Avondale outlines traffic-safety task force, enforcement and engineering measures

Chief Manuel Espinosa and City Engineer Kim Moon presented Avondale's Traffic Safety Committee initiatives on April 20, describing enforcement, data, and engineering strategies to reduce crashes and improve traffic flow.

Chief Espinosa said the committee was formed after the city eliminated its photo-radar program. The group meets twice monthly and includes traffic engineering, police, development services, public works, and other departments. The enforcement approach uses community reporting (traffic hotline and AviWise), covert data-capture boxes to measure volumes and speeds (no images or license-plate reads), targeted enforcement (speed trailers, covert traffic vehicles and special details), and an expansion of LIDAR and radar equipment. Espinosa said the department currently has 20 LIDAR units and plans to increase to 48 and expand radar guns from six to 21 (including 15 moving-radar units), funded through RICO and other sources.

The city participates in a nine-agency West Valley Speed and Aggressive Driving Task Force and will host a multi-agency enforcement deployment in Avondale on May 19. Espinosa also said four additional officers were added to the traffic unit, increasing enforcement activity in February 2026 compared with February 2025.

Kim Moon described engineering countermeasures, including a "Look Before You Turn" public-education campaign initially focused on the Dysart/Rancho Santa Fe Boulevard intersection, temporary rotating signage, protected-left-turn treatments where feasible, improved sight-distance striping and signal retiming, and an upcoming transportation master plan update.

Councilmembers praised the coordinated efforts, asked for additional education on yield/right-of-way rules, and discussed protected left-turn timing and signal locations on I-10 ramps and arterial intersections.