4/20/2015 Lawrence Lacroix, 76 died of injuries (complications?) sustained in a collision with a right turning motorist. Both the cyclist and motorist were EB on Silverlake Rd when the motorist turned right at Cottonwood Lane, Tucson, colliding with the cyclist. Continue reading “Tucson cyclist dies two days after right-hook crash”
[UPDATE: crash report, below. This was a counter-flow direction SIDEWALK rider, killed at a driveway by a right-turning driver. JUST like in the diagram at right]
Tuesday March 31, 2015 time appox early afternoon: the bicyclist was a 20 y.o. female, Jamie Lynn Cody. Police say she was riding SB in a NB lane on 43rd Ave near Bell when an exiting vehicle (possibly the Schwann’s truck seen in the video) turned right and struck her. I.e. the rider was counter-flow in the roadway. This appears to be the NE corner; there is a designated bike lane there, looks to be the driveway nearest Whataburger / Hobby Bench.
The illustration at right is meant to highlight the dangers of sidewalk riding, however the same advice applies to counter-flow street riding, possibly moreso… The driver of a vehicle exiting the driveway when turning right is going to be looking to the left; and especially isn’t expecting any traffic (in the roadway) to approach from his right). Besides the 2013 Scottsdale incident, mentioned below, there have been at least two more recent fatalities, both in Tempe involving wrong-way bicyclists killed in collisions with right-turning drivers (6/12/2014 at Elliot and Harl; and 10/3/2013 at Univerity and Smith). These are, by the way, the only known bicyclist fatalities in Tempe for those two years.
Victim: 22 yo male, name not yet released (Donnell Kiwone Eason); incident 3/6/2015 ~ 1:30pm. Driver: 20 yo male; white Ford Mustang. The picture of the vehicle shows the impact area; left front corner whereupon the cyclist was apparently thrown over the hood and crushed the right-corner of the windshield and roof. Seems like a fairly high-speed impact.
Here is what Central and Thomas looks like from a southbound driver’s viewpoint. According to the news report the bicyclist was “…riding westbound on the north side of Thomas Road at Central Avenue when he was struck by a southbound vehicle” — that would be with the direction of traffic; i.e. from left to right in this streetview.
[Update: PLEA DEAL March 5, 2016 Driver takes plea in fatal Prescott bike crash “The plea agreement noted that probation of up to seven years is available” The possibility of (only) probation for manslaughter indicates the deal must stipulate that the manslaughter will be sentenced as a “non-dangerous” crime. ]
SENTENCE: Yavapai County Superior Court CR-201501124; case minute from 4/4/2016 contains the sentence (Yavapai minutes are available via AZ Supreme Case lookup, but apparently not linkable); if i am reading it correctly, it’s 3 years incarceration in prison for the non-dangerous manslaughter. The DUI resulted in effectively no punishment (it’s concurrent; I suppose this is normal). ]
[Update: Man charged in deadly January truck vs. bicycle crash “Toby Beaty, 37, of Prescott, was arrested Sunday, Oct. 18 2015 and charged with manslaughter and two counts of misdemeanor DUI …” No word on why this took so long.]