KILLEEN, Texas — This stretch of I-14 through Killeen is 60 mph.
However, when Killeen police officers conducted a community-driven detail, targeting speeders Thursday, they racked up 73 traffic stops and handed speeding tickets to 70 drivers within 3 hours.
Killeen police officers say they clocked speeds as fast as 100 to 103 mph.
“What do you have a bunch of slow-moving traffic and fast-moving traffic mix together start having those issues. That’s those people that are driving at those insane speeds, they are going to kill somebody,” said Killeen Police Department Assistant Chief Alex Gearhart.
“Assistant Chief Gearhart said the average speed for the violators was a little over 81 mph. Which is no surprise to many who use the roadway.
“I wish they would do it more often. People fly down the roadway and if you’re going to speed limit you feel like you’re gonna get run over,” said Killeen resident Melanie Crochet.
While some believe adding more police presence will slow speedsters down, others just won’t work.
“It’s normal people that are affected and it’s simply not effective. If it was, increasing taxes on cigarettes would cause people to stop smoking,” said Bell County resident Matthew Jones.
Others believe raising the speed limit to 70 or 75 mph, could also be the solution.
“There are no businesses on the highway, so there’s no reason not to have it 70. I know it’s a work zone, I’m hoping once it’s done, it’ll go back to 75 like it used to be,” said Crochet.
However, Assistant Chief Gearhart said the limits are in place to keep people safe.
“It’s very dangerous to drive down the road at that speed. People don’t appreciate it because they drive down the road every day without anything happening to them they don’t appreciate the risk is involved,” said Gearhart.
Gearhart said the speed limit is set by TxDOT on the highway.
However, local jurisdictions can limit lower than the maximum limit after conducting traffic and engineering surveys.
