Two new radar speed signs along La Canada Drive in Green Valley were mounted by the Pima County Sheriff's Department's Community Engagement Team in January.
Two new radar speed signs along La Canada Drive in Green Valley were mounted by the Pima County Sheriff's Department's Community Engagement Team in January.
Drivers along La Canada may have noticed some new light displays cropping up over the last week, and you may want to slow down for them.
Two radar speed signs have been installed along north- and southbound La Canada Drive after a complaint was filed with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department’s Community Engagement Team about speeding in the area.
A spokesperson for PCSD said the radar signs were installed by CET members on Jan. 5, and were mounted to existing speed limit signs in the median.
The sign facing northbound traffic on La Canada sits in the median near Lutheran Church of the Risen Savior, while the sign facing southbound traffic is just north of West El Nopal, near the Villages of Green Valley. In both areas, the posted speed limit is 35 mph.
Two other radar speed signs also live along La Canada to mark the speed in the school zone around Great Expectations Academy in Sahuarita.
The new radar signs along La Canada will continue to collect traffic data to determine the extent of the speeding issue in the area, and if a traffic enforcement plan needs to be put in place. PCSD said the signs are not permanent.
Radar speed signs typically work by gathering data from passing cars. If a driver is speeding, the sign will flash the vehicle's speed, making the driver aware that they are exceeding the posted limit.
About 80% of speeding drivers will slow down when confronted with radar feedback, and overall speed limit compliance can increase 20% to 60% when radar signs are in use in an area over time, according to several studies examined by the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2012.
Speeding incidents
While La Canada has seen its share of traffic accidents of the years, Lt. Paul Hill, commander of the PCSD substation in Green Valley, said his main speeding concerns are currently concentrated on some of the more rural roads in the area.
“We’ve had a couple of serious collisions up on Pima Mine Road – one was fatal, one was very serious – and another serious collision on Duval Mine Road, that’s all been mine traffic in the last couple of months,” Hill told members of the Green Valley Council’s Traffic and Arroyos committee this week.
In most of these incidents, Hill said drivers are speeding and not paying attention to the road or their driving, which can cause them to lose control of their vehicle. In two separate incidents, drivers have flipped their vehicles after veering off the roadway onto the shoulder and overcorrecting.
“We’ve talked to the mines, who are also putting the word out to their employees about this issue, but there are people who are really speeding out there on those open roads as they're going to work,” Hill said.
“Just this morning (Jan. 11), I stopped a guy doing 80 mph down Sahuarita Road, who also passed the double-yellow line twice. So, they’re out there,” he said.
Mary Glen is a North Carolina native who's excited to explore the Tucson area through her reporting with Green Valley News. She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill's Hussman School of Journalism and Media in 2019.
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