvale Street, where Ledbetter becomes Great Trinity Forest Way.
The 40 mph zone continues east from the intersection of Loop 12/Great Trinity Forest Way and Bonnie View Road/Sunnvyale Street to Wadsworth Drive.
According to records obtained by NBC 5 Investigates, with 15 fatal crashes, including six pedestrians killed in the last year, Loop 12 is the deadliest road in the city. Just last weekend, a crash on Loop 12 involving a driver who allegedly had been drinking and speeding left six children injured, including one critically.
City officials said dropping the speed on Loop 12 was only part of the solution and may not be enough to change driver behavior alone.
The North Central Texas Council of Governments told NBC 5 Investigates that it is now working with the Texas Department of Transportation to implement dozens of new road safety strategies on Loop 12, including altering the road.
One of the new signs spotted by NBC 5 Investigates on Thursday was wrapped in red reflective tape to draw attention to the new sign.
