Vote for the winner in ADOT’s Safety Message Contest
Vote for the winner in ADOT’s Safety Message Contest
By Doug Pacey / ADOT Communications
May 13, 2020
Earlier this week, ADOT announced the 12 finalists in our 2020 Safety Message Contest. You can view the messages and vote for your favorite through Sunday, May 17 at azdot.gov/signcontest.
ADOT received more than 4,000 message entries in the contest this year. We considered a few factors when whittling that big number down to a dozen messages. First, we wanted the finalists to represent a variety of safety topics. These messages we selected cover car seats, distracted driving, drowsy driving, speeding, turn signals and more.
We also wanted the finalists to have different tones. Some are serious and straightforward, some rhyme, some are funny (we think so, at least) and some use a play on words or puns.
No matter your interest in topic or tone, we think there’s something for everyone. So, check out the messages and vote for your favorite. We’ll display the top two vote-getters on dynamic message signs statewide.
EDITOR'S NOTE: During this unprecedented time, ADOT is creating transportation activities for kids. Please visit azdot.gov/ADOTKids or use the hashtag #ADOTKids on ADOT's Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts to see what we have going on.
By Steve Elliott / ADOT Communications
Wow! Thank you for all of the safety messages you kids shared with us over the past week.
From this one by Bria in Peoria ...
WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING
WE'RE NOT PLAYING
PIN THE TAIL
ON THE DONKEY
... to this one by Allisson in Gila Bend ...
DON'T SPEED
OR YOU WILL BE
SPEEDILY IN JAIL
... every one of these creative messages showed how much you all care about keeping Arizona safe. We had a great time reading them.
As promised, the video at right has Doug Pacey, our safety projects manager in ADOT Communications, answering your questions and featuring some of your messages. I hope you enjoy it.
Before we show your art, I hope you're all making freeway decorations for this week's ADOT Kids activity. And in addition to sending us your designs, please share questions about the new Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway. That's the largest single highway project in Arizona history. One of the people in charge of building that 22-mile freeway will answer questions about anything that interests you, from the designs to the bridges to the pavement. Please send your questions to [email protected].
EDITOR'S NOTE: During this unprecedented time, ADOT is creating transportation activities for kids. Please visit azdot.gov/ADOTKids or use the hashtag #ADOTKids on ADOT's Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts to see what we have going on.
By Steve Elliott / ADOT Communications
I hope you've enjoyed this week's ADOT Kids activity on creating safety messages like the ones we put above highways around Arizona. The messages and colorings you've shared have been great.
Please remember that every message we receive by 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 6, will go into a slideshow we'll share on the ADOT Blog on Friday, May 8. Please have an adult scan or take a picture of yours and email it to [email protected].
Now, for today's topic ...
Because our goal at ADOT is for everyone to get safely home, one of the ways we celebrate safety is an annual calendar featuring drawings by children and grandchildren of our employees. Every month features a drawing created by a young person, such as the cover drawing at right by Hollie Allen.
I hope you enjoy looking the art and safety messages and are inspired to create drawings and safety messages of your own to share with relatives and friends. Safety is everyone's responsibility, and kids can play a big part in that.
Let's look at each month's drawing and the safety topic it features. You'll notice that some of these relate to the work we do at ADOT, while others are tips that everyone can use. You can click on any drawing to see a larger version.
What kind of safety drawings and messages could you create for the things you, your family, your friends and your classmates do every day?
Teen vs. Parent Quiz: Who knows more about safe driving?
Teen vs. Parent Quiz: Who knows more about safe driving?
By Lourdes Lerma / ADOT Communications
May 1, 2020
As summer arrives, many teens will be spending more time practicing their driving skills and preparing for the driver license test. Along with the preparation can come a struggle between parent and teen of how to drive and who "knows it best." Today's driving quiz aims to help settle the debate. Parents and teens, take the quiz separately to see who really "knows it best!" For those wanting to take the quiz in Spanish, a Spanish version is immediately below the English version. Good luck!
ADOT Kids Activity: Create your own safety message!
ADOT Kids Activity: Create your own safety message!
April 29, 2020
EDITOR'S NOTE: During this unprecedented time, ADOT is creating transportation activities for kids. Please visit azdot.gov/ADOTKids or use the hashtag #ADOTKids on ADOT's Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts to see what we have going on.
By Doug Pacey / ADOT Communications
Have you seen the safety messages ADOT puts on digital signs above highways? The messages that sometimes relate to holidays, like Halloween or Thanksgiving, or popular movies, like "Lion King" or "Star Wars?"
