Arizona Launches Five-Year Highway Safety Plan to Reduce Deadly Crashes

QUEEN CREEK, Arizona — The Arizona Department of Public Safety has launched a five-year initiative called Arrive Alive aimed at reducing fatal and serious-injury crashes across the state.

The plan combines high-visibility patrols, public education campaigns, and data-driven targeting of the most dangerous roadways. Officials said the program, announced July 1, is designed to change driver behavior rather than simply increase the number of traffic citations issued.

Lt. Col. Daven Byrd, a leader of the Arrive Alive Arizona initiative, said residents will see a stronger law enforcement presence on highways and in communities statewide. "Every opportunity we have to not notify a family, to prevent an outcome through a fatal or serious injury crash is a success," Byrd said. "Our long-term goal is to drive those numbers to zero."

The Department of Public Safety reported that Arizona ranked second in the nation in deadly crashes last year, a statistic agency leaders called unacceptable and a primary motivation for the new program.

The Arrive Alive plan will run through 2031 and will focus on identifying corridors with high rates of fatal and serious-injury collisions. The department said it will use crash data to deploy troopers where they can have the greatest impact, while also working with community partners on education about speeding, impaired driving, and seat belt use.

Arizona has struggled with rising traffic fatalities in recent years, and state officials have pointed to speeding, distracted driving, and impaired driving as leading contributors. The new initiative represents the most coordinated statewide enforcement response to date.

Queen Creek is a town of roughly 75,000 straddling Maricopa and Pinal counties, about 40 miles southeast of downtown Phoenix in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Arrive Alive plan will deploy additional troopers on highways serving communities across the Phoenix metropolitan area and the rest of the state.