ARKANSAS, USA — If you have driven across interstates in Arkansas, you may have noticed speed enforcement cameras in construction zones.
That's from a law that allows speed cameras to be put up along interstates to make sure drivers aren't speeding through work zones.
This initiative has been in place since last fall. Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) Spokesperson Dave Parker says this idea came from work zones in Arkansas seeing a rise in crashes and fatalities.
"So, we got together with our contractors with Good Roads foundation, and we said, 'we got to do something here, we got to get people's attention," Parker said.
If you drive down Interstate-49 in Fayetteville, you may have noticed these signs near the Martin Luther King Jr. Exit, telling drivers that speed is photo-enforced.
If you've noticed the signs, saying "Speed photo enforced work zone," Parker says there are cameras there, but it's not a speed enforcement camera, and that technically there isn't an officer waiting downstream to give you a ticket.
However, Parker said that the goal of the program is to get drivers to slow down, not for them to get citations.
"The intent of this was never to write a bunch of citations, that doesn't get us anywhere. We get that we've got to get awareness out there. The speed enforcement cameras are just another way of doing that, and driving home that message: To slow down when you get into those construction zones and be more aware," Parker said.
So far there are only two cameras in the Natural State – both in Saline County, where ARDOT saw a pattern of drivers not slowing down while construction workers were present during a widening project. "People just weren't slowing down, so we had to really get their attention by putting in the speed enforcement cameras. And it's working so well," Parker recalled.
Parker says the goal of the speed enforcement camera program is to get drivers to slow down in construction zones. and so far the initiative is working.
"In 2023, after a year of doing the campaign, the number of crashes had dropped by almost 1,000 down to about 1,500, Parker said. "In 2021, we had 84 fatalities in work zones. And in 2023, we had 50. Still a high number, but a lot better than 84."
The ARDOT spokesperson mentioned key parts of what drivers should know when driving through construction zones. "Early awareness is key. 'Slow down, phone down' is working at the same time as speed enforcement —kind of parallel to one another."
ARDOT will most likely purchase two more cameras during the fiscal year and hopes to add a speed enforcement cameras along I-49.
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