2017 Arizona Bicyclist Traffic Fatalities

There were 32 reported bicyclist traffic fatalities in Arizona in 2017.

For a grid-view of each of the 32, see this google docs sheet, which cross-references everything.

16 of the incidents have individual articles about them (tagged 2017 cyclist fatality). Below is a narrative as much as can be determined from either a crash report, or simply the data; for each of the other 16 fatalities that are not other wise documented in an individual article.


01/05/2018 Phoenix

FileNumber: 201700029417 -> phx incident  17000029417
Victim Kevin Lozada, 20 y.o. male
Angle crash at signalized intersection: bicyclist FTY
Dark, around midnight.
Narrative states “According to witness statements, (the bicyclist) disregarded a red traffic signal and continued eastbound into the path of the southbound vehicle”
The report check boxes for cyclist was FTY; not sure why it wasn’t DISREGARDED as that would be more descriptive. Also checked are intersection-related. According to narrative it was in the intersection.

1/21/2017 Pima Co

Adot incident 3184760 Victim 73 y.o. male.
Data describes a strike-from-behind in dedicated BL along Flowing Wells Road.
The motorist, if nothing else, should be liable for 28-672; i.e. the motorist “drifted” and killed the bicyclist because the  motorist FAILED_TO_KEEP_IN_PROPER_LANE

1/23/2017 Phoenix

FileNumber: 201700132891 -> phoenix incident 17000132891
Victim Charles Krizan, 76 y.o. male
Angle crash at signalized intersection: bicyclist FTY
Narrative states:
“Ped-cyclist crossing Indian School Rd North to south at 3rd St against the don’t walk signal and was crashed into by veh 2 who was eastbound on a newly cycle green light within the #3 lane.
Witness verified ped-cyclist crossed Indian School Rd against the don’t walk signal and was crashed into by veh 2. Note veh in front of veh 2 reached the intersection and crashed into ped-cyclist”
The diagram shows the bicyclist using a crosswalk (not the roadway). And the data says that, too (NML = marked crosswalk; although for some reason the NML box in the printed is not checked.
The police treated it as a pedestrian-rule and didn’t explore the possibility that the motorist(s) would be required to wait until the intersection had cleared before continuting.

3/7/2017 Phoenix

FileNumber: 201700401276 -> phoenix incident 17000401276
Victim Clifford Paul Wright, 77 y.o. male.
On a Monday, on a beautiful Phoenix early-March afternoon, victim was struck from behind and killed by speeding 14 y.o. driver on residential street. The very street, North Lane, the victim lived on for decades, was killed within shouting distance of his home in a neighborhood of modest single family homes. The driver lived less than a mile away.

Narrative: “Vehicle 1, westbound on West North Lane at a high rate of speed, collided with Unit 2, a three-wheeled pedalcycle which was westbound… as well…. The collision scene was reconstructed utilizing scientifically accepted methods, in addition to available video footage from residential security cameras located at a residence on the same street, and the speed of Vehicle 1 was found to be 66 miles per hour in the residential 25 mile per hour zone”
Ug. The driver was 14 y.o. male. (obviously) did not have a DL.

One oddity in the otherwise fine/excellent/concise report, the cyclist’s unit action is listed as OTHER, and written in is “Riding pedalcycle w/b”. Should simply be GOING STRAIGHT AHEAD.

Consequences for the driver are not in the crash report, nor are they expected to be. Likely outcomes are he was dealt with in the juvenile justice system but I really don’t know

3/11/2017 Mesa

Victim 67 y.o. male.
Not much to go on, the data says the bicyclist and motorist were both westbound in Lane 1 (the left lane) of University approaching 88th when the bicyclist FAILED_TO_KEEP_IN_PROPER_LANE while CROSSING_ROAD. This could be a mangled way of saying the bicyclist was preparing to turn left; or it could be the bicyclist was crossing mid-block (near, but not at the intersection).
If the former is true, the bicyclist’s action should have been CHANGING LANES. If the latter is true, the cyclist’s direction is wrong.

3/19/2017 Phoenix (DPS)

Involves a frontage road to I-17 so investigated by DPS, not Phoenix PD.
Victim 57 y.o. male.
Data indicates Strike-from-behind in roadway faulted to motorist.

4/11/2017 Graham County (DPS)

Victim 54 y.o. female, name NR see this EA Courier news story.
Data describes a strike-from-behind faulted to the motorist where the motorist drifted onto the shoulder along US Highway 191 near Powerline road.
The motorist, if nothing else, should be liable for 28-672; i.e. the motorist “drifted” and killed the bicyclist because the  motorist FAILED_TO_KEEP_IN_PROPER_LANE

4/21/2017 Phoenix

FileNumber: 201700686125 -> 17000686125?? no acr available?
Victim 24 yo. male.
Angle collision at signalized intersection / bicyclist FTY
Dark/ early morning hours, around 4AM.
Data describes a crosswalk cyclist DISREGARDED and got hit.
There are way too many UNKNOWNs in the data, no idea why. Lack of acr means no easy way to find anything out.

