This incident never made the news; though it was accurately described by accidentdatacenter.com at the time; though the wording was a little strange, I mean for example “He came out of nowhere and crossed in front of them,” doesn’t sound like something a Phoenix PIO would say. Continue reading “Bike rider struck and killed when he crosses in front of vehicle on 28th Ave and McDowell”
Category: safety
Police: Driver killed in Ahwatukee crash swerved into traffic
weird motorist crash fatality, Chandler Blvd, near Desert Foothills Parkway in Ahwautkee (Phoenix). Driver was driving erratically prior to crossing over and crashing head-on into another car. Continue reading “Police: Driver killed in Ahwatukee crash swerved into traffic”
Alleged red-light runner hits 3 bicyclists, 1 dead in Mesa
12/19/2014 ~ 11am. Elderly male driver of minivan apparently ran red light southbound Gilbert Road, killing bicyclist (not released) and injuring 2 others; as they passed through the intersection of Gilbert Road and 8th Ave (apparently 8th Ave is Pueblo Ave on the east side) in Mesa, AZ Continue reading “Alleged red-light runner hits 3 bicyclists, 1 dead in Mesa”
Semi driver charged in I-17 fatality

[Update: Sentencing here]
11/19/2014: 1 fatality (possibly a second, later) and several injuries when semi driver Brian Knoll drove into a line of stopped traffic on I-17 near Bell Road. He’s been charged with manslaughter, aggravated assault and endangerment; and entered a plea of not guilty to all charges on 12/3. Continue reading “Semi driver charged in I-17 fatality”
Man dies after crashing truck into Glendale barbershop
Check if this is a “traffic” fatality…. Crashes on private property “don’t count” as traffic crashes; however if the “unstabilized event” first occured on the public road, then it should.
Tuesday 12/2/2014 ~ 2:20am. Glendale Ave near 59th Ave, Glendale, AZ. Ford (appears to be an F-150) white pickup. Victim: Sean Brannen, male 47. Continue reading “Man dies after crashing truck into Glendale barbershop”
Was that an accident, or a crash?
The term “accident” should never be used in connection with a vehicle collision.
Here is the reasoning. The terminology switch at NHTSA occurred years ago… Continue reading “Was that an accident, or a crash?”
Door Zone Bike Lane removed after cyclist killed

I usually make a point of only noting incidents that happen in Arizona; but the DZBL thing is just ridiculous, plus at least the cyclist didn’t die in vain… (DZBL = Door Zone Bike Lane. That is: a bike lane placed next to parking where the parked car doors when open protrude into the bike lane) Continue reading “Door Zone Bike Lane removed after cyclist killed”
Cyclist dead in Ahwatukee car wreck

[UPDATE; criminal case driver sentenced to 6.5 years prison, see below]
[There have been a couple recent items of interest documented at ourhtn.com, on Nov 29 there was a MV crash at intersection, and on Dec 1 a mobile speed trailer was set up] Continue reading “Cyclist dead in Ahwatukee car wreck”
Maricopa County Traffic Crash Map
This is a google fusion table, like the multi-year bike and ped crashmaps; but will include ALL types of crashes. Because of google limitation of 100,000 rows — yeah there are a lot of crashes! — this set will be limited to Maricopa County only for one year, 2013. There are almost 80,000 crashes per year in Maricopa County.
Crosswalk cyclist killed in crash w/ turning semi driver
Victim 23/M Brandon Rutledge; 11/6/2014, no time specified, video indicates it was daylight. 59th Avenue & Roosevelt, Phoenix; A semi tractor (video shows no trailer) was turning right from 59th Ave (direction was not specified) on to Roosevelt. The bicyclist had been riding on the sidewalk on 59th and continued through crosswalk, though the direction is not specified. “(phoenix police) did say the bicyclist appears to have broken some traffic laws” may be incorrect, Phoenix PD tends to fault bicyclists riding in crosswalks despite it not being illegal. I have attempted repeatedly to point this out to Phoenix PD; e.g. when an 82-year-old driver left-crossed and killed an 11-year-old girl , they determined the driver had done nothing wrong.
Continue reading “Crosswalk cyclist killed in crash w/ turning semi driver”
79 y.o. Bicyclist killed in gated-community car crash North of Tucson
[because of the obvious mis-codings (UNKNOWNS that are obviously known, in both asdm and FARS I’m tagging this missing hit and run, not because it was a hit and run, just to make it easier to find mis-coding ]
[ Update — as things turn out, this does appear in both asdm and FARS data for 2014, but i’m not sure why; since it was private roads? For comparison purposes, check out this one from Mesa 2013 that did not appear in the data]
11/7/2014 ~ morning time “(PCSO) said the man was riding eastbound on Hawks Wing Drive, when he was struck by a car heading southbound on Mooncrest Drive” Hawks Wing Dr, which has a stop sign, is on the stem of a T intersection with Mooncrest. [google maps]
The 79 y.o. male victim’s name is Richard Hayward Leon.

These are both residential streets; and the location is within a gated-community, which makes this highly unusual.
That it is on private streets probably means this is a “non-traffic” traffic fatality — that it won’t count towards traffic statistics, and will not be entered into ADOT traffic collision database, nor will it be reported to FARS when the time comes. This somehow seems wrong, so I want to make note of it and keep an eye out. Continue reading “79 y.o. Bicyclist killed in gated-community car crash North of Tucson”
Bicyclist killed in Graham Co highway collision
Bicyclist Jesse A. Simon, 64 was killed Thursday 10/30/2014 ~ 1213pm on US 191 northbound ~ 3.5 miles north of US Highway 70; when he was clipped by the (right, i assume) mirror of a passing pickup (which may have been towing an RV trailer?) Continue reading “Bicyclist killed in Graham Co highway collision”
Triple motorist fatal caused by fleeing driver
lovely. Police say Valerie Cervantez, 26, and an unidentified man were fleeing 10/30/2014 ~9pm in a Camaro; when they crossed over and crashed head on into victim Sylvester Romero who was retuning home from work (limo driver, one might guess) driving a Lincoln town car. Continue reading “Triple motorist fatal caused by fleeing driver”
Fatal bicyclist collision with Tucson PD unmarked vehicle
11/1/2014 ~ 10:15pm, victim: Francisco Galvez. The location was on 1st Ave “near” Navajo Rd. 1St Ave is a multi-laned arterial-looking road; Navajo is a minor street that is offset at 1st Ave — in other words it makes two intersections with 1st. I’m not sure exatly what “near” means.
The report notes the bicyclist had a functioning headlight, and had a taillight but didn’t know if it was working (that should have no bearing on the angle collision described).
here’s the bicycletucson.com report.
Continue reading “Fatal bicyclist collision with Tucson PD unmarked vehicle”
Chandler officers killed in separate wrecks
The Chandler police force is reeling from the deaths of two officers only three days apart in unrelated traffic collisions…
(on-duty) City of Chandler Police “Officer David Payne, 37, was sitting on his police motorcycle at a red light at about 12:40 a.m. 10/31/2014 Friday when a car rear-ended him at the intersection of Chandler Boulevard and Pennington Drive.” Causing his death. “Police arrested Tempe resident Brian Yazzie, 31, on suspicion of manslaughter and hit-and-run for his role in the collision”. Oh yeah, plus his license was suspended in (and, presumably, since) 2010. — azcentral
Continue reading “Chandler officers killed in separate wrecks”