Fatal crashes decrease in Arlington as city addresses fast, dangerous driving
As Arlington police investigate whether street racing was involved in a crash that killed a 53-year-old woman on March 9, they said they’re issuing more traffic tickets in an attempt to change how people behave on the road.
Surveillance video from a business obtained by KDFW-TV shows two black cars traveling northbound on South Cooper Street at a high rate of speed before one of them collided with a Hyundai Tucson driven by Tanya Cypert of Arlington, who later died at a hospital.
Officers aren’t arresting high numbers of people for street racing, said Lieutenant Brian Jones of the Arlington police traffic division. It’s a difficult crime to prove, with many fleeing the scene. The department arrested 17 people for racing on highways in 2025. No street racing arrests have been made so far this year.
What’s more likely, Jones said, is that someone will be driving just plain fast, distracted, or intoxicated.
In February, the top contributing factors to crashes at intersections were failure to yield during a left turn, running through stop signs, and failing to yield at stop signs.
“The easier charge you can prove is a reckless driving charge based on several factors — going too fast, not maintaining a single lane, changing lanes without signaling,” Jones said.
So far this year, Arlington police have arrested 17 people for reckless driving, with 77 people arrested in 2025. Speeding was a factor in 44% of last year’s fatal traffic accidents, Jones said.
In 2024, the city adopted the Safe Streets Arlington Comprehensive Safety Action Plan with the goal of reaching zero traffic-related deaths or serious injuries in the city by 2050.
The rollout of that program was accompanied by a lengthy report, which includes a “high injury network” — a map of the city that shows that about 70% of crashes between 2018 and 2023 occur on 6% of city streets.
That network includes Cooper Street, a vital artery in the city that runs north to south. Seven Cooper Street intersections were included in a list of “priority intersections” that had higher numbers of accidents.
A 2025 report shows that crashes resulting in a fatality or a serious injury in Arlington increased between 2018 and 2024.
Since 2024, according to department data, Arlington police have seen a 33% jump in traffic stops initiated by general patrol officers, with a 60% increase in traffic stops where citations are issued.
The department’s traffic unit has seen a 17% increase in traffic stops, with a 23% increase in traffic stops where citations are issued.
The traffic unit gets accident reports every month, Jones said, and he decides where to deploy officers based on the intersections where accidents are happening most frequently.
As the department has conducted more traffic stops, the number of fatal traffic accidents has gone down. In 2021, 53 people died in fatal accidents in the city. In 2025, that number dropped to 30.
District 3 council member Nikkie Hunter said she sees speeding all over town, including her district, which includes the southeast side of the city.
“I think the main complaint of the residents is that we need to get the word out for people to slow down,” Hunter said. “I’m very hopeful that the Safe Streets initiative will be just doing that — to make sure that we are keeping our streets in not only District 3, but in the city of Arlington, safe.”
Jones said that a large component of how the department addresses street racing is simply deterrence.
“The mission is to change driver behavior,” Jones said. “People see us out there. So that’s going to naturally train somebody’s driving behavior.”
