Cycling, traffic safety, traffic justice, and legal topics; energy, transit and transportion economics
I was invited to attend a meeting 2/23/2026 pulled together by Kerry Wilcoxson (ADOT State Safety Engineer) where he invited folks from Arizona DHS (Dept of Health Services) as well as some other interested parties.
The topic being e-bikes and crash reporting. Which is of course getting all sorts of (mostly negative) attention, for understandable reasons. But the truth is we have very little data to go on… Continue reading “More about more about ebike crash reporting”
2026-02-08 Southbound Central near Elwood. Police say a the driver of a van veered to the right crossing into the separated bike lane, killing a bicyclist and continued up the curb and on to sidewalk. The driver fled the scene. Police say he admitted using fentanyl and continued on his way to purchase some more. Continue reading “Driver kills triathlete on Central in Phoenix”
(referring to the City of Maricopa. Which confusingly is split across Maricopa an Pinal Counties).
2026-02-03 ~ 8am Juvenile avoids serious injury after being struck on busy Porter Road:
Maricopa police responded to a vehicle-versus-pedestrian collision involving a juvenile riding an electric bike on Porter Road on Tuesday morning. The incident occurred at approximately 8 a.m. near the intersection of Porter Road and Alan Steven Parkway, according to the Maricopa Police Department. This intersection is near both Sequoia Pathway and Leading Edge Charter schools…
Police said the child was riding the electric bike against the flow of traffic when they attempted to cross the roadway and were struck by a vehicle making a right turn at low speed.
The juvenile sustained minor bumps and scrapes. A parent declined medical transport at the scene, police said…
No citations were issued in this morning’s incident.
This is a reminder to check crash records, and wonder if it was actually an electric bicycle as defined (e.g. a class 1, 2, 3) or rather a motorcycle with an electric motor (like the popular Surron, Talaria, etc), that are effectively illegal. There’s a lot of sloppy language floating around. It’s not completely clear if police will file a crash report as it may be below the reporting threshold, so we’ll just have to wait and see. Continue reading “More about e-bike crash reporting; and What’s going on in Maricopa?”
2026-01-27 12:30a. Ug. A pedestrian was injured and a bicyclist was killed as a result of a driver, who was fleeing police at the time, crashing into them.
I assume, or hope, the DPS will be doing a thorough evaluation of the events vs. their protocols — the tragic outcome where un-involved people get hurt/killed a collateral damage during chases is exactly why police probably shouldn’t be doing high-speed chases in the first place. (Radios are MUCH faster than vehicles). The chase began at MP252 on I-10 which is a several miles away from the Speedway exit where the chase ended, and the driver was shot by police. Continue reading “Bystanders hurt/killed in high-speed chase I-10 Tucson”
By another, I mean just a few months ago back in October 2025 a hit-and-run driver of a “speeding” white tesla killed Will Castañeda in a marked crosswalk back in October of 2022 in Phoenix. No news. Did police ever find the driver? Oh well, what are you going to do? Tesla’s have instrumentation and telemetry up the wazoo.
So anyway, according to this lawyer-blog (not in the news, by the way, where do they get it? Citizen app? Don’t Tempe police consider this to be BOLO-worthy?). The incident described, hit-and-run w/injury, is a felony crime.
A pedestrian suffered injuries after a traffic crash involving a vehicle on January 24 … The incident occurred around 8:19 p.m., near West Guadalupe Road and South Kyrene Road… According to initial information, a white Tesla struck the pedestrian and then left the area. Witnesses reported that the vehicle traveled west toward Colonial Place following the crash.
Emergency responders arrived and found the pedestrian conscious but injured. The person complained of back and wrist pain and showed visible bleeding…
11/16/2025 A bicyclist was killed when a driver ran a red light at an “activated” HAWK crossing at East Speedway Boulevard and North Richey Boulevard.
This is the only fatality I am aware of that has ever occurred at an activated HAWK crossing.
Police have already signaled there will be no serious charges (“The driver of the vehicle remained at the scene…” and “determined she was not impaired”. At the completion of TPDs investigation, it will probably be forwarded to the county attorney, who will decline charges, because that’s what they do when someone is killed by a not impaired driver. That will bring it back to the city attorney for consideration of misdemeanor (or civil charges, like just a traffic ticket). Continue reading “Bicyclist killed at Tucson HAWK crosswalk”
New Times news article: Phoenix cop indicted for causing wreck while going 50 mph over limit
An un-named on duty Phoenix Police officer was indicted by grand jury on charges of aggravated assault and endangerment. The ag assault is theoretically a serious felony, but it would be unsurprising, if convicted, the sentence would be just probation [1]. Continue reading “Phoenix cop indicted for causing wreck while going 50 mph over limit”
{UPDATE: news now (published Wed Oct 22) says Osborne near Piestewa in a marked crosswalk. Which would be probably at the canal/trail crossing, which appears to have a HAWK signal]
Today is Tuesday. In an important update to the hit and run killing Sunday afternoon (in addition to a motorcylist seriously injured in separate hit-and-run!) — how are we just now learning that the “white car” is a white Tesla. That’s a lot more specific don’t you think?
