[update: 9/28/2017 — driver charged w/ 2nd degree murder]
Impaired drivers remain a serious threat to bicyclists. And pedestrians. And other drivers. And passengers.
9/22/2017 “just after midnight” Bicyclist (60-year-old Peter Rankin) killed incidentally when a suspected impaired, speeding driver (Kevin Richard Hevel, 30) sideswiped another vehicle; jumped the curb onto the sidewalk where he struck and killed the bicyclist, kept going (of course) and continued on to rear-end a Glendale police cruiser. Near 59th and Glendale Ave, in Glendale, AZ. Continue reading PD: Driver hit SUV, killed bicyclist in Glendale before hitting police car→
7/26/2017 ~ 8:40am. News reports Eastbound Bus on McKellips near Country Club crashed headon with a cyclist traveling westbound in the eastbound lane.
It was approaching the intersection of McKellips with Grand according to the map location in the news story. In a later news story a police spokesperson identified the bicyclist as Shedrick Galloway, 46/M, and said he “was hit when he veered in front of the bus”.
Wrong-way riding is a pretty common contributing factor in bike-mv collisions, however this type where the bicyclist is thought to have veered into the path of oncoming traffic is pretty rare. Another later news story relates that the bicyclist wasn’t feeling well and had already called a friend to come pick him up; so perhaps (speculation) he suffered some sort of medical emergency that caused the veering.
fatal incident 8/27/2016; This was reported in the media at the time but I had missed it.
Cyclist Thomas J. Butler 39/M; 43rd Ave, just north of Bethany Home Road. It’s not clear when police say things like “The bicyclist tried to ride across the street, not in a crosswalk”; and there are inconsistencies in the data file; unfortunately the crash report itself is unavailable from the given file number, so the world will never know: Continue reading Phoenix police: Bicyclist identified after being hit by suspected drunk driver→
Thursday 5/25/2017 morning. Driver WB on State Route 238 at milepost 43 struck and killed a bicyclist. The story doesn’t say, but the scenario suggests strike-from behind.
This is an outline of each 2016 fatality that was unknown to me — or that could not be found by reverse-googling — until the database was released in mid-2017. See the full 2016 grid here.
There are 10 such incidents, not counting two additional exceedingly poorly-documented incidents that were also nowhere to be found in media report. That means that of total of 30 fatal incidents (31 fatalities, as one was double) in 2016, 18 were reported in the media while 12 were not — or at least not that I can find.
First of all: WAY TOO MANY HIT AND RUNS. Fully ONE THIRD of all fatal Bike-MV crashes in 2016 had the driver fleeing the scene, a felony.
“Missing” refers to the database has these listed as not a hit-and-run, yet they are missing virtually all identifying data, except the victim’s demographics. The only thing I can imagine is they are hit and run, and are mis-coded. Continue reading Two more “missing” hit-and-run fatalities→
6/1/2017 ~ 7AM westbound Alsdorf near Durango, Arizona City, Pinal County. victim: Susan J. Stanisich, 75/F. Struck from behind by 2nd vehicle. The position of impact on the vehicle (the driver’s side) seems odd.
5/5/2017 bicyclist Robert Dale Fox II was killed by driver Melanie Laverne Jones, and arrested on suspicion of 2nd degree murder
suspected and DUI.
The rear end collision occurred on SR95 between Home Depot and the USPS. (~ MP 249)
The outside lane appears to be quite ( ~ 14 feet plus a 2 foot gutter pan) wide, and the bicyclist was thrown into the curb. The motorist was likely swerved toward the curb. The body of that car is ~ 6 feet wide.
Criminal Case
According to a June 8, 2017 Mohave Valley Daily News article, Melanie Luverne Jones is being held in county jail on DUI higher than .20 plus manslaughter charges and has left the public defender in favor of hiring her own lawyer
[update: 9/28/2017 — driver charged w/ 2nd degree murder]
