PHOENIX — Arizona crash reports logged 66 possible crashes involving first responders or their vehicles in 2025, the Arizona Department of Transportation says, and state agencies plan to use Crash Responder Safety Week to tell drivers to slow down and move over.
In a media advisory sent Oct. 30 to newsrooms and the Thee Arizona Times tip inbox, ADOT said it will hold a media event from 6 to 8 a.m. Monday, Nov. 2, at Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza, 1700 W. Washington St., in Phoenix.
ADOT will be joined by the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the Phoenix Fire Department and the Arizona Department of Health Services, according to the advisory. The theme is “Slow Down, Move Over. Lives are on the line.”
The event will feature ADOT Incident Response Unit trucks, DPS patrol cruisers, a fire engine and tow trucks, the vehicles that regularly park on freeway shoulders while crews clear wrecks.
Arizona’s Move Over law requires drivers approaching a stationary emergency vehicle, tow truck or highway maintenance vehicle with flashing lights to move over a lane when it is safe to do so, or slow down if they cannot change lanes.
The 66 figure comes from ADOT crash reports and covers crashes that may have involved responders or their vehicles, the advisory said.
Crash Responder Safety Week is a national campaign held each November to raise awareness of the risks faced by police, firefighters, paramedics, tow operators and road crews working beside live traffic.
Sources: Arizona Department of Transportation media advisory (Oct. 30, 2026). Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: The Eloquent Peasant / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
