{"id":376369,"date":"2026-07-17T03:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T03:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/376369\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T03:00:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T03:00:19","slug":"tx-anti-speeding-campaign-features-story-of-fort-worth-teen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/376369\/","title":{"rendered":"TX anti-speeding campaign features story of Fort Worth teen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Shaundi Photo 1_fitted.jpeg\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"674\" title=\"Shaundi Smallwood, a 19-year-old from Fort Worth who was heading home from Six Flags with his friends in 2022, died after his SUV was struck from behind by a Camaro going 157 mph on Interstate 20, according to TxDOT.\" alt=\"Shaundi Smallwood, a 19-year-old from Fort Worth who was heading home from Six Flags with his friends in 2022, died after his SUV was struck from behind by a Camaro going 157 mph on Interstate 20, according to TxDOT.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Shaundi Smallwood, a 19-year-old from Fort Worth who was heading home from Six Flags with his friends in 2022, died after his SUV was struck from behind by a Camaro going 157 mph on Interstate 20, according to TxDOT.<\/p>\n<p>            Courtesy of Smallwood family<\/p>\n<p>The Texas Department of Transportation\u2019s anti-speeding campaign that begins Saturday, July 18, features the story of a Fort Worth teen who was killed in a 2022 crash.<\/p>\n<p>TxDOT is partnering with law enforcement agencies on Operation Slowdown to <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.star-telegram.com\/news\/state\/texas\/article316434754.html\">increase patrols<\/a> and reduce speeding on Texas highways from July 18 to Aug. 2.<\/p>\n<p>Speeding is the No. 1 contributing factor to crashes in Texas, and plays a role in nearly one third of traffic fatalites statewide.<\/p>\n<p>TxDOT is launching their <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.txdot.gov\/safety\/traffic-safety-campaigns\/be-safe-drive-smart\/safe-speed.html\">Be Safe Drive Smart<\/a> campaign with those numbers in mind.<\/p>\n<p>The campaign is inspired by the death of Shaundi Smallwood, a 19-year-old from Fort Worth who was heading home from Six Flags with his friends when his SUV was struck from behind by a Camaro going 157 mph on Interstate 20, according to TxDOT.<\/p>\n<p>Smallwood was pronounced dead at the scene and the other passengers suffered broken bones and severe burns. The driver of the Camaro, Bryce Keith Abernathy, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.star-telegram.com\/news\/state\/texas\/article316434754.html\">was sentenced to eight years<\/a> in prison. He was charged with manslaughter and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and pleaded guilty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s not a day goes by that I don\u2019t think about my son and how much I love him and miss him,\u201d said Stephenie Smallwood, Shaundi\u2019s mother, in a statement. \u201cI\u2019m participating in this speeding awareness campaign because I don\u2019t want another family to go through the pain that my family and I have endured \u2014 all because somebody made the reckless choice to speed. I hope other drivers will hear my son Shaundi\u2019s story and slow down on Texas roads.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>TxDOT recommends Texans do the following to ensure safety on the roads and appropriate speeds: Match your speed to traffic, weather and road conditions, increase following distance when traffic is heavy or roads are slick, watch for changing speed limits, especially in work zones and school zones, and remember that fines double for speeding in active work zones and school zones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"summary gray\">This story was originally published July 16, 2026 at 1:54 PM.<\/p>\n<p>        Related Stories from  Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shaundi Smallwood, a 19-year-old from Fort Worth who was heading home from Six Flags with his friends in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-376369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}