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PHOENIX — On average, there are 83 daily crashes daily in Phoenix.

Every other day, a crash costs someone their life.

In a single year, that is 190 people... enough to fill a Boeing 737 plane.

If that Boeing 737 were to crash with no surviving passengers each year, think about what the reaction would be.

The City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department included that statistic in its presentation that will go in front of the City Council at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Road Safety Action Plan is something Operation Safe Roads has followed closely since the City Council first approved the plan's development back in March of 2021.

Since then, work has continued on to evaluate current data, talk with the community, and develop solutions that can be implemented over time with the largest impact on saving lives.

"So, a couple of things with getting the council approval is it first directs our focus, so the strategies so how we're going to make our roads safer, but then it also allocates resources - staffing and funding wise to be able to target and work on reducing those serious injuries and fatalities," Director Kini Knudson said. "But, I think the one thing that's very important as well is, with the federal infrastructure law that was passed last fall, there are specific programs in there that once we have an action plan that's been approved, we're going to be eligible as city to be able to compete for funding at the federal level to help make our roadways safer."

The hope is to allocate $10 million a year to this effort.

The work is critical with Phoenix officials reporting, that they saw their highest number ever of traffic fatalities last year at 231.

Residents can attend the 2:30 p.m. Wednesday meeting in person at 200 W. Jefferson St. Phoenix, Arizona 85003, or watch it online here. Operation Safe Roads will monitor it, as well.

Interested commuters may also view the report ahead of the meeting here.

Have a road issue or a question for Operation Safe Roads? Email [email protected] or call 833-AZ-ROADS

Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

PHOENIX - Arizona Department of Transportation's Motor Vehicle Division's policies are under scrutiny regarding personalized license plates that people are allowed to have in Arizona.

Here's what you should know about Arizona's personalized license plate policy, and the controversy currently surrounding it.

What are personalized license plates?

According to the ADOT website, drivers in the state are allowed to have personalized license plates, for an extra fee and provided the personalized plates don't run afoul of certain rules.

What other rules?

On Sept. 6, ADOT officials forwarded their policy to FOX 10 regarding personalized license plates, citing a portion of the Arizona Administrative Code.

The Division shall reject the application if the requested plate number:

In 2019, we reported on how certain personalized plates are found to be obscene, and not allowed by ADOT.

"As people know, we have a fairly substantial list of license plates that have been rejected for various reasons," said Doug Nick with ADOT, in our 2019 report.

At the time, we reported that we received 700 pages of double-sided, single-spaced personalized requests that were rejected. The requests go back to 2004, and they were all rejected for different reasons including profanities, swear words, and drug-related words.

On Sept. 6, ADOT officials said that some words on the request sheets are no longer flagged, as some phrases and words have become more generally accepted among the public.

"If you put in an obviously profane word, it’s going to kick you out right away," said Nick, on Sept. 6.

What's the problem this time around with these personalized plates?

There are currently several anti-President Joe Biden and anti-Anthony Fauci plates that were approved and are on the road. Some plates include:

It should be noted that while "FFAUCI" has already been rescinded, the other two haven't been. Meanwhile, anti-Former President Donald Trump plates were reportedly denied.

What are ADOT officials saying?

We asked Nick as to why the three plates mentioned above managed to get through the system.

"It seems like there are a lot of checks and balances here, so how did B1DNSUX (Biden Sucks) get through onto the streets?" Nick was asked.

"Those are some things that a computer isn’t necessarily going to know, every name out there, of every politician," Nick replied.

"But it would know the word ‘sux’ though," Nick was asked. "'Sux' is flagged 150+ times."

"Well, when you’re dealing with computers, it's not going to be perfect," Nick replied. "That’s political speech, and we want to be mindful of people’s rights to say things that may be on edge."

"It seems interesting that [F-Trump] rescinded, no chance of that, but you can’t commit to B1DNSUX being removed from the road," Nick was asked.

"Well, ‘F’ is going to be a word that is clearly profane, but ‘SUX’ will be up for review, so I am not going to stand here today and say we made a decision because that's why we have human beings review this to say what is appropriate and what isn’t," Nick replied.

"'FORDSUX' is one of the names removed from the road. That’s not allowed. But you’re saying 'B1DNSUX' potentially could be allowed?" Nick was asked.

I'm just saying it’s under review," Nick replied. "We would be really remiss if we got political on this. So that’s what I’m saying: we're trying very hard to be non-partisan on any of this."

Bill Lamoriaux from ADOT said that the word "SUX" is not considered obscene because of contemporary American vernacular, but "F" is still considered to be obscene.

Have there been other problems with Arizona license plates before?

In 2020, we reported on a license plate issued by ADOT that sounds rather similar to "swastika."

I opened it and said, 'Great, it says swastika on it,'" said Joel Griego. "My cousins didn’t realize it. They’re like, 'Really?' And so I spelled it out for them, and they're like, 'wow.'"

"We took a look at that and realized that auto-generated plate and the interpretation was not something necessarily a computer would recognize," said Doug Nick with the Motor Vehicle Department, in 2020.

How many Arizona cars have personalized plates?

According to data from the MVD in 2020, 4.5 million, or 51% of the registered plates in Arizona, are auto-generated on the classic desert background. 184,029 are vanity plates.

ADOT officials also say they get about 6,000 personalized plate requests a month.

Read Other Stories from FOX 10 Explains

The statewide testing is for grades 3-8, and assesses skills in English, math and science.

PHOENIX — Arizona's latest test scores are higher than previous years, but a large percentage of kids are still failing to pass the testing.

