Dallas is seeing a dramatic decline in traffic deaths on the street that used to be the city’s deadliest.
NBC 5 Investigates spent years pinpointing dangers on Loop 12 in Southern Dallas, prompting the city and state to redesign intersections and increase traffic enforcement.
Senior investigative reporter Scott Friedman posted a video today about the progress on Loop 12 and citywide, with new stats highlighted today at a Dallas City Council meeting.
Here are the headline numbers: In just one year, from 2024 to 2025, Dallas had a 19% drop in fatal crashes citywide. And, so far this year, there have been 38 fatal crashes, two fewer than at this time last year.
What’s more remarkable are the numbers on Loop 12, where the city and state focused so much attention after our NBC 5 Investigates series, Driven to Death. That’s where the city reports a 52% drop in fatal crashes over the last year, down from 25 in 2024.
This year, so far, only three fatalities on Loop 12. But none of those happened on southern loop 12.
Remember that’s where the city installed new crosswalks and traffic signals at 16 locations, and DART moved bus stops closer to signals to help people cross the busy road safely.
Dallas Police also dramatically increased speed patrols, writing thousands of tickets on Loop 12 after our series of reports.
On Monday, one Dallas City Council Member said the recent successes showed that the city staff should focus on the data and address the deadliest locations first.
“I hope you ignore us. I hope you say I don’t care what you say, we have the data and I hope you fix the most dangerous places,” said Dallas City Councilmember Cara Mendelsohn. “And I don’t care what district they are in. If they are all in one district and it’s not mine, I don’t care.”
But while some council members celebrated successes on Monday, others noted there is still a ton of room for improvement.
Dallas still has a long way to go to if it is ever going to reach the lofty Vision Zero Traffic safety program goal it set for zero deaths by 2030.
Council Member Chad West questioned Dr. Ghassan “Gus” Khankarli, the city’s transportation director, on Monday about whether he’s allocating enough resources to implement Vision Zero plans on more deadly roads.
“A $12 million budget in your department and only one person assigned to Vision Zero, to me, there’s a disconnect,” said West.
“I will again answer the question by saying I have other programs and other items that feed into Vision Zero, and it is not a one-person, one-off program,” said Khankarli.
The transportation department already has plans for improvements to other roads, such as Skillman, Abrams and Ferguson, with projects aimed at reducing high speeds and deaths.
The data shows speeding is still the number one cause of deadly crashes in Dallas.