This New Year: Make a resolution to be a safer driver

Happy New Year, Arizona! I hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday season, spending time with loved ones and ringing in 2026.

The start of a new year is a clean slate, and a time to make resolutions to set ourselves up for success. In that spirit, I hope you consider making one of your New Year’s resolutions to be a safer driver. 

At ADOT, safety is our top priority. Our crews help build and maintain the highways to exacting safety standards, and it’s our mission to safely connect Arizonans and reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries on Arizona roads. But we can’t do it alone.

Last year, ADOT launched the “There’s No Such Thing As Accidents” campaign with the Arizona’s Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and other traffic safety stakeholders to raise public awareness about the decisions motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists can make to increase roadway safety for all of us.

It takes everyone to reduce the number of preventable crashes on our roadways. For example, in 2024, alcohol was a factor in 312 crashes in Arizona. 

Those crashes and the 347 associated deaths were preventable. We need everyone to choose to make better decisions behind the wheel. That includes wearing a seatbelt, not speeding, not driving impaired or distracted. 

On New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, some overhead message boards displayed messages encouraging motorists to designate a driver or use their blinker. We hope these messages kickstart important conversations about traffic safety and influence drivers to make safer choices. 

As we get back into the swing of things after the holidays, I hope that 2026 is even better than last year, and that you make the resolution to be a safer driver so we all get home safely.