Results are in for Arizona's 2021-2022 Statewide Assessment, and while there's been some improvement, the scores are not entirely worth celebrating.

The statewide assessment measures test scores in English, math, and science for students in grades third through eighth.

Data shows a 3-percentage point increase in English and Language Arts when compared to the previous school year. There also was a 2-percentage point increase in math scores. However, only 41% of Arizona students passed the English and Language Arts section, while only 33% passed math.

"We always want our students to achieve and be proficient at 100%," said Dr. Lupita Hightower, the superintendent of the Tolleson Elementary School District.

She says the Tolleson district also noticed students performing better on the tests.

"So grade level by grade level we had increases in some cases were 5%, in some cases were 13% in some cases 16%," she said.

And after a tumultuous schoolyear during the height of COVID-19, Hightower said it was nice to see some improvements.

"We were quite thrilled to see that the growth that our students had from year-to-year was significant in our school district, and it was higher than the state trend for growth," she said.

However, when asked if the Tolleson district is performing at the level Hightower wants, the superintendent said she'd like her schools to do better.

"We still have so much more growth in our district and state and we're continuing to work on," she said. "In fact, this year we revamped our plan to ensure the instruction is relevant and rigorous beyond where it needs to be."

And it's already in motion. School officials have met with teachers, parents and other staff to help make the Five-Year Vision plan a success.

"It makes us proud because we have a team that's working extremely hard," Hightower added.

One thing Dr. Hightower mentioned was that the statewide test assessment was different from previous years, so they're really looking forward to the upcoming testing and its results to really be able to compare and see what improvements are being made.

12News reached out to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman, as well as Tom Horne, who's running against Hoffman in this year's election, for comment but didn't hear back from them.

Catch up on the latest news and stories on our 12 News YouTube playlist here.

APACHE JUNCTION, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) -- Some people living in Apache Junction are now faced with paying almost triple their rent, or they are forced to move out. They say they were blindsided when their property management company sent them a notice by mail. “I wanted to retire this year. I can’t do it now. I can’t retire,” renter Zane Proctor said.

Proctor has lived in his mobile home with his wife, kids and dogs for years. He says he and his neighbors pay between three to six hundred dollars a month in rent. “Everyone has been in this park 10 to 20 years,” Proctor said.

He and his neighbors recently received a letter in the mail. It says, “The new monthly rent will be $1000+, and if you agree, we can sign a new lease, or you can vacate this property via this 30 day notice.” It also says, “The change will kick in October 1.”

Renters say they got this letter just last week. That gives them a little over a month to make a decision. “Everybody was really upset about this because everyone got blindsided,” Proctor said.

“I don’t know what the reason behind it was,” another renter, David Godsey, said. We, too, wanted answers. Why is the rent going up this much? Why were these renters given such short notice?

The letter was sent by Lemon Holdings LLC. We showed up at their door after trying to get ahold of them through phone and email. Still, no one has responded. “It’s like these guys just don’t care,” Godsey said.

According to Zumper, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Apache Junction is $1,195. These renters say they know their current rent is fairly low; they just wish they were given more time to make arrangements. “We actually want to get out of here,” Godsey said. “But to do that when we were trying to get ahead so we could actually move, it hurts. It’s wrong.”

Arizona’s Family will continue to reach out to the property management company. Renters say they’ve also reached out with their questions and complaints and have not been able to get ahold of anyone. “They’re coming in, buying property and jacking up everything and it’s making it hard for normal, average people to live,” Proctor said. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to go.”

Copyright 2022 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.

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PHOENIX — Democratic candidate for Governor Katie Hobbs will soon learn how important debating is.

Hobbs said no to the invitation from the Arizona Clean Elections Commission to debate Republican candidate Kari Lake.

Hobbs is the first governor's candidate to decline an invitation since the Commission began hosting televised debates in 2002.

On Wednesday, Lake and Hobbs will appear at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce's 2022 gubernatorial candidate forum.

It's not a debate.

The candidates will take the stage separately and speak directly to Chamber members about their policy priorities.

It may be the only time Lake and Hobbs are in the same room together leading to the November election.

Hobbs proposed the two candidates each do a 30-minute interview with moderator Ted Simons. Opening and closing statements will be included.

Republican political consultant Stan Barnes says whether there is a governor's debate or not may not even matter.

"There's a healthy amount of voters that will cast their ballot in November that will have no idea up until the time they cast their ballot that there was or wasn't a debate. So, they won't judge Katie Hobbs harshly or otherwise because they just won't know," Barnes said.

Over the years the Clean Election debates have been informative, insightful and at times embarrassing.

In 2010, Governor Jan Brewer lost her train of thought during her opening statement and went silent for more than 10 seconds, but the gaff did not cost her the election.

"The average voter is making a holistic value judgment about their candidate who they decide to support. In part, based on key issues that the voter feels are important," Barnes said, "but much more, it's about likability, perception and all the soft side not the hard side."

Barnes believes the Hobbs campaign decided it's better to take the political hit early by declining to debate rather than have their candidate on stage with Kari Lake.

"Do we want to take the pain of standing on the stage with someone very good at putting it to you verbally," Barnes added.

The Clean Elections Commission has not responded to the Hobbs proposal.

Democratic political consultant Tony Valdovinos of La Machine Consulting says the Hobbs proposal makes the most sense for voters.

"Folks would rather vote for somebody that is going to really focus on policy moving the state forward versus fueling rhetoric that splits the community in a negative way," Valdovinos said.

That may be true, but Hobbs refused to debate her primary opponent Marco Lopez and that does allow voters to wonder if the Democratic candidate won't debate because she can't debate.

Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.