# Speed Demons of DFW: North Texas Drivers Sound Alarm Over Reckless Driving Epidemic
Motorists across the Dallas-Fort Worth region are raising their voices about a problem they say has become impossible to ignore on area highways and neighborhood streets alike: excessive speeding. From congested expressways to quiet residential corridors, drivers report a growing sense that traffic laws have become optional for many behind the wheel, prompting new scrutiny from local officials, transportation planners, and law enforcement agencies.
## A Region-Wide Frustration
The complaints span the Metroplex, but a common thread runs through them — drivers feel less safe than they used to. Regional transportation leaders have acknowledged the trend is real and not just a perception problem. ,”It’s gotten out of hand,” said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments., Morris has pointed to a surge in speeds that took hold during the pandemic and never fully receded, a shift that has left highway patrols scrambling to catch up.
,Morris said his agency is ready to help fund more patrols with unmarked cars to help tackle speeds that have soared since the COVID-19 pandemic., The strategy, according to Morris, isn’t meant to be a secret. ,His agency’s plan is to advertise enforcement efforts in advance, telling the public exactly what’s coming and then bringing as much enforcement as possible so drivers understand officials are serious.,
## Cracking Down on the Worst Offenders
In cities like Allen, that promise is already playing out on the ground. Officers have begun ticketing — and in extreme cases, arresting — drivers caught traveling at triple-digit speeds. ,A crackdown on speeding is underway in North Texas, with police putting drivers in jail if they’re clocked driving at triple-digit speeds., During one patrol shift along U.S. Highway 75, an Allen police officer stopped a driver going more than 90 mph, part of a broader push to curb the kind of reckless driving that has turned stretches of Central Expressway into a hotspot for high-speed incidents.
Local leaders have taken notice. ,After reporting on extreme speeds along U.S. 75 in Dallas, a city councilman called on the Texas Department of Transportation to reevaluate the posted speed limit on Central Expressway., But transportation safety experts caution that adjusting speed limit signage alone may not solve the underlying issue. ,Safety experts admit that a lower speed limit may not be enough of a deterrent for drivers already willing to drive more than 100 mph, and they caution that road design changes are often more effective at reducing speeds., Still, ,a lower speed limit would allow police to impose stiffer penalties and arrest extreme speeders at a lower threshold.,
The stakes go beyond citations. Fire officials say slower speeds directly translate into fewer catastrophic wrecks and better outcomes for first responders. ,”If we can reduce these high speed, high impact crashes, that’s beneficial to everyone,” said Jonathan Boyd, Allen Fire Chief.,
## Not Just the Highways
While triple-digit speeds on major freeways grab headlines, residents say the problem is just as pressing on neighborhood streets. In East Dallas, the Abrams Road corridor has become a flashpoint for community frustration. City data shows the stretch saw a significant number of wrecks in recent years, with speed cited as a contributing factor in a meaningful share of them. ,Speed was a factor in 20% of the total crashes between 2021-25, along the corridor, according to a city-commissioned study. Longtime residents describe daily encounters with speeding drivers who treat the two-lane road like a major thoroughfare. ,One resident who lives near the corridor said people treat the road like a six-lane highway, even though it isn’t one., Another neighbor described near-constant police presence without much relief. ,”The cops are in front of my house every day. They cannot even pull over all the people speeding,” she said during a recent town hall.,
## Even the Passing Lane Isn’t Exempt
Viewers and commuters have also flagged a related irritation that compounds the speeding problem: drivers who linger in the left lane while going far too slow, or use it as an excuse to go far too fast. Traffic experts note that Texas law doesn’t treat the passing lane as a speed-limit-free zone. ,Even in the passing lane, drivers are still required to obey the posted speed limit, and using the left lane to pass does not give anyone permission to exceed it., At the same time, ,traffic experts say when slower vehicles linger in the left lane, it disrupts the natural flow of traffic and can create dangerous bottlenecks, which is why slower drivers are expected to stay in the right-hand lanes., On certain high-speed highways, that rule carries real legal weight. ,TxDOT requires “Left Lane for Passing Only” signage on highways posted at 75 mph or higher, and those signs carry the force of law., Violators can face financial consequences as well. ,TxDOT notes that impeding traffic flow in the left lane can result in a fine of up to $200.,
## What Comes Next
Local governments appear to be responding to the mounting pressure. ,Across the Metroplex, transportation officials are now promising to pour millions of additional dollars into police departments to help them target speeders., In Allen, that funding model has already proven self-sustaining. ,Allen police said the cost of overtime pay needed to run extra speed patrols is covered by the fines drivers pay, allowing the department to add more officers to highway patrols without pulling resources from city streets.,
For frustrated commuters and neighborhood residents alike, the message from both drivers and officials is the same: North Texas roads have gotten faster and more dangerous in recent years, and closing that gap will likely require a combination of stepped-up enforcement, smarter road design, and a cultural shift among drivers themselves. As cities like Dallas continue studying high-crash corridors and departments like Allen expand patrol funding, the coming months are expected to bring more visible enforcement — and, officials hope, fewer of the high-speed crashes that have alarmed residents across the region.
Drivers who want to report speeding or unsafe conditions in their own neighborhoods can contact their local police department, submit concerns through TxDOT’s reporting tools for state highways, or reach out directly to city council members, many of whom have shown a willingness to intervene once alerted to specific problem areas.