Queen Creek awarded $130K in state highway safety grants

The Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety has awarded three grants totaling $130,000 to the town of Queen Creek to help reduce impaired driving and increase traffic safety.

The Queen Creek Town Council unanimously voted to approve the grant funding at its Oct. 16 meeting. The grants were part of the council’s consent agenda in which all items are voted on in one motion unless a council member or staff member asks that an item be removed for a separate discussion and vote.

At the meeting, the council also accepted a $360,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration to implement a road safety action plan.

Two grants from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety totaling $90,000 will pay QCPD personnel and overtime costs related to impaired driving enforcement strategies that include efforts to reduce alcohol and drug-related collisions.

In the past year, QCPD made nearly 200 DUI-related arrests and has seen a “significant impact on our young adult community.”

“The more than 30 schools in our jurisdiction continue to face challenges related to underage drinking and THC vaping. In 2023, QCPD reported a 63% increase in DUI drug arrests and doubled DUI arrests for individuals under 21. Many of these cases involved morning commuters,” a staff report stated.

To combat the problem, QCPD is part of the East Valley and Pinal County DUI task forces. As a member of the Pinal County Regional Vehicular Crimes Task Force, the department also provides personnel and resources in county-wide investigations.

“While enforcement efforts continue, QCPD also prioritizes community education on the risks of impaired driving, particularly related to cannabis and vape products. This includes outreach to parents, school staff, teachers and students,” the report stated.

QCPD goals associated with the two grants include:

• A 20% increase in DUI-related operations.

• Conducting social media campaigns such as “Know Your Limit.”

• Decreasing the number of impaired driving-related crashes by 10%.

• Decreasing the number of serious injuries in impaired driving-related crashes by 20%.

• Decreasing the number of fatalities in impaired driving-related crashes by 33%.

• Participating in a minimum of five DUI saturation patrols per quarter and five DUI task force operations per quarter.

• Hosting at least one Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement class.

• Providing a Drug Impairment Training for Educational Professionals course for schools in Queen Creek.

The town also accepted a $40,000 state grant to pay for QCPD overtime, related employee expenses and training to enhance Selective Traffic Enforcement efforts.

In the past year, the department has seen more than 2,000 crash-related incidents, including five fatal crashes, 106 hit-and-run crashes, 226 injury crashes and 1,071 non-injury crashes.

QCPD goals associated with the $40,000 grant include:

• Decreasing the number of speed-related crashes by 5%.

• Decreasing the number of serious injuries in speed-related crashes by 33%.

• Decreasing the number of fatalities in speed-related crashes by 60%.

• Conducting targeted speed enforcement efforts at least three times per month.

• Expanding the QCPD Vehicular Crimes Unit by adding three more incident reconstructionists by the end of 2025.

One of the three grants runs through June 30, 2025, and the other two run through Sept. 30, 2025.

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org.