GREEN VALLEY, Ariz. (KGUN) — A spate of alarming crashes along Interstate 19 near Green Valley and Sahuarita has first responders and highway safety officials calling for urgent action.
On Sept. 17, a father and son were killed when their vehicle flipped after a tire blowout and subsequent collision, marking the latest in what appears to be a troubling pattern of serious collisions on this 63-mile highway.
I-19 would appear to be a road that should present low crash risk. But Santa Rita Fire District’s Public Information Officer Dan Gonska says the reality has been anything but safe.
“It’s a straight road, you know, I mean, there are no curves,” Gonska said. “We should not be having this many accidents on it.”
So far in 2025, Gonska says the district has responded to three fatal crashes on I-19, including two in September alone. While that number may sound small, it mirrors a broader safety concern across Arizona: in 2023 the state recorded 122,000 crashes with more than 1,300 deaths, averaging more than three people killed on Arizona roads every day.
Gonska points to several causes for the crashes, such as distracted driving and narrow shoulders that leave little room for error.
“You have distracted driving. I can’t tell you how many people pass me, looking down at their phones,” he said. “It’s like ‘people, what are you doing?!’”
But above all, Gonska sees speed as a primary factor in many of these crashes.
“Speed is definitely a contributing factor,” he said. “I see a lot of people camping out in the left lane and then you get the speeders going past you like you’re standing still.”
The numbers back him up. State data show that speeding remains a leading factor in fatal crashes. In 2024 alone, Arizona saw over 1,100 deadly crashes and tens of thousands of injury collisions, a daily toll of more than 100 injury-involved wrecks statewide.
Some have called for expanding I-19 to three lanes, but Gonska doubts that would solve the problem.
“I don’t think increasing it to three lanes is going to do it,” Gonska said. “Driving on I-10, it’s eight lanes across and people are still blowing past you.”
While he isn’t certain of a solution, Gonska believes action needs to be taken to prevent future tragedies.
“I don’t know if it’s more police presence, I don’t know if they need to reduce the speed limit, but something needs to be done,” he said. “We’ve just lost too many people this year on that road.”
The Arizona Department of Public Safety says highway patrols analyze high-collision corridors and can deploy targeted speed enforcement, though no specific plan has been announced for I-19.
Until changes come, Gonska says the solution lies with drivers themselves:
“Slow down, wear your seatbelt, put your phone down and just concentrate on your driving.”
KGUN9 will continue monitoring any official response or new safety initiatives on I-19.
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Joel Foster is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9 who previously worked as an English teacher in both Boston and the Tucson area. Joel has experience working with web, print and video in the tech, finance, nonprofit and the public sectors. In his off-time, you might catch Joel taking part in Tucson's local comedy scene. Share your story ideas with Joel at joel.foster@kgun9.com, or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram or X.
