Even as Phoenix moves into fall, the Valley doesn’t get the seasonal reset most cities enjoy. The temperatures dip, but the effects of months of extreme heat linger — especially on Arizona roads.
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After a summer defined by triple‑digit days, the risks tied to driver fatigue and vehicle breakdowns don’t disappear in October. Low tire pressure warning lights come on; batteries die after the long summer season; and the old squealing wipers.
Phillips Law Group attorney Nasser Abujbarah said the firm routinely sees heat‑related crashes. After 33 years in the Valley, he’s watched the same pattern repeat: fall is when the cumulative damage of summer finally becomes visible.
“Drivers get more tired in the heat,” he said. “It makes them lose concentration. It makes them be more prone to mistakes.”
That exhaustion doesn’t vanish when temperatures slide from 115 to 95. Long‑haul drivers, delivery workers and commuters are still dealing with dehydration and months of operating in what Abujbarah calls “pervasive” heat.
But the bigger fall concern is the condition of the vehicles themselves. After months of baking on hot pavement, tires and engines are more vulnerable to failure.
Abujbarah points to the blown‑tire debris scattered along Valley freeways as a familiar sign of what the heat leaves behind.
“This is just such a hot environment,” he said. “It causes older tires to blow out more quickly.” Many of those failures occur after the worst of the heat has passed, when drivers assume the danger is over.
Abujbarah said the solution isn’t complicated: drivers should treat fall as a maintenance season, not a cooldown.
“People really need to know that they have to take care of their vehicles better in the summers here because it will absolutely lead to crashes,” he said.
