Category: safety

Fatal Tempe Ped hit-and-run; Driver arrested

Friday 9/12/2014 ~ 9pm near McClintock and Apache, Tempe.

Victim was crossing mid-block; Jon Alguire.  29 y.o. suspect Justin Michael Gordecki booked on susp of hit-run, DUI and “False reporting to police” (hmmm?).

Criminal case CR2014144645; so far headed to trial 7/8/2015. It seems plain he is not going to be charged with the victim’s death (mid-block crossing), just a “simple” hit-and-run, along with probably a dui. Not sure what the holdup could be.

There was an additional unrelated ped-MV crash the same night in Tempe at Priest and University with “life-threatening” injury.

eastvalleytribune.com

Cyclist falls in roadway; then fatally struck by passing motorist

Wed, 8/27/2014 ~ 2030. Cyclist 69-year-old Andrew Yearby.  In the area of 43rd Avenue and Crittenden Lane, Phoenix. This was initially investigated