Allen police actively targeting speeding on major highways

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The Allen Police Department says a new initiative designating officers to stop and ticket speeders and aggressive drivers on the busiest roadways in the city is already showing a positive effect.

The department allowed NBC 5 to ride along with officers on patrol Thursday afternoon.

Within minutes of staging along 121 Sam Raybourn Tollway, Allen police officers Manuel Castro and Andrew Rembert began detecting speeding motorists zipping by.

Castro stopped one driver with an Oklahoma license plate for traveling at 87 miles an hour.

When Castro asked why she was going 17 over the posted speed limit, the motorist said she needed to get to a bathroom.

“Okay, can I see a driver’s license and proof of insurance,” he asked.

In this case, the woman received three citations: speeding, expired insurance and registration.

“I think the fastest I’ve ever seen is about 130 miles per hour,” said Castro. “We’ve had accidents that people are traveling a lot faster than that. 150, 150-plus.”

The city of Allen responded to approximately 9 traffic crashes per day in 2023, according to APD.

While the number remains the same, there is hope the new enforcement will lead to safer streets.

“When I first became police chief Feb. 1, the number one complaint to my office was bad driving behavior, specifically speeding,” said Allen Police Chief Steve Dye. “We've got to improve the driving demeanor and the driving culture in North Texas.”

Dye, whose law enforcement career began in Houston in 1984, says there are several reasons for the decline in ‘good’ driving behaviors including cell phone usage.

“What we’ve seen on our freeways with population increase and the demand for police services, some of our freeways don’t have the visibility and enforcement that they probably deserve,” he said.

When he took over as chief of police in Allen, Dye got to work securing city approval to launch a program in May cracking down on speeding and aggressive driving on the city’s two major highways: Highway 75 Central Expressway and northbound lanes of the 121 tollway.

“I'm already getting a lot of positive feedback from our citizens. We're already seeing some calming of driving behavior,” said Dye.

Dye has partnered with the Collin County Sheriff’s Office and Texas Department of Public Safety which also patrols the region.

Since May, APD has made over 500 stops, most for speeding.

Statistics provided by the department show a decrease in stops from 327 stops made in May to 182 in early June.

Some stops have resulted in arrests.

“We're seeing some vehicles driving at those speeds over 100 that don't even have a driver's license,” said Dye.

The department’s leader says he wanted to ensure that the stepped-up enforcement was not a financial burden to Allen taxpayers.

Dye says APD is paying officers overtime to take part in the patrols, using only revenue collected from those ticketed.

Each hour of overtime is less than $100 and each citation can carry fines of at least $200, he said.

“Most of the motorists on our freeways that are not driving in a good manner don't live in Allen, so I don't want our taxpayers to have to fund the enforcement of this bad driving,” he said.

The stopping distance exponentially increases for every ten miles over the speed limit, said Dye.

Minutes after stopping one driver, Castro flipped his lights and sirens on again.

This time, a car with an Alabama license plate traveling 92 mph on 121.

“That’s 22 miles over the speed limit,” he told the driver who said he was running late for work.

The man drove away with a speeding ticket and a warning for not immediately being able to produce insurance.

“We don't write everybody we stop a ticket,” declared Dye. “We give a lot of warnings. Our goal is to change bad driving behavior to good driving behavior. If that takes a citation to change that, so be it.”