We like to have fun with these, and we know that people enjoy seeing funny and creative messages. But we have a serious reason for posting safety messages: We want all drivers to make better choices. Even though our messages are sometimes silly, they all relate to traffic safety and safe driving. Our hope is that drivers will see the message and make better driving decisions, like not speeding, not driving distracted and making sure to wear a seat belt, so there are fewer people getting hurt in car crashes.
With nearly 300 of these Dynamic Message Signs above highways all across Arizona, lots of drivers and passengers – even kids! – can see the messages. The slideshow at right has some of our favorites.
Now, there are some federal guidelines ADOT must follow when we post messages. For instance, with few exceptions all messages must involve traffic information or traffic safety. Also, our signs don’t have unlimited space – they can only fit three lines and 18 letters or spaces per line.
But, in the interest of some ADOT Kids fun, let’s break the rules!
MAKE YOUR OWN MESSAGE: Let your imagination and creativity run wild when thinking up your own silly or serious safety messages. We’ve created a coloring sheet for you to create your own messages, but if your message needs more space, that’s OK. You can use your own paper or even create a message digitally.
You can create a message that follows the federal guidelines of using 18 letters and three lines or a message that goes way over the limit. Or maybe even a message that has words and pictures!
If you already know what you want your message to say, that’s great! If you’re not sure yet, here’s an ideas to get you started: Pick a safe-driving topic that matters most to you like speeding, seat belts, distracted driving, dust storms, work zone safety, motorcycles, car seats or something else.
NOTE: A slideshow with contributed safety messages is below, along with a video showcasing your work and answering questions.
ADOT offering virtual training to truck drivers in Mexico
ADOT offering virtual training to truck drivers in Mexico
April 27, 2020
PHOENIX – An Arizona Department of Transportation program that helps truck drivers in Mexico better understand and prepare for safety inspections at the border is using technology to provide virtual training during the current public health situation.
The goal of this training offered by ADOT’s Border Liaison Unit is reducing commercial vehicle wait times at the international border by cutting down on safety problems and other issues that truck drivers must address before leaving commercial ports of entry. That helps make Arizona’s ports more appealing places for trucks to enter the U.S.
Part of ADOT’s Enforcement and Compliance Division, which operates commercial ports of entry, the Border Liaison Unit offered its first training by webinar recently for 30 trucking companies from the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California. More sessions are planned.
“The webinar was a huge success,” said Officer Frank Cordova of the Border Liaison Unit. “We’re looking to make webinar-based workshops a staple of the training we provide, as it allows us to reach even further into Mexico and the U.S. to continue educating the commercial industry.”
The Border Liaison Unit saw an increase in inquiries from Mexican truckers regarding current emergency restrictions and exemptions for commercial vehicles due to COVID-19. Future sessions will cover safety training previously conducted in person such as electronic log books and critical items officers look for in inspections.
That assistance complements International Border Inspection Qualification training that ADOT has offered in person since 2016. Drivers certified through that program are able to share questions and pictures of their vehicles via WhatsApp and communicate with ADOT officers about potential safety issues before driving to the border.
Meeting this demand with a webinar helps ADOT officers and commercial truck drivers observe social distancing. Longer-term, offering virtual instruction reduces travel expenses.
“I’m very proud of this unit for finding ways to continue to work with our local and international partners in the trucking industry,” Cordova said. “Even a pandemic won’t keep us from doing the job we’re passionate about.”
We all know the feeling. You’re out on the open road, a long stretch of freeway with little traffic, and your foot wants to push down on the gas pedal. In your mind you’re zooming down the highway just like in the movies. Fast if not furious.
In places like Tucson and Phoenix, where drivers are used to heavy traffic, there are fewer vehicles on the road because of the current public health situation. Driving a little faster may seem tempting.
ADOT has seen it in our work zones, so much so that last week we urged drivers to slow down for the safety of road workers and themselves. With traffic lighter these days, we've expanded work hours for freeway construction and maintenance crews. Crews are starting earlier or working on weekdays instead of just weekends to complete their work more safely and efficiently. Drivers can come across work crews when and where they don’t expect it. The video at right shows just some of the work happening right now on Valley freeways.
Excessive speed plus work zone restrictions is a scary proposition. Workers stand just a few feet from travel lanes. Drivers make lane changes at the last moment because they were expecting clear lanes instead of construction barricades. It’s dangerous for everyone.
