Letting off the Gas: FM 18 speed limit reduced to 65 mph
CALLAHAN COUNTY, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – The entire stretch of FM 18 now has a speed limit of 65 mph after authorities examined the road due to residents’ concerns.
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Before the change, the highway speeds were 70 mph in Taylor County and 75 mph in Callahan County, but due to many factors, they have been reduced to 65 throughout the road for safety purposes. Michael Wittie, Director of Construction for TxDOT Abilene, broke down the process of this change.
“Along with the speed study and the review of the incidents that occurred out there, whether they be major/minor crashes, we present those to the commission in Austin, they approve the speed limits, and, in this case, it got reduced,” Wittie said.
However, one of the main characters at the beginning of this change didn’t come from TxDOT. Instead, it came from a concerned citizen who wanted to do something about improving safety along FM 18. Jerry Glover was one of the first individuals to arrive at a fatal crash that occurred in September of 2022 at the intersection of FM 18 and Elmdale Road and rendered aid to the victims.
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“At that point, I saw the accident, was able to grab some medical gear from my truck, run up here, and help where I could,” Glover said, recalling the incident. “By the time I was able to get up to the truck, it was on the other side of the road there, and it actually caught fire, and we were trying to get her out of the back of the truck. It wasn’t till later that evening till I found out that one of the individuals had succumbed to the events and had passed away. That’s what really threw it into forward gear for me.”
After witnessing multiple accidents over the years, especially at the intersections of FM 18 and Elmdale Road and FM 18 and FM 603, Glover decided to take matters into his own hands. He made it his mission to raise awareness and promote the importance of reducing speed in order to prevent future accidents.
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Glover described how, initially, he had seen a lot of support from the community regarding the reduction. Glover put together petitions and wrote a multitude of letters to several official individuals in an attempt to make this change. Thanks to his persistence, TxDOT members were able to inspect the road more closely and ultimately decided to adjust the speed limit.
When asked how he felt about accomplishing his safety mission, Jerry Glover said, “It felt good to know that all the work being put into it finally had something come out of it. I’m not doing this for me. Everything I’ve done up to this point has been for the general public.”
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