Oro Valley police deploy High Visibility Enforcement to reduce crashes, promote safe driving

ORO VALLEY, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - The Oro Valley Police Department is stepping up patrols to help get the rising number of crashes under control at busy intersections.

Officers will be promoting safe and slow driving in the area of First Avenue and Oracle Road through their High Visibility Enforcements or HiVE deployments Wednesday, April 27, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

OVPD public information officer Mike Duran said the department continues to conduct these deployments because evidence shows they work. Following previous deployments in the intersections of Magee and Oracle roads and Suffolk Drive and Oracle Road, crashes decreased 20%.

Duran said the department wants to see those results in the intersection of First Avenue and Oracle Road.

“It’s not to write tickets. If we don’t write a single ticket, but we affect positive change and driving behavior, that’s a good day,” Duran said. “So we want to let the community members know about it. That way everyone feels safer and we have safer roads.”

Officers responded to 95 crashes within town limits in the month of February to March of this year. Around 16 crashes happened between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.

More than double, 40 crashes, were reported From 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Within those recorded crashes, OVPD responded to 13 crashes in the area of First Avenue and Magee Road.

Duran said that data helped officers decide when and where to deploy HiVE.

“When we see a large uptick in collisions in a specific intersection, then we concentrate on that intersection,” Duran said. “Then we check the times those collisions occur, and when we’re out there, just by our very presence and alerting the community that’s where we’re going to be, even if we’re not making that traffic stop, we’re slowing them down a little bit.”

Duran said the goal is to make a positive impact by reminding the community to slow down and drive safely, especially in the areas that experience high crash volumes.

The goal is not to issue tickets.

According to data in 2021, Duran said each HiVE deployment averaged about 122 traffic stops. He said only about 10% of those stops received a citation.

“It’s something unique with Oro Valley that the prior chief started and with our current commander, (Chris) Olson, who has ensured this is a sustainable program,” Duran said. “It’s not to write tickets. It’s to promote safe driving habits.”

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