2025-10-19 ~ 3pm Osborne Rd near Piestawa Fwy bicyclist Will Castañeda killed in a marked crosswalk by a hit-and-run driver of a white Tesla. Osborne Rd runs underneath the freeway, there is no freeway access here. There are marked crosswalks both immediately east and west of the underpass, the Grand Canal Path is on the the west side and has a HAWK signal, the crosswalk on the east side is uncontrolled.
In any event BOLO white tesla w/ front damage. Here is the article published yesterday: Continue reading “Driver of Speeding White Tesla hits and kills bicyclist in Phoenix before fleeing the scene”
A couple of bicycle-adjacent fatal hit and runs…One was a scooter, and the other was a mini-bike (presumably, a motor-driven cycle; i.e. motorcycle). In the first instance, the criminal pickup driver is still at large and needs to be located; and involved a (electric, i guess?) scooter. I am not clear how scooter riders get categorized for crash data purposes (and it may be different for state ASDM, vs federal FARS, see change to FARS in 2022).
The second involved a “mini bike”, which should not be categorized as bicyclist.
Both incidents will be listed on the AZ cyclist fatality spreadsheet while we await official statistics. Continue reading “A couple of “bicycle-adjacent” fatal hit-and-runs”
Aug 1, 2025 ~7:30
67th Ave and Hillcrest Blvd, Glendale.
Police told AZ family news the pickup driver was turning right when he struck a youth riding an bike in the crosswalk on his way to school. Continue reading “Glendale Pickup truck driver; crosswalk cyclist; serious injury”
The drama about the legislative session is that legislators finally produced a budget, and that was signed by the governor, thus averting a state government shutdown.
Now that the legislative session is over, we can ask/ponder a bunch of questions regarding Legislative Immunity (scroll down to the original article for references): Continue reading “Arizona Legislative Immunity, yes again”
In a Colorado case that garnered national attention, the driver who killed pro cyclist Magnus White was sentenced to 4 years in prison.
The driver who hit and killed Magnus told Colorado State Patrol investigators on the scene that she had an issue with her steering that caused her to veer off the road. Colorado State Patrol told CBS Colorado there were no indicators of impairment, and she was never tested for any substances.
“The very first thing that Colorado State Patrol said to us was the driver did everything right,” said Jill. “That raised a question mark in our heads. ‘Really? Our son is dead. How did the driver do everything right?'”
Text messages and cell phone videos presented at trial revealed that the driver, 24-year-old Yeva Smilianska, had been drinking, washing down prescription medications with whiskey, and staying up until the early morning hours the day of the crash. — CBS News
Yikes, police initially said “driver did everything right”. Phew. I wonder how they (the police?) dug up all this evidence? Continue reading “Magnus White’s killer sentenced to prison”
On May 1, 2025, AZfamily’s investigative reporter Derek Staal did a piece about Waymo; it of course piqued my interest… What happens when a Waymo is at fault in a crash? , here’s an excerpt
Federal crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows Waymo vehicles were involved in at least 202 crashes in Arizona between 2021 and 2024, ranging from minor scrapes and door dings to 31 crashes that resulted in injuries. But the records are heavily redacted and do not indicate who was at fault.
Arizona’s Family Investigates spent six months collecting and reviewing police reports on Waymo crashes in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Chandler, Mesa and Tempe. Of the 71 police-documented crashes involving Waymos, officers determined the self-driving car was not at fault 87% of the time. In 13% of cases, however, police blamed the Waymo vehicle.
Continue reading “What happens when a Waymo is at fault in a crash?”
Feb. 24, 2024 around 10am. eastbound Cloud near 7th Ave, New River. Pedestrian (jogger) killed.
The driver of a massive pickup truck was somehow driving along the shoulder when they struck and killed a jogger. Cloud Road there is a two lane road with a massively wide gravel shoulder (the google street view of Feb ’25 shows the Mancuso’s memorial). It is highly unlikely a jogger jogging along Cloud Road would be anywhere near the fog line. Anyway, here’s azfamily’s account of crash, which is helpful in understanding the timeline of events: Continue reading “Jogger killed by hit and run pickup driver in New River takes plea”
4/11/2024 bicyclist NB crosswalk 47th Ave was struck by an suv driver WB on Northern Ave. The bicyclists, 13 yo Elias Bizzle. The crash database indicate the bicyclist was crossing against the signal.
Police say the driver is 27 yo Joshua Holbert who according to police and court records fled the scene and then tried to hide his damaged vehicle, which was tracked down by using available surveillance video.
Hit and run w/fatal is a felony regardless of fault, but is often results in rather light sentences. He has a 2020 drugs case in Superior Court that might have had something to do with why he fled(?)
Later new reporting claims the suspect “has a history of reckless driving”; we don’t know what that’s about.
Northern Ave is pretty ugly; there are three westbound through lanes (two eastbound). 47th is a collector.
Continue reading “13-year-old dies nearly 2 weeks after hit-and-run in Glendale”