Arizona DPS, Navajo County ramp up patrols after spike in fatal crashes on State Route 260 and 377

Captain Jeff Sharp of the Arizona Department of Public Safety said his agency and county partners have launched an intensive enforcement campaign on State Route 260 and State Route 377 after a cluster of fatal collisions this summer.

"We had five fatality collisions between the top of the rim and Heber, and that was in a very short time," Captain Jeff Sharp said. "Since we started the campaign, we have almost 1,500 traffic contacts, a little over 1,300 citations, with a little more than 1,200 of those being for speed. There's also been 46 arrests, with six of those being DUI related."

The enforcement effort began June 19 and includes overtime shifts for Arizona DPS troopers, troopers reassigned during normal schedules to saturate the corridor, and coordinated saturation details with Navajo, Gila and Coconino counties. Sharp said the goal is to reduce deadly high-speed and illegal passing behaviors that officers have linked to recent crashes.

WHY IT MATTERS

Officials described a pattern of increased weekend traffic from Phoenix-area visitors toward the White Mountains and a routing change on mapping apps that directs drivers to State Route 377 as a shorter path to Phoenix. That shift, together with improvements on SR 260 that widened shoulders, appears to have led some drivers to increase speeds and to…