Safer streets? Yes, please!

Photo credit KOLD 

Hotrods are racing down Speedway at all hours. And I can’t sleep thinking about all the auto related deaths in Tucson. Yesterday I saw photos of a totally demolished car caused by a drunk driver going over 100 MPH on Grant. Luckily the victims survived. 

Photo credit KOLD

As I write this, I know that someone will blame the Mayor and City Council. They’ll complain that we don’t have enough traffic officers. But the council included a substantial increase for law enforcement in the last budget. Police Chief Chad Kasmar is working to staff the shortage. One solution for our traffic problem is to have traffic cameras send tickets to speeders or people who run red lights, but Tucsonans voted (by a 66% margin) to make those cameras illegal. In March, the police department implemented an app where citizens can report traffic violations. 

Traffic Watch
https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/b831037dea9a425d83fa836628c7f87e

Then there's the issue of the condition of our streets. Those hotrods race through town causing wear and tear on our main streets. Of course, people blame the city for the potholes, but let’s put the blame where it belongs. The money for fixing those main streets comes from our STATE gas taxes. But the state legislature doesn’t give us our fair share of tax revenues to fix those streets. After voters approved money for neighborhood streets in 2022, it took a year to collect enough taxes before they could begin working on neighborhood streets. I found out at a recent transportation meeting that they can’t even work on streets during the hottest months of the year because of the impact of extreme heat on the asphalt. 

You can track their progress here: 

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/3487b2b052f0436990185e026618a6b9

The city council is aware of the condition of our streets and they are working on it. They have done extensive outreach to the community for our priorities on transit. They are installing traffic calming features in some neighborhoods. They have done a great job finding alternative funding sources for "alternate transportation". The plain truth is we have too many cars on the street. And too many people not following traffic laws. If we put in more lanes, we will have even more cars. And the same legislators who won’t pay to fix Tucson’s streets, sponsored bills prohibiting Tucson from even planning safer bike lanes. What I’m saying is do some research before you make snap judgments and feel free to get involved in coming up with solutions. And slow down for heaven's sake!