Arizona Department of Public Safety to Participate in I-40 Challenge

Northern Arizona — During the heavily traveled Thanksgiving holiday, troopers will be participating in the nationwide I-40 challenge, “Drive to Zero Fatalities”. The I-40 challenge will be held November 22nd and 26th during the peak holiday travel times, in response to the anticipated increased amount of traffic.

The I-40 challenge includes the following states along its 2,555 mile stretch of road: California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Troopers will be enforcing traffic laws as well as providing assistance to the motoring public.

During the two-day operation in 2016, AZDPS troopers wrote 275 citations with a total of 512 moving violations and 488 non-moving violations, investigated 19 collisions, and inspected 39 commercial vehicles.

“The Interstate 40 challenge is a collaborative effort to reduce traffic collisions during the main travel days of the Thanksgiving holiday,” said Major John Philpot, Northern Region Commander for the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

The challenge was adopted by AZDPS years ago after the Tennessee Highway Patrol was successful in reducing collisions and raising public safety awareness along their stretch of I-40.