I recently attended the funeral of a 29-year-old Dallas native, Emma Hackney, who was tragically killed in a car crash in the Turtle Creek area. Her picture appeared on the front page of The Dallas Morning News in December. Investigators say her car was struck by a sedan traveling at high speed. A man has been charged with intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle and intoxicated assault with a vehicle.
Emma was one of my daughter’s best friends and also a good friend of mine. I knew her her whole life.
Dallas drivers have historically been known as the friendly drivers who are slow to honk and quick to wave. I believe more robust policing can help bring us back to those days.
I understand police are rightly focused on crime, and we don’t want to change that. But in the meantime, innocent people are being killed by red-light runners and speeders.
Opinion
I have a message for Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux: Help us! People are dying needlessly. Curtailing this out-of-control driving can make a huge positive impact on our city and can be a part of your legacy.
As a lifetime citizen of Dallas, I am witnessing unprecedented reckless and lawless driving as I’ve never seen before. It seems Dallas drivers are aware that DPD is too busy to police this problem, so they are hitting the gas pedal when the brake is needed. I drive all day as part of my work and rarely witness a DPD traffic stop. Dallas drivers seem to have no fear of getting caught. We need those DPD motorcycle cops and units to proactively police our traffic.
The two biggest areas of concern are:
Traffic lights: I encourage you to sit at any major Dallas intersection and count the number of cars that cross in front of you after the light turns green. A yellow traffic light seems to have little impact on drivers, and too often, a red light seems to mean speed up to some drivers. It used to be that drivers who were late through a red light looked in their rearview mirror, fearing they were seen. Today, I fear they are speeding ahead to run the next one!
Speeding: I’m not saying that speeding hasn’t always been prevalent, but today the speed limits are commonly being exceeded by 15-20 mph. Not only is speeding killing our citizens, but I suspect it’s the biggest reason why Dallas has, on average, an astounding 95 crashes per day.
This needs to change. We need more police enforcement on the streets.
Thomas T. Lynn is chairman of NAI Robert Lynn, a commercial real estate company based in Dallas.