If you haven’t seen any crazy drivers around North Texas lately, you haven’t been on the roads. Motorists treat red lights as stop signs — or ignore them altogether. They zoom at 55 mph on streets with a posted 35 mph speed limit. They slalom down freeways, distracted by cellphones.

Many of us picked up bad habits during the pandemic, when roads were empty, and it’s time to unlearn them now. Thanks to the Dallas Police Department, which has a new focus on traffic enforcement, reckless drivers could soon learn that those bad habits can be very expensive. The department launched Operation Slowdown to crack down on dangerous motorists.

In two weeks, officers have handed out 2,058 citations and 339 warnings. They’ve used data to scan the city for locations with the highest number of speeding-related crashes and have increased enforcement in those places.

Cynics may grouse that the city just wants to issue citations to collect fines. For our part, we welcome safer streets and more police presence, and we suspect most Dallasites do, too. Traffic wrecks are far more costly, to people and property, than most drivers realize.

For the past two years, Dallas has experienced a little more than 200 traffic fatalities annually. There were tens of thousands of wrecks during that period, and many of those caused injuries and property damage.

It would be interesting to know how much money the city of Dallas spends cleaning up after preventable wrecks. A Wednesday afternoon crash in north Oak Cliff on Beckley Avenue involved a Dallas Area Rapid Transit bus, a FedEx delivery truck and at least two passenger cars. All were badly damaged, with debris scattered across the entire intersection.

A large traffic light was knocked down, and the delivery truck ended up mashed against a utility pole, which thankfully didn’t break. Two ambulances, a fire truck and multiple units from DART and Dallas police had to secure the scene, direct traffic and investigate what happened. We couldn’t obtain the accident report by the time of this writing, but we wonder whether speeding — perhaps someone trying to beat a red light at that broad intersection — factored in the mishap.

Most traffic accidents aren’t accidental. They may be unintended, but there are specific factors that often produce wrecks: speeding, distractions, failing to yield during left turns, alcohol and drug use, and running red lights. We know how to drive more safely — and if we forget, Dallas police officers will be waiting to remind us.

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MIAMI — James Williams, Joaquim Smith, and Michael Rube Flurencio were at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center early Friday morning, records show.

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Corrections booked them on Thursday morning, and they faced charges in separate cases with the Miami Police Department, records show.

Their arrests on Wednesday were during a police “sweep” in the Overtown, Model City, and Little Haiti neighborhoods, according to Officer Michael Vega.

Miami detectives approached Williams, 33, and two other men after seeing them in a dark street on Wednesday night in the Overtown neighborhood.

Williams, a convicted felon, raised his arms, and when a detective asked if he was armed, he surrendered a stolen Glock 27, according to detectives.

The operation was in response to “a troubling increase” in shootings and homicides, according to Officer Michael Vega, who did not define the increase.

Smith, who was carrying a PSA Dagger pistol, was in a Mercedes-Benz with dark-tinted windows in Overtown, according to a detective’s report.

Smith, 27, of Miami Gardens, had marijuana in his pocket, and 35.4 grams stored in plastic baggies in the Mercedes-Benz, according to detectives.

Rubel Florencio was in another Mercedes-Benz with dark-tinted windows in Little Haiti with about 180 pills of Oxycodone, according to a police report.

Rubel Florencio, 28, of Hialeah, was “visibly nervous as his chest was rising and falling rapidly, and his hands were trembling,” according to a detective.

Vega, a spokesman for the police department, listed the arrests of Zakia Joseph, 27, of Miramar, and Dominick Martin, 36, who is homeless, over pending warrants in unrelated cases as part of the operation.

According to Vega, the five arrests were part of the operation involving the department’s crime gun intelligence detail, the gang unit, and the FBI violent gang task force.

Williams faced charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, grand theft of a firearm, and carrying a concealed firearm.

Smith faced charges of possession of marijuana with intent to sell while armed, possession of marijuana near a school, and openly carrying a weapon.

Rubel Florencio faced a charge of trafficking Oxycodone.

Detectives asked anyone with information about these or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 to remain anonymous.

Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – People are frustrated over delayed safety improvements to a crosswalk in downtown Atlanta.

The city planned to install a new crosswalk on Peachtree Street by June 30 after a man was hit and killed earlier this year.

Pradeep Sood was hit and killed on Feb. 11 by a car while trying to cross a faded crosswalk.

City of Atlanta to remove faded crosswalk on Peachtree Street after traffic death

The area on Peachtree Street near the Peachtree Center is always flooded with tourists and locals.

“This is probably the most busy intersection I’ve seen living downtown for 30 years,” Stuart Jackson said. Jackson lives and works in downtown Atlanta.

The city has since removed the crosswalk to clear up the confusion, but Jackson says it doesn’t make much of a difference.

Many people still cross in the middle of the street despite there being crosswalks further down at the intersections.

“This should be a priority,” Jackson said. “People have already died, but we have crosswalks in Midtown and south downtown and Inman Park, but we don’t have it here.”

In March, the city council passed a resolution to have a crosswalk installed by June 30.

Councilman Jason Dozier stated city is moving forward with a raised crosswalk and Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacons at this location.

He stated that the city did not meet the deadline due to additional planning and design considerations.

“These improvements represent meaningful progress, and I’ve urged the Department of Transportation to release the final design plans publicly to ensure transparency and rebuild public trust. Silence on this matter only deepens frustration and confusion, especially as we work to save lives,” Dozier said.

Jackson said he’s excited about the plans to make the street safer, but he says he’s tired of those plans being continuously pushed back.

“Let’s put the crosswalk where people cross not where you want to force them to cross,” he said. “We just want a crosswalk.”

We reached out to the Department of Transportation for an update on when the new crosswalk will be installed. We are waiting to hear back.

Copyright 2025 WANF. All rights reserved.