Fort Worth City Council Looks for Answers to Stop Street Racing

City council members in Fort Worth will learn more Tuesday about efforts to address speeding and street racing that has resulted in recent deaths.

The most recent was the early morning hours on Friday, Nov. 6, when a married couple turned into the path of street racers and were killed. One of the other drivers also died.

Council members will hear from the city's transportation and police department about current tools to manage speed and street racing and opportunities to increase efforts.

"We're actively trying to strategize and find a solution to this. We recognize that this an issue, and we're very empathetic to what happened recently in our city. And we do want to try to stop it," Tanya Brooks, the assistant director of transportation and public works, told NBC 5.

A copy of the presentation lays out for councilmembers existing tools to manage speed.

Education:

• Goal is to reduce speed-related crash fatalities, and severe injuries through the application of enforcement, engineering, education and evaluation.
• Increase driver awareness of speed
• Create a Vision Zero Traffic Safety Tools like educating drivers and more stop signs, traffic lights and crosswalks are commonly used.

Engineering:

• Driver Feedback Signs
• Posted Speed Limit Signs
• Speed Tables/Raised Crosswalks
• Stop signs and traffic signals are often mistaken for traffic calming measures. Stop signs and traffic signals control traffic volumes and can have adverse impacts when used for speed management (i.e. rear-end crashes, stop sign running, and right-angle crashes).

Enforcement:

• The effectiveness of existing speed management tools is largely dependent on roadway user compliance.

Assistant Chief Robert Alldredge is expected to tell council members that enforcement efforts include:

• Installing cameras to catch speeders in the act and assist in deploying officers.
• Adjusting hours of neighborhood patrol officers and assigning off-duty officers to address racing concerns.
• Conducting radar details.
• Using undercover/unmarked vehicles.
• Working with private partners and enforce criminal trespassing offenses on private property.
• Monitoring social media sites to attempt to gather intel on racing activities.
• Arresting drivers for reckless driving, racing, and towing their vehicles along with issuing tickets for other observed violations.

"We have a monthly meeting and have for some time, where we talk about these corridors where we're getting complaints about speeding and street racing. They [police officers] take those lists and try to put their resources along those corridors to address it and enforce the speed limits," Brooks said.

All of those efforts are ongoing, yet challenges may continue to remain.

'It's citywide. And when there's enforcement in one of the areas we get a call to, unfortunately, they move to another area of the city. So, it's constantly trying to chase an issue," Brooks said.

Fort Worth has reached out to other cities like Dallas, Houston and San Antonio to find solutions that work. The police department says all three cities are also seeing large racing type events.