If safety concerns aren’t enough, Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers have a no-tolerance policy for speeding in a work zone.
With Work Zone Awareness Week at hand, following these safety tips from azdot.gov/WorkZone may save your life and the lives of road workers and others:
Pay attention: Observe and obey posted warning signs, as well as flaggers. You can be cited for disobeying a flagger’s directions.
Expect the unexpected: Speed limits might be lowered, travel lanes could be narrowed or eliminated and people may be working near your travel lane.
Slow down: Speeding is one of the leading causes of work zone crashes.
Merge safely: Do it early and carefully or as directed by signage instead of barging into a line of vehicles at the last moment.
Don’t tailgate: The most common crash in a work zone is the rear-end collision. Don’t follow too closely and, again, slow down.
Work Zone Awareness Week has extra significance this year
Work Zone Awareness Week has extra significance this year
April 17, 2020
PHOENIX – For ADOT, National Work Zone Awareness Week is always a big deal. It means more this year.
Last month, one of our own, Frank Dorizio, was struck and killed in a work zone on Interstate 10 south of Phoenix. A member of ADOT’s Incident Response Unit, Dorizio was setting up traffic control for a pavement project.
“Every day in Arizona, hundreds of men and women step into work zones on our highways, their place of work for the day, to build, maintain and improve our roadways,” ADOT Director John Halikowski said. “Like everyone, they deserve a safe work environment, and National Work Zone Awareness Week gives us the opportunity to remind drivers that they must make safe decisions when approaching and driving in a work zone. Because if they don’t, people can die.”
While ADOT mourns Dorizio, the first ADOT worker since 1998 to be struck and killed while working along a highway, too many crashes are occurring in work zones across Arizona. From 2017 to 2019, 3,540 collisions in work zones resulted in 49 fatalities on Arizona roadways.
These are preventable crashes, and, in most incidents, those killed are vehicle occupants. According to national statistics, annually, more than 80% of those killed in crashes that occurred in work zones were vehicle drivers or passengers.
Making smarter decisions when approaching and driving in work zones will not only keep road workers and vehicle occupants safer, it will keep roads open and in peak condition. That’s incredibly important in the current public health situation. ADOT crews continue working to keep roadways open for all who use the state highway system, including commercial trucks carrying needed supplies to our homes, stores and hospitals.
“The people of Arizona rely on ADOT to keep their highways safe and open,” said Dallas Hammit, ADOT’s state engineer and deputy director for transportation. “Our crews continue to work on roadways, building, improving and responding to incidents. To drivers, we say, ‘Help us help you.’ Make safe decisions when driving so all of us can return home at the end of the day.”
Drivers can make work zones safer by following these tips:
Pay attention: Observe and obey posted warning signs, as well as flaggers. You can be cited for disobeying a flagger’s directions.
Drive alert: Speed limits might be lowered, travel lanes could be narrowed or eliminated, and people may be working near your travel lane.
Slow down: Speeding is one of the leading causes of work zone crashes.
Merge safely: Do it carefully and as directed by signage.
Don’t tailgate: The most common crash in a work zone is the rear-end collision. Don’t follow too closely.
For more information about work zone safety, please visit FocusOnDriving.com.
SR 69 improvements in Prescott Valley will boost safety, traffic flow
SR 69 improvements in Prescott Valley will boost safety, traffic flow
April 16, 2020
PHOENIX – To enhance safety and accommodate growth in Prescott Valley, the Arizona Department of Transportation will make improvements along 2.2 miles of State Route 69 between Navajo Drive and Enterprise Parkway.
Starting Monday, April 20, crews will begin constructing a raised median along the corridor. The project also includes initial work for a future traffic signal at Mendecino Drive and future improvements at Truwood Drive, both of which intersect with SR 69 in this stretch.
“This project will continue the agency’s work to smooth traffic flow in a growing area such as central Yavapai County,” said Alvin Stump, district engineer for ADOT’s Northwest District. “In recent years, we have adjusted the traffic signal timing, which cut down on travel times through the corridor, and now we look to build on that with this safety project.”
Drivers should plan for lane restrictions from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Sunday through Thursday nights. All lanes will be open during daytime and weekend hours and holidays.
Raised medians have been shown to reduce crashes by up to 40 percent in urban areas according to an analysis by the Federal Highway Administration.
The traffic signal at Mendecino Drive will be completed in a future project.
