GOODYEAR — Goodyear police and city leadership are trying to combat an increase in speeding drivers with a new campaign called "Don't Drive Dumb."
On any given weekday on Lower Buckeye Parkway, patience is needed in the carpool line outside Desert Star Elementary that stretches out of the parking lot and onto the street.
“I got to spend like 30 minutes,” said Britney Pablo, a mother of two.
Pablo said she rather watch her fuel gauge dwindle waiting in line than let her two kids walk home. She lives just three blocks away from school.
“I trust my kids, I just don’t trust the drivers,” she said.
Goodyear police have been putting out videos including body camera interactions with drivers as part of their new campaign to try and make roads safer.
That includes looking for distracted, reckless, and most recently — speeding drivers.
”Speed limit drops to 25 during school it’s got the flashing yellow lights,” said one officer in an edited body camera video posted on Goodyear’s social media.
”Do you know how fast you were driving?” said one officer. The driver responded no. "You're actually 52 in a posted 25. That's more than double the speed limit," the officer said.
When asked what a “dumb” driver is, Sergeant Curt Raine said, “The answer to that is countered as, what is smart driving? If that’s the tagline that evokes thought into people, then have that conversation with us.”
Between June 1st and August 31st, Goodyear police said they had 719 moving violations.
Most were civil and about 75 were criminal, but ABC15 is told all of them were for speeding.
When people see the day-ruining blue and red lights in their rearview mirror, however uncomfortable the following conversation may be, it’s better than speed leading to a crash or worse.
In one clip, a driver said, “I wasn’t speeding, I promise you.” The officer replied saying, “Even if you are doing 55 that’s speeding. It’s 45 miles per hour and I clocked you going 62.”
Goodyear says there aren’t speeding hot spots, but rather situations where they’re catching speeders.
The situations include when spring training starts, when snowbirds come to town in the winter months, and especially in work or school zones.
”The entire idea is to foster an environment and encourage safe driving,” said Sgt. Raine.