5/3/2017 Phoenix

FileNumber: 201700768239 -> 17000768239
Bicyclist 51 y.o. male Gustavo ALCALA
According to the diagram and the narrative which was based on the driver’s statement — Both the driver and bicyclist were southbound on 23rd Dr  (a relatively quiet 2 lane collector street) at Medlock; the bicyclist was on the sidewalk but for unknown reasons left the sidewalk, continued across the BL, and ran into the right rear quaterpanel of the driver’s vehicle.
There is mention in the narrative about a missing brake pad but that “but the front brakes were operable”. The bicyclist was faulted for KNOWINGLY_OPERATED_WITH_FAULTY… which i object to since it’s highly unlikely that had anything to do with the crash (should have been something like unsafe lane change or FTY or whatever). The narrative mentions that someone who knew the deceased reports he “drinks a lot”. In any event, a blood test (afterwards, of course) reports a BAC of 0.36 The most likely scenario is he fell off the sidewalk, lost control and swerved into passing traffic. (In case you wondering; many/most/almost all fatal traffic victims are tested posthumously for drugs and alchohol).

7/20/2017 Phoenix

FileNumber: 201701262629 -> 17001262629 no acr available?
Bicyclist 31 y.o. male.
Southern at 18th St. The data describes a daylight, wrong-way bicyclist in a BL along a major road colliding with a right-turning motorist emerging from a minor road. The news story (which i found after-the-fact) corroborates this.
The bicyclist is faulted with OTHER; this would be odd/wrong, should be DROVE/RODE IN OPPOSING…

FARS has bicyclist location in TRAVEL LANE; should be bike lane.

8/25/2017 Apache Junction

Bicyclist 58 y.o. female was killed along Superstition Blvd near Valley in a nighttime collision.
Data says both were westbound in lane_1, but indicates the bicyclist was CROSSING. there’s not much around there but whatever.
Bicyclist was faulted, with  KNOWINGLY_OPERATED… which in a nighttime crash usually means lacking required lights and/or reflector.

9/4/2017 Yavapai Co

Bicyclist 52 y.o. female was NB on SB shoulder of SR-69 not far from Prescott Valley when she was struck by a NB motorist who apparently drifted onto shoulder. The motorist was most-at-fault with FAILED_TO_KEEP_IN_PROPER_LANE. The bicyclist was secondarily faulted with KNOWINGLY_OPERATED…; without the report it’s impossible to know, that usually means missing a light at nighttime, the light condition was listed as DUSK but crash occurred ~ 1/2 hour before sunset, so no lights are required.

9/12/2017 Gilbert

Bicyclist 71 y.o. male George Martinez was a long time member of PMBC.

The data indicates both units were westbound on Elliot, at the intersection of Madera Park Dr. (though the data indicates it was at the intersection,  Madera T’s into Elliot to the south, so an intersection mode was not involved; and due to proximity of bus stop, it was likely not at the intersection). Bicyclist in a designated BL, and a transit bus was Stopped in trafficway in Lane 2. FARS indicates a crash type of  Bicyclist Overtaking Motorist, which would imply the bicyclist crashed into the stopped bus (it was probably stopped in the BL). There is a bus stop just west of the intersection.

11/7/2017 Phoenix

FileNumber: 201701963230 -> 17001963230
Bicyclist 61 y.o. male Randy Jay Johnston was on sidewalk when struck by a driver exiting a private driveway on 40th St near Broadway in the mid-afternoon.
Sidewalk-related.
The very brief narrative indicates the investigation did not anticipate this to be a serious injury…
Veh 1 was leaving a private drive and struck pedestrian 1 on a bicycle who was on the sidewalk. Pedestrian 1 collided with the car and then the ground causing a possible injury. Pedestrian 1 was treated by phoenix fire and transported to county hospital for precaution. The driver of veh 1 did not check to see that the sidewalk was clear before leaving a private drive…”
It’s unknown how or why the victim died; any death within 30 of injuries would make this count as a traffic fatality.
The driver was faulted for FTY.

11/18/2017 Chandler

bicyclist 74 y.o. male.

Arizona Ave near Ocotillo.  Junction relation is DRIVEWAY.
Bicyclist’s NML and lane is BL, going straight-ahead, SB;
Driver going NB making right turn.
The driver is most-at-fault (unit 1) but with NO_IMPROPER.
The bicyclist is not most-at-fault (Unit 2) with OTHER.

So something is obviously reported incorrectly… If those directions are correct one scenario would be the bicyclist was going wrong way, i.e. SB, but in the NB BL, and the NB motorist struck the bicyclist turning right into a driveway.

I’m not sure how accurate the lat/long locations are but the nearest driveway to the specifice coordinates is a couple hundred feet away.

11/22/2017 Phoenix

FileNumber: 1702058745 -> 17002058745 cannot locate acr.

Bicyclist 31 y.o. male
Indian School near 45th St.  Bicyclist NB (indian school is an e-w street) in an RTO lane, action: OTHER.
Bicycilst FTY to a motorist WB in lane_2 going straight ahead.

My best guess it it’s some sort of mid-block crossing scenario.

12/22/2017 Scottsdale

Bicyclist 74 y.o, male; NB in a crosswalk.
Motorist “SE” and making left turn; that usually means traveling SB before the incident. i.e.  SB Granite Reef turned left onto Indian School.
Without the report, I can’t what the signals were doing, e.g. did the driver have a protected green arrow (In which case the bicyclist would have been facing a red & don’t walk). That notwithstanding, clobbering a bicyclist in a crosswalk is normally a Maxwell situation, and Scottsdale police have shown they know that and know that a driver’s bad left causing serious injury or death can be charged as a 28-672 against the driver.
In this instance, however the data says the driver is NO_IMPROPER, and the bicyclist is OTHER (what other?)

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