Car Carnage Wrapup + GM Ignition Switch recall

Phew, 10 dead in just two incidents. In Arizona. In the past few days. The news had been dominated by headlines and Congressional hearings revolving around approximately 13 deaths over something like a decade ( and throughout the entire county, of course) that are linked to a defective GM ignition switch part. Here is how in one instance the defect is said to be linked to the driver’s death, from the Detroit Free Press describes how “…(the victim) got into her Chevrolet Cobalt, jammed down the accelerator and lost control in a nearby cul-de-sac, slamming into a tree. The impact crushed her against the steering wheel. She wasn’t wearing a seat belt; she’d been drinking, too. Despite the crash, the air bags didn’t go off…”. I don’t know if that’s typical or not, presumably some of the crashes could be due to loss of power (brakes/steering) but that’s besides the point…

I can’t help thinking that if as much attention were paid to the ~ 400,000 other traffic deaths that have occurred in the US over the past decade, we might get somewhere on the problem of traffic fatalities being a leading cause of death among Americans. Along the same lines as the gm-ignition switch; there’s an excellent editorial in the AJPH Sept 2014 (Vol 104 No 8) by human-factors traffic safety expert Leonard Evans recounting a similar drama with Toyota, but how US policy is topsy-turvey and misses the big picture due leading to “Twenty Thousand More Americans Killed Annually Because US Traffic-Safety Policy Rejects Science” Continue reading “Car Carnage Wrapup + GM Ignition Switch recall”

The UVC

UVC — Uniform Vehicle Code. A placeholder article for all things UVC. I don’t really understand the process, but it’s what I refer to as a quasi-official group/document, it has no weight-of-law, unlike e.g. the MUTCD, which is maintained by the federal gov’t, and incorporated by reference into Arizona (among many others) law.

The wiki article is very sparse; it links to the NCUTLO page, which still has a website but from what I understand is “on hiatus”; and the NCUTCD “inherited” maintenance for the UVC — see “evolution” below. See also azbikelaw.org/contrib/UVC/ for many old/historical references to UVC, especially pre-2000 versions. Continue reading “The UVC”

Another stroller death; Toddler killed in Phoenix Walmart parking lot

incident 1pm Thursday March 20, 2014 on a “private access road” near 75th Avenue and McDowell Road in Phoenix . Hints from the news story indicate this will likely be a non-traffic death (occurred “on a private access-road”) — meaning this could be one of the many automobile deaths that aren’t counted in the official statistics. Around 32,000 Americans are killed each year in traffic collisions –according to official statistics — how many more are there? [UPDATE: contrary to what I wrote at the time, this incident DID make it into FARS, incident 40170 ; I didn’t look these up but PEDCTYPE: 770 / PEDSNR: 4a / PEDCGP: 750; also of note, the PBPTYPE was “Pers Convey”]

No names released (so will be, of course, difficult to follow up on); only ages: dead is a 3-year-old boy, slightly injured is a female babysitter; the driver is a 22-year-old man. The business about drugs seems highly speculative and the likely investigation outcome will find this to have been an unavoidable “accident” — meaning for some reason the driver, despite what obviously must have been limited sight-distances, wasn’t expected to simply drive a little more slowly. Why not? Continue reading “Another stroller death; Toddler killed in Phoenix Walmart parking lot”

Crash charge weighed vs. deputy

[ Update mid-June — well the “verdict” is in and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has announced there will be no charges filed. Here is the azcentral news story. I am more aligned with columnist Robert’s thinking; than I am with Montini… though there is still an undeniable appearance of impropriety on County Attorney Montgomery’s part. In summary, Roberts points out that the prosector’s office lets anybody and everybody off the hook (except when impaired); Montini insists it’s simply political. I believe the city of Glendale certainly has enough evidence to charge Pearce with criminal speeding — if they choose to. That would be largely symbolic but would still require the defendant to appear before the court. ] Continue reading “Crash charge weighed vs. deputy”

Dodge Blvd Bridge and sub-standard Pima Co bike facilites

First off — never ride too close to the edge of the road; you are more likely to run into problems there including debris, bad road surface conditions or other obstructions like drainage grates and so forth. See where to ride on the road for more.

Pima County / Tucson does not have “Bike Lanes”, they, if asked, insist there are no bike lanes, but rather they are “Bike Routes with Striped Shoulders“. Though of course they (everyone, including Pima County’s press releases ) refer to these odd bike facilities as bike lanes whenever convenient — e.g. “The bike lanes on the Dodge Boulevard Bridge over the Rillito River will be closed for drainage modifications, starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 3, 2013. Bicyclists are asked to seek an alternate route.” [Some updates; as of Jan 2015 I just noticed there are two different bikeway maps covering Pima county, one put out by pima co DOT, at pima.gov and another put out by PAG (Pima Assoc of Gov’ts) the PAG map marks almost everything in blue, including this hot mess, which according to the key is a “Bike Lane”. The PCDOT map is the one that still refers to the bike route with striped shoulders, using the red key color]

Now there’s this… this is a real abomination:

(I’m not sure if this reflects what is there now, or rather what was there at the time of this bad crash) Here’s a google maps street view of the Dodge Blvd bridge over the Rillito near Tucson (apparently it’s owned by Pima County). There is some sort of weird 2′ wide band of green (paint, i guess?) directly next to the curb — from what i gather the gap referred to below is between the curb and the green paint. The google street view coincidentally caught a cyclist dutifully riding within that very narrow band of green paint, just inches from the “drainage gap”. Continue reading “Dodge Blvd Bridge and sub-standard Pima Co bike facilites”

Man killed in Scottsdale collision

Details from news stories are vague; occurred 3/14/2014 ~ 5:30pm (daylight). “Investigators say Moeckel drifted into the traffic lane just before he was hit”. The victim’s was 71-year-old Larry Moeckel. The story doesn’t say but one would guess the collision occurred on Pima Road somewhere south of Dixileta Drive (since another news story said Pima was closed between Dixileta and Dyanamite Blvd). No direction was specified. Google maps view of Pima Road and Dixileta Drive. Continue reading “Man killed in Scottsdale collision”

Unlicensed pickup driver’s bad left kills motorscooter rider; hit and run

Yikes. The unlicensed (permit) 15 y.o. pickup driver made a bad left (“left cross”); killing a motor scooter rider. March 12, 2014. The driver fled the scene.

Some reports referred to the victim’s vehicle as a scooter, and another a motorized scooter… from the pics it was apparently what is officially called a “Motor driven cycle”; which is like a motorcycle but with a limit on engine power; i.e. more power than a moped and less than a “full” motorcycle.

azcentral.com

Mesa police plan to recommend hit-and-run charges against a 15-year-old boy who caused a fatal accident on Wednesday afternoon when he made left turn in front of a scooter, according to a police spokesman.

Police did not identify the boy because he is a juvenile, but the victim was identified as Mason Merrill, 22, who was aided by a detective who happened upon the collision on University Drive just east of Alma School Road. Continue reading “Unlicensed pickup driver’s bad left kills motorscooter rider; hit and run”

Phoenix driver pleads guilty in fatal 2012 car a-word

So this is weird — the weird part being that a driver who doesn’t seem to have been doing much if anything wrong, while the driver/victim seemed to have been doing everything wrong — was charged with Neg Hom.

The victim was a driver emerging from a driveway. The driver, Jeffrey David Meyn, who plead guilty to negligent homicide, was simply going straight along the main road; he was said to have just passed through a yellow-light (which is perfectly legal) when he struck the victim’s vehicle as it emerged from a driveway on Northern Ave just west of the intersection of Northern Ave and 12th St, Phoenix on June 25, 2012 (almost two years ago!). Continue reading “Phoenix driver pleads guilty in fatal 2012 car a-word”

More about shoulders; this time golf carts.

cartTracksSunCity — Sample “excessively wide” road in Sun City, AZ. This is Boswell Blvd, somewhere south of Bell Rd. You can clearly see the golf cart “tracks” in the shoulder.

There is an interesting bill floating around in the state legislature, HB2027 (see
bill-tracker to follow this and other bills of interest)

Direct link to HB2027 — golf carts allowed to use shoulder. For much more about shoulder usage, see shoulder-use.

The first odd thing is the bill is written so it only applies to age restricted communities in unincorporated areas of counties more than 3 million population.(phew! Translation: Sun City, Sun City West, etc. It also, come to think of it, applies to Sun Lakes.). Continue reading “More about shoulders; this time golf carts.”

Another MV-house collision

I’m becoming increasingly intrigued by these sorts of things. Like how often do cars just ram into houses? Is it a traffic crash? (i.e. will there be an ACR? I am tagging it as a non-traffic just to remember to go back and check).

Incident occurred 2/7/2014 around 3pm; house at the 9800 block of N 9th St Phoenix Continue reading “Another MV-house collision”

Street Highway Sidewalk Roadway Shoulder Definitions

180577_1431298233827_2121435_n — Dan Gutierrez’s graphic illustration (CVC are references to the CA vehicle code).

It seems as though I’ve had to look this up over and over. Finally, here are all the definitions, for the first time ever, together:

Continue reading “Street Highway Sidewalk Roadway Shoulder Definitions”

51st Leg, 2nd regular session bill tracker (spring 2014)

Bills affecting cyclists

This legislative session is now over; each bill’s disposition is noted below…

SB1170 bicycle equipment (helmet requirement for < 18 y.o.)

Bill Status: Assigned to Trans and PS (Public Safety) but not on agenda to be heard. [Final status: never heard]

azbikelaw says: mandatory helmet use laws tend to have the unintended consequence of reducing cycling. The safety benefits of bicyclist helmet use tend to overstated.

HB2677 theft; bicycle; increased penalty

Bill Status: Assigned to Judiciary but not on agenda. [Final status: never heard]

HB2545 bicyclists; public ways
Bill Status: on agenda 2/13 house trans committee; at the hearing, without any notice, the bill was not heard w/o explanation (last few seconds of the hearing). [Final status: Held/never heard] Continue reading “51st Leg, 2nd regular session bill tracker (spring 2014)”

Court reinstates Scottsdale DUI test results

There was a CoA ruling recently in a long-running case that questioned the accuracy of one particular piece of lab equipment used in Scottdale’s crime lab involved with a handful of serious DUI cases.

CA-SA 13-0285 STATE v. HON. BERNSTEIN/HERMAN in the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division 1, was a so-called “special action” brought by Maricopa County Prosecutor Bill Mongomery. Continue reading “Court reinstates Scottsdale DUI test results”

Driver Sentenced: Serious Injuries in Scottsdale Pedicab Crash

[1/15/2014: azcentral.com Man in Scottsdale pedicab crash sentenced to 4 years in prison; Joseph Paul Spano pleaded guilty to two counts aggravated assault plus one endangerment ]

Two passengers of a pedicab were very seriously injured when they were struck by an suspected drunk driver in an early morning hours crash near downtown Scottsdale 1/4/2013. The pedicab’s driver was also injured. The crash occurred as the pedicab was traveling north on Scottsdale Road near Rose Lane.

Seriously injured Cody A. Clark and Michael D. Tysver were both Kansas state fans in town for the Fiesta Bowl. The automobile driver “Phoenix resident Joseph Paul Spano, 27, was driving the sedan that collided with the pedicab and was arrested on suspicion of DUI, endangerment and aggravated assault”. Aggravated assault, §13-1204, can be a fairly serious charge; depending on a variety of factors. Continue reading “Driver Sentenced: Serious Injuries in Scottsdale Pedicab Crash”

Stab-and-run; boats hit-and-run; road rage verdict

In odd automobility news (this is all local Phx metro, mind you), from Tues Jan 14, 2014 “Around the Valley” Arizona Republic, page B2…

Scottsdale: “According to police, the man was about to cross Cactus Road at its intersection with Hayden Road at about 6 a.m. when a dark colored, two-door vehicle that was driving southbound on Hayden stopped in front of him. The driver got out of the car and stabbed the man in the abdomen with a small blade, then immediately got back into the car and drove westbound on Cactus”

Mesa: “A hit and run at the Bass Pro Shops in Mesa early Saturday morning resulted in nearly $100,000 in damages to boats at the retailer… Mesa police were called out to the Bass Pro Shops near Loop-202 and Dobson Road at about 8:40 a.m. Saturday… While the vehicle was not present at the scene, police found a Ford emblem and a Triton V10 emblem… investigators believe the vehicle is possibly two-toned — gray on the bottom and white on the top — with heavy damage to the front-end”

Last Week

Road Rage incident from 2008: shooter found guilty at 2nd trial: “John Chester Stuart will spend the next 18 years in prison for shooting a man that came at Stuart’s car during a 2008 road-rage incident following the Phoenix Open. Stuart, 51, was convicted of second-degree murder and drive-by shooting in September for killing 49-year-old Tom Beasley. The conviction came after a jury reached an impasse during a rambunctious first trial that saw Stuart representing himself and relying on a legal theory that rejects much of the American justice system”. The was some odd goings on immediately after the incident involving purportedly faked document, and Stuart’s purported involvement in a group called the Freemen. Some other interesting associations freedomsphoenix.com; dailypaul.com; he founded/ran showmetheloan.net and something called the “quiet title process”.