PHOENIX – Traffic fatalities on Arizona roads are rising and selfish drivers are too often to blame.

Unless drivers stop making bad decisions – driving impaired, driving distracted, driving aggressively and speeding, and not wearing a seat belt – Arizona will continue on its year-to-date pace and top 900 traffic deaths by the end of the year. The Arizona Department of Transportation’s “Drive For Them” campaign aims to reduce traffic fatalities by reminding drivers that their actions can have tragic, yet entirely preventable, consequences for those they share the road with, which includes their families, friends and neighbors.

Historically, impaired driving, speeding and aggressive driving, and distracted driving are among the leading factors in traffic deaths in Arizona. Still, too many drivers continue to engage in these selfish driving behaviors. If some motorists will not drive in a safe manner for themselves, perhaps they will alter their driving habits when confronted with the impact that poor decisions behind the wheel can have on loved ones. Through the weekend, ADOT will display the following messages on overhead highway signs:

YOUR FAMILY
TRAVELS THIS ROAD
DRIVE FOR THEM 

YOUR FRIENDS
TRAVEL THESE ROADS
DRIVE FOR THEM 

According to preliminary data, from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30 this year, 690 people have died in vehicle crashes in Arizona. Tragically, many of those deaths were preventable. If drivers did not drive impaired, drive aggressively, drive distracted or speed too fast for conditions, traffic deaths would be significantly reduced.

PHOENIX – Have you captured Pikachu? Nabbed Rattata or the elusive Charizard? Leveled-up and trained your monsters at a Gym?

Of course, we’re talking about Pokémon Go, the week-old smartphone app soaring in popularity. The video game phenomenon is sending Pokémon Trainers to landmarks and into parks, neighborhoods and cities, hunting for rare monsters.

The lure of the chase can be strong and the Arizona Department of Transportation and Arizona Department of Public Safety want to remind Pokémon Trainers that driving and searching for exotic monsters or checking in at Poké Stops don’t mix.

“Distracted driving takes many forms, even looking for Pokémon,” ADOT Director John Halikowski said. “Although we hope you catch ’em all, if you’re not focused on driving with your eyes on the road, you’re at a higher risk of injuring or killing yourself and others in a crash. No Pokémon is worth that.”

To urge Pokémon Go fans to hunt safely, the following message will be displayed statewide on overhead highway signs this week:

“Distracted driving is not a game,” said DPS Capt. Damon Cecil. “Playing Pokémon Go is not worth your life or someone else’s.”

So, please, #DontCatchAndDrive. And when traveling on foot don’t play the game near the road, either. Do you really want the eggs you’re incubating to get smashed in a crash?

On all Arizona roadways in 2015, distracted driving contributed to at least 33 fatal crashes and nearly 8,000 distracted drivers were involved in crashes on Arizona roadways, according to data collected by ADOT.

PHOENIX – In the past 10 days, two people working on state highways have been hit and killed by vehicles. These unnecessary and avoidable tragedies illustrate the need for drivers to pay attention in work zones and to give a safe margin of space to vehicles with flashing lights, such as tow trucks and emergency responders.

To remind drivers of the importance of paying attention to their surroundings, ADOT will display the following message this week on overhead signs statewide:

When traveling in work zones, drivers should expect the unexpected, as normal speed limits may be reduced and people may be working in the road. They also should slow down, keep a safe distance from the vehicle ahead and pay attention. Minimizing distractions could save a life.

Not only is it a safe practice to give space to emergency response vehicles, such as ambulances, fire trucks, tow trucks and highway maintenance vehicles, it’s also the law. Arizona’s “Move Over” law requires motorists to move over one lane – or slow down if it is not safe to change lanes – when driving by any vehicle with flashing lights pulled to the side of the roadway.

Early Monday morning, a passenger car struck and killed an employee of a contractor working on an ADOT project as he removed barricades from Loop 101 Pima Freeway in Scottsdale. Earlier this month, a box truck hit and killed a tow company driver responding to a stalled vehicle on Interstate 10 near Benson.

PHOENIX – Over the next few weeks, thousands will take to Arizona’s highways for spring break getaways. Classmates, friends, fraternity brothers, 20-somethings looking to get away from the grind will drive to destinations that are sunny or snowy, relaxing or adventurous, luxurious or frugal and everywhere in between.

At the Arizona Department of Transportation, we want spring breakers to enjoy their escapes. More importantly, we want them to make it home safely. But there’s reason to worry that too many will not.

From 2012 to 2014, March was the deadliest month on Arizona roads with a total of 213 fatal crashes, according to ADOT’s Arizona Motor Vehicle Crash Facts Report, which includes crash information from state highways and local roads. Data from 2015 hasn’t been finalized.

That’s why many of our overhead message boards on highways are carrying the following safety messages for spring breakers and for drivers and passengers of all ages. They'll be up from Friday afternoons through Sunday evenings:

SPRING BREAKERS:
SLOW YOUR ROLL
ARRIVE ALIVE

SPRING BREAKERS:
DOES MOM APPROVE
OF YOUR DRIVING?

Safe driving saves lives, and we all share the responsibility. Speeding, alcohol and failing to use seat belts are among the leading causes of traffic fatalities in Arizona. Each is preventable by choosing not to speed, to buckle up, to not drive drunk.

We hope everyone takes these messages to heart. We hope these messages prompt conversations about safe driving.

PHOENIX – Drivers may have noticed something different as they’ve traveled along Phoenix-area freeways this week.

The Arizona Department of Transportation has increased the hours and days when travel times are displayed on overhead message signs above Valley freeways.

Until now, only weekday rush-hour commuters benefited from seeing those “commute times.”

Drivers can now expect to see those the travel times during evening hours and on weekends, since ADOT expanded the program beyond weekday morning and afternoon rush hours.

The expanded program began on Mon., July 27. Message boards are now displaying the estimated travel times seven days a week, from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.

The travel time displays, which ADOT first introduced on message signs in 2008, provide drivers with estimated commute times to locations ahead, such as major cross streets and destinations like the I-10 Deck Park Tunnel near downtown Phoenix.

ADOT actually tested the expanded travel-times program for three days leading up to this year’s Super Bowl in Glendale, when a number of events and heavier traffic conditions occurred at times across the Valley.

The agency has received positive public feedback about the travel times. The goal is to provide drivers with information related to freeway conditions ahead of them. For example, drivers might choose an alternate route to save time. That can have a positive impact on the overall flow of freeway traffic.

Seventy-seven of the overhead message boards in the Phoenix area display commute times. 

ADOT worked with the Maricopa Association of Governments, the metropolitan planning organization in the Phoenix area, in launching the commute-times program seven years ago. The system uses freeway-management technology, including sensors in the pavement, to calculate estimated travel times. 

The destinations that are displayed on the message boards are determined by ADOT, after receiving feedback from local cities and AZTech. AZTech is a regional partnership of agencies that has teamed up for more than two decades to improve the management of traffic conditions in the Phoenix area.

PHOENIX — When fans are making their way along Loop 101 to the NFL's Super Bowl in Glendale on Sunday, the Arizona Department of Transportation will use upgraded technology to help keep drivers informed while the agency tracks traffic conditions on the primary freeway route to University of Phoenix Stadium.

ADOT met a goal of completing installation of the equipment, including new overhead message signs and more than 20 closed-circuit TV cameras, ahead of the Super Bowl. Testing of the Freeway Management System equipment along Loop 101 between Interstate 17 and Interstate 10 in the West Valley wrapped up in late December.

The upgrades mean operators in ADOT's Traffic Operations Center in Phoenix are now able to better track traffic conditions along the 22-mile-stretch of the Loop 101 Agua Fria Freeway. This weekend, information will be posted on nine new overhead electronic signs. ADOT also will be able to provide freeway information to emergency crews and local communities.

Travelers also can check on freeway conditions, including camera images, from home or their workplace by visiting ADOT's 5-1-1 travel-information system at az511.gov.  ADOT also posts traffic updates on Twitter (@ArizonaDOT).

Prior to the $6.4 million project, there were only four overhead message boards and 13 closed-circuit cameras used to check traffic conditions along Loop 101 in the West Valley. 

Crews added the nine message boards above the freeway, as well as 21 new high-definition digital cameras, while replacing the 13 older cameras. More than 400 sensors were embedded in the freeway's pavement to track the flow of traffic.

The project, which started in March 2014, also required the use of 44,000 feet of fiber optic cable.

Traffic-management technology has actually been used along Phoenix-area freeways for more than two decades.

While the improved traffic-management technology along Loop 101 in the West Valley was not installed just for the Super Bowl, ADOT worked with the city of Glendale and the Maricopa Association of Governments to advance the project's construction schedule to complete the work in time for the big game.

The Loop 101 technology had its first major test, and worked well, on New Year's Eve afternoon when the Fiesta Bowl game between the University of Arizona and Boise State University was being played at University of Phoenix Stadium.

As part of the Loop 101 project, more than 25 ramp meter traffic signals also were installed along on-ramps to help provide room for traffic merging on and off the freeway during weekday morning and afternoon rush hours.