Category: safety

Magnus White’s killer sentenced to prison

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”

What happens when a Waymo is at fault in a crash?

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?”

Jogger killed by hit and run pickup driver in New River takes plea

surveillance image of suspect vehicle. source: MSCO

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”

13-year-old dies nearly 2 weeks after hit-and-run in Glendale

47th and Northern Avenues: google maps

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”

Bicyclist killed in Phoenix crash; driver suspected of impairment, speeding

8/12/2024 11:35p Cave creek near Dynamite.

Phoenix police are for whatever reason keeping the name of the driver a secret. This was 6 months ago; why no follow up? was anyone ever charged? good luck finding out because PPD won’t say.

This is way out there; I would have thought this was Scottsdale, but it’s city of Phoenix. The underage (for alcohol) driver is suspected of excessive speed and impairment; he may or may hot have been arrested(?). (Police normally release the name of someone who’s been arrested; investigation is ongoing in either case; whatever, not having the name of the suspect makes it difficult to look up outcomes. See this one for a driver who was arrested but name was never released; I had to dig it up by buying the police report)(orthisone.Whyasecret?) Continue reading “Bicyclist killed in Phoenix crash; driver suspected of impairment, speeding”

Bicyclist struck and killed ‘crossing’ Van Buren

2025-02-11 856p Bicyclist was struck by an eastbound driver while ‘crossing’ Van Buren in the vicinity of 19th Ave, Phoenix.

While the term ‘crossing’ is confusing with regard to a bicyclist; it implies the bicyclist was behaving as a pedestrian (“pedestrian on wheels”), rather than operating vehicularly which may or may not be true. This area (sample location) has a profusion of driveways where vehicles (or bicyclists) may enter the roadway but only after yielding to traffic moving along the street (Van Buren). It makes little or no difference in determining fault; I  point it out only because it makes it harder to categorize the crash… and Phoenix in particular does seem to have a lot of such crashes resulting in bicyclist fatalities.
Continue reading “Bicyclist struck and killed ‘crossing’ Van Buren”

Carnage On World’s Roads Drops Slightly, But U.S. Is An Outlier

Spoiler alert: not an outlier in a good way.

This is an Forbes interview about an updated periodic international/global report on traffic safety, it appears to be based on up thru 2022 data Continue reading “Carnage On World’s Roads Drops Slightly, But U.S. Is An Outlier”

ebicyclist killed near 10th and Maple, Tempe

2025-02-04 ~130p

Driver eastbound 10th St near Maple, Tempe. These are residential streets inside of a neighborhood just west of ASU campus, quite dense with bicyclists and pedestrians. The posted speed limit in would have to assume is 25mph.

Check out complete list of Tempe bicyclist fatalities since 2009 here. Continue reading “ebicyclist killed near 10th and Maple, Tempe”

More about missing Hit and Runs

I find any hit-and-run abhorrent. A hit-and-run driver involved in any traffic crash with any injury is a criminal felon; and if the injury is serious or results in death, it’s a serious felony (class 3 or 2). It’s worth pointing out that hit-and-run is a crime for the driver regardless of who caused the crash (i.e. which party had the right of way is irrelevant, except for sentencing).

The background is I noticed here and there over the years what seemed to me to be an odd listing in the traffic database of a fatal bicyclist, and an unknown vehicle with unknown everything else (direction, lane, lighting, etc etc) except for bicyclist demographic and it usually had a location, but was NOT listed as a hit-and-run. I inquired about a few of them and the story was always something like the coroner(I think?) submitted something somehow to traffic records. I brushed it off as something that happens very rarely; some sort of freak occurrence. However. It turns out there are dozens of such cases every year., unsurprisingly most of them are pedestrian. Continue reading “More about missing Hit and Runs”

Driver drank alcohol before crash that left bicyclist dead in Gilbert, police say

2024-03-02 1:25pm. location: Queen Creek Road, near Higley.

Driver “veered off” into the bike lane and killed John Pomeroy; the driver was arrested several months later (see news story, below) based on toxicology results which showed an unstated amount of alcohol along with a prescription drug.  However since that time the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has declined to bring charges for unknown  reasons…

Continue reading “Driver drank alcohol before crash that left bicyclist dead in Gilbert, police say”

SUV driver loses control drives on sidewalk causing serious injury

2024-11-02 “early morning”.  Mesa: Southern Ave just west of Gilbert Rd.

An SUV driver for unknown reasons left the roadway and destroyed his vehicle, seriously injuring a bicyclist who was on the sidewalk at the time.

 

Continue reading “SUV driver loses control drives on sidewalk causing serious injury”

Fountain Hills man accused of assaulting kids on e-bikes

This story is, um, interesting. These are not just felonies, assault on a minor is a going-to-PRISON level felony. It will be interesting to see what county prosecutors cook up, probably nothing, as we shall see. Continue reading “Fountain Hills man accused of assaulting kids on e-bikes”

Driver arrested: Teenager killed in PV by pickup driver

The victim, 14 y.o. Gabriel Grande, was an accomplished MTB competitor

11/12/2024 around 5:30p.

14-year old was retuning home from a MTB ride was struck and killed on Viewpoint drive near Manley, Prescott Valley.

A specific location wasn’t mentioned; from some of the new video, it’s in an area similar to this where the road is 1 lane in each direction with a very small paved shoulder, and then some gravel. [update on the specific location: as the comment below points out, the road was rebuilt more recently than the street view; the current sat view is, however, does show the current configuration]

Continue reading “Driver arrested: Teenager killed in PV by pickup driver”

NHTSA’s investigation into Tesla “full self-driving” has link to Arizona

Interesting in terms of what this might mean for autonomous vehicles; tesla has been oft criticized for relying on cameras, rather than other systems (e.g. lidar) that can “see” in other conditions.

It also has a link to Arizona as one of the four incidents was a fatality on I-17 in November of 2023. It was described in detail in, of all places, the Hindustan Times (sourced to the AP) article (and not, e.g. in the Arizona Republic?).

Sun glare seems more an excuse than anything else. If “you” (that’s either a person driving or some autonomous system) can’t “see”, you must slow down to avoid colliding with whatever might be in front of you. Continue reading “NHTSA’s investigation into Tesla “full self-driving” has link to Arizona”

Driver Arrested: runs into 5 Bicyclists on College Ave, Tempe

10/6/2024 Sunday morning 7:45 College Ave near 15th St, Tempe. This is a very low speed (posted 25mph) collector street, with unusually wide bike lanes (6 feet or more?) here. Leading directly to the ASU campus, about a quarter mile away.

The driver of an SUV ran over 5 bicyclists on College Ave, hospitalizing several of them, with serious but not life-threatening injuries. Note to AzFamily caption writers: the vehicle was under human control, a driver ran over 5 people. Continue reading “Driver Arrested: runs into 5 Bicyclists on College Ave, Tempe”