Cycling, traffic safety, traffic justice, and legal topics; energy, transit and transportion economics
Police say when officers tried to stop Sean Bennett, he sped up and hit an officer on a police bicycle before speeding off. The officer was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
2026-10-24 ~3a. Impairment isn’t mentioned, but seems to likely have been involved especially since other news reports stated police saw an “erratic wrong-way driver”.
Hit and Runs continue apace… Continue reading “Driver kills cyclist in Seligman, flees the scene”
On the AZfamily evening newscast last evening (specifically it was the 9PM channel 3-1 broadcast on 9/18/2026) there was a segment from one of their “national” news investigative journalists that AZfamily uses as a time filler. I mention the specifics because I can’t find it online, which seems odd.
Anyway, this journalist has done previous segments on Flock cameras and he might have some sort of grudge or other reasons to present the story slanted against Flock. Last night’s piece in my paraphrase said that Flock caused some otherwise innocent person in Florida to go to jail for 11 days, and it was all flock’s fault, etc. but here’s the real story: Continue reading “Flock Cameras and yellow journalism”
I’m mentioning this incident specifically for a couple of reasons… read on.
2026-09-07 around 3:30pm. Police say a man riding an “e-bike” died when he struck the rear of a parked semi near 19th Avenue and Mountain View Road.
The use of the term “e-bike” is often used very loosely. We need to know whether this is a class 1, 2, or 3 electric bicycle. If it is not any of those, it is a motorcycle. Continue reading “e-bike rider in Phoenix dies after striking rear of parked semi”
[update: the PBCAT tool was restored as of sometime on August 11, 2026]
PBCAT, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Analysis Tool, is an open-access crash typing application, it’s produced by the US Dept. of Transportation, USDOT.
The internet archive site of USDOT’s page describes it as: Continue reading “What is PBCAT? Why has the Federal Gov’t taken it away?”
Why are these hit-and-runs taking so long to hit the media? Occurred July 17, 2026, and seems to have been first reported in the media July 27. Shouldn’t police be flooding the media ASAP after an incident. The victim seriously injured — this is a FELONY crime. Continue reading “BOLO: Gold colored SUV. Driver seriously injures Gilbert cyclist”
It’s worth reflecting back on how we got here w.r.t. automobiles in the US.
In a recent WSJ opinion piece, Long Live the EV: Now that the U.S. isn’t killing it with ‘help,’ the electric vehicle has a chance. (that link is a “gift article” that may get thru their paywall, but I think the gift expires after awhile) columnist Holman Jenkins[] mentions a bunch of policy driven points that are probably not well understood outside of policy-wonk circles. The main thrust of the column, about EVs, informs that whole mess…
Continue reading “Why we have so many large pickup trucks and SUVs”
The standard three class electric bicycle definition was enshrined into ARS in 2018. There is no explicit speed limit for electric bicycles; but unfortunately, the mention of 20/28mph in the definitions has led some to mistakenly believe there is, in effect, and e-bike speed limit.
This is not the case. Where an electric bicycle meets a class definition, it may be operated at any speed; so long as it meets Arizona’s “basic speed rule” which typically boils down to no faster than reasonable and prudent. You are probably aware that bicycles routinely go faster than 20 or 28mph! Electric bicycles are bicycles. Continue reading “There is no e-bike speed limit”
The city of Tempe did a complete re-surfacing, a mill-and-overlay, of Priest Drive between Ray and Elliot Roads completed in March or maybe April 2026; a 2 mile stretch. Here’s some dash cam of some of the new treatment
[fun facts: Ray Road here is the city-limit of Tempe, south of there is Chandler. Priest Drive is known as 56th Street in Chandler. Somewhere north of Elliot and past the new-ish traffic circle, the jurisdiction changes to the Town of Guadalupe and the street there is known as Avenida del Yaqui and in 2022 completed an extensive remodeling of the street including a new bike lane there. And then, continuing north of there it switches back to city of Tempe and named Priest Drive again] Continue reading “Priest Drive Resurfacing and new bike lane 2026”
May 23, 2026 ~ 11pm. Mesa Grand Shopping Center (Baseline and Stapley) parking lot. Fatal hit-run suspect driving grey or silver newer Ford F-150.
Yikes, another “full size” pickup involved fatality. Continue reading “Mesa Police search for Ford F-150 involved in fatal Memorial Day weekend hit-and-run”
2026-07-02 4pm. Bethany Home Road near 35th Ave.
A sidewalk cyclist traveling westbound on the sidewalk of Bethany Home Road was killed when struck by the driver of a full-sized pickup (apparently, a “lifted” pickup) exiting a commercial driveway in the vicinity of 35th Ave; the direction of bicyclist was not specified as to whether she was traveling with or against traffic flow. 12new segment: 60-year-old bicyclist killed in west Phoenix crash, the victim’s name is Jennifer Lam Continue reading “60-year-old bicyclist killed in west Phoenix crash”
In some ways, this is a typical fatal crash, a negligent driver kills another person, in this instance, a fellow motorist. In other ways, something else must be going on because precious few drivers who kill go to prison; and ones that do nearly always involve DUI, yet there’s (apparently) no evidence of impairment, only recklessness presumably due to excessive speed. Continue reading “Man sentenced for fatal 2024 hit-and-run crash that killed Tucson native”
Interesting pretext traffic stop case. Pretext case law is intriguing because it can reveal deep dark details of traffic law that are never revealed in traffic court.
The law in question was
§ 28-721(B) Driving on right side of roadway... On all roadways, a person driving a vehicle proceeding at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall drive the vehicle in the right-hand lane then available for traffic or as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway, except when overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction or when preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
Continue reading “Justices side with Arizona police in ‘stay right’ case”
phew. Walking in the park and now you’re dead? Getting hit by flying debris from some speeding drivers causing a horrific, deadly crash? Seriously, how often does this stuff happen?
2026-04-08 ~8am. Just out for a nice walk in the park when… “LAVEEN, AZ (AZFamily) — A woman has died after police say she was hit by an out-of-control pickup truck while walking at a park in Laveen Wednesday morning.”
The Bicycle Bicycle Passing Clearance Sign (R4-19) was added to the latest edition of the MUTCD, the 11th edition Dec 2023 (here’s the bicycle chapter: part 9 .pdf). The sign is not presently in in Arizona’s MOAS (Manual of Approved Signs). — I’m not sure what’s up with that since Arizona state law does have a specific minimum passing law as required by the standard in order to use the sign.
Here is some background on how the Passing Clearance sign was developed on its way to be added to the MUTCD. Continue reading “Bicycle Passing Clearance Sign (R4-19)”