Cycling, traffic safety, traffic justice, and legal topics; energy, transit and transportion economics
We are investigating a serious vehicle vs pedestrian collision near McQueen & Ocotillo. All east bound traffic from S Arizona Ave to McQueen Rd will be shutdown for an extended amount of time. Please take alternate routes for your commute.
The media staging area will be Central… pic.twitter.com/oK5qBJMOxH— Chandler Police (@ChandlerPolice) November 27, 2023
11/27/2023 ~7am Continue reading “Pedestrian killed at Paseo Trail xing, driver in custody after TWO crashes Chandler”
Crime date: Oct 5, 2018
So many twists and turns, but illustrative on how the justice system has great difficulty dealing with bad drivers (never even brought manslaughter charges, sound familiar?). This 2018 case was referenced in an azbikelaw article several years ago, but there are updates and case is now (Dec 2021) finally closed :
Even when there’s some other clear evidence, e.g. very drunk, charges are sometimes not brought, e.g. police say Collin Reeves was very drunk at .145 BAC proceeding straight ahead and collided with a left-turning driver at the intersection of McKellips and Alma School Rd in Mesa, resulting in two motorist (and their dog) deaths County Attorney drops charges on accused drunk driver who killed 2 . Witnesses say Reeves’ light was red; but prosecutors claim they can’t prove anything, thus the dropped charges. — click for original article
Continue reading “Driver pleads guilty to endangerment in double fatality”
Police say that on Feb 2, 2022, a driver failed to stop at a red light, and ran over Rosa Mroz, a Maricopa County Superior Court Judge, killing her. She was in a marked crosswalk, crossing on the green/walk near 56th St and Camelback. 
Continue reading “Family of dead pedestrian suing driver and Grubhub”
Having lived to a biblical age, I’ve seen some crazy things. I’ve seen the Prius—whose owners were once mocked and scorned as virtue-signaling eco-weenies—become a counterargument for fossil fuel’s defenders opposing vehicle electrification. Under the hood of the Prius Prime is Toyota’s best argument for what it calls its “diverse approach to fighting carbon”: a high-efficiency (Atkinson cycle) 2.0-liter gas engine; two motor-generators; and a 13.6-kWh battery pack.
Sat 11/25/2023 “early morning” ~ 1:30A
Rural Road southbound, just south of Broadway, Tempe. Driver is suspected of impairment and excessive speed; crossed over and struck a fixes object, a “single vehicle” type crash.
Rural Road is very wide. (too wide?). This apparently allegedly involved street racing; the evening tv news (pasted below), the crash occurred on the property of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, on the east side of Rural Road.
Continue reading “Force of deadly crash in Tempe splits car in half, driver arrested”
11/11/2023 10A. Intersection of Ray Road and Coronado, Chandler Arizona.
The victims were reported to be: killed 9 year old Ilai Petersen, whose father Aaron was injured.
Chandler Police describe the “accident” (please! #crashnotaccident) as an apparent left-turn error, and the resultant 2-vehicle collision caused one of the vehicle drivers to lose control and drive up on the sidewalk, striking the pedestrians. Continue reading “Driver(s) kill boy, injure man on the sidewalk”
SPOILER ALERT — I never got the bottom of this…but I wanted to publish and get it out there. Hopefully can do data replication experiments some day.
MAG puts out a report that seeks to quantify intersection risk for each of the (1,300 was it?) intersections in the MAG region; the final score is a number between zero and 1, from no-risk to most-risky. It uses the most recently available 5 calendar years of ADOT crash data, which was for this round 2017-2021. Continue reading “Ranking Phoenix metro area’s intersection safety”
August 24, 2019 — a driver rear ended a motorcyclists on SR101, killing him.
This is certainly one for the record books: sending a not-impaired driver to prison. This is exceedingly rare (but see below, there’s more to this story). There is one other case where a driver was convicted in the 2013 killing of DPS officer Tim Huffman; that driver was said to be distracted by and “watching” his phone…. Continue reading “Driver Sentenced to prison in 2019 killing of a motorcyclist on SR101”
Flagstaff PD uploaded a video on October 3, 2023 to their facebook page. The timing suggests it may have been produced in response to the Lake Mary RV driver – bicyclist crash that occurred about 5 weeks ago, or possibly that’s just coincidental.
9/30/2023 Alleged impaired motorist failed to negotiate a a mild bend while northbound on Gilbert road, struck a curb and then seriously injured a bicyclist on Old Gilbert Road. Map view: Gilbert Road at Old Gilbert Road
Supposedly driver was arrested, but for whatever reason, Mesa PD did not release the driver’s name.
Continue reading “Bicyclist seriously injured after being hit by impaired driver, Mesa police say”
I’ve updated the original story with a summary of the police report from this downtown Phoenix serious-turned-fatal collision at 1st and Filmore. Please leave any comments there:
8/27/2023 10:30am.
The crash occurred about 1/2 mile south of the intersection of Lake Mary Rd & Ashurst Lk Rd. According to the news account from the Arizona Daily Sun (archived) seven cyclists were injured. We have remarkable documentation because a cyclist in front of those injured had a cycliq rear taillight/camera. The driver appears to have misjudged the space available, and struck a rider who was riding in the narrow traffic lane. The coco county sheriff’s office said the driver was cited, with reference to 3-feet, and max fine of $500; so 28-735B. Continue reading “Multiple injuries caused by RV driver bad overtaking”
Haven’t done one of these for awhile… but they do keep happening. all the time. Seriously? Continue reading “Man killed by driver while sleeping in his home; Man killed on sidewalk after driver goes airborn”
Feb 14, 2023 5:38AM College and Alameda, Tempe AZ.
A 55 y.o. male bicyclist was killed at this all way (AWSC, All Way Stop Controlled) intersection.
According to the police report, based on the driver and two independent witness statements, the northbound bicyclist failed to stop and rode into the side of a westbound driver of a F-150 pickup. Continue reading “Bicyclist killed in collision at College/Alameda 4-way stop”
ADOT released Crash Facts 2022 July 24, 2023, which is back to the normal schedule (last year’s was released in late Sept for unstated reasons).
2022 was, again, a very bloody year on Arizona’s roads and highways. Overall deaths increased over the already bad 2020, and 2021 figures. Continue reading “Arizona Crash Facts 2022”