12/16/2021 ~ 10pm
“in the area of 34th Street and McDowell Road, according to a Phoenix Police Department news release… Jeffrey Ray, 53, was riding a bicycle and crossing McDowell Road mid-block”
“A sedan driven by 18-year-old Javon Holston was traveling east on McDowell Road when the vehicle struck Ray and continued driving, according to police officials. Officers found Holston and took him into custody.” — azcentral
Ironically, a piece in the New Times mentions Ray’s, and Hans Hughes’ deaths as a reason for needing “protected” bike lanes. This is rather disingenuous to say the least — according to police Hughes was killed by a drunk red-light runner at an intersection, and Ray was killed “crossing” the street mid-block (in the dark, it wasn’t mentioned if he had the required headlight).
Physically an un-scalable impermeable barrier could have prevented Ray from even attempting to “cross” mid-block — but there are no such protected bike lanes in any urban area, there are too many necessary crossing opportunities (driveways and intersections), a barrier like that would only work next to something like a freeway (no intersections or driveways).
And no “protection” is going to stop red light runners from striking people (be they in vehicles, walking or riding a bike) at right-angles in an intersection. not even so-called “protected intersections“.
There is a ton of info on current thinking about the causes of bike crashes in the U.S. YouTube channels such as Not Just Bikes, has numerous videos on the urban design and road design decisions made in countries such as the Netherlands, that have resulted to dramatically reduced fatality rates for pedestrians and bicyclists. They employ “protected” bike lanes as one tool in the tool box. “Protected”might mean separated by a physical space, or a barrier. These protected bike lanes are used extensively in urban areas, but the intersections are treated completely differently. (YouTuber Not Just Bikes explains how.) A few U.S. cities are starting to catch on and you will see similar “protected” bike lanes in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, New York, etc.
That said, many now realize the biggest cause of deadly bike crashes in the U.S. is the allowance of high speed automobile roadways (defined as 30mph or greater) in urban areas mixed with cyclists and pedestrians. In fact, the fundamentals of U.S. laws, to treat bicycles as vehicles under the law, has been concluded by many to be the root of the problem.
This is whey many cities across the U.S. are reducing speeds. The Arizona ideal of 35 to 45 mph arterials with traffic moving at 50 to 60 mph would not be allowed in countries that experience a low bicycle crash rate. Not allowed when mixed with pedestrians and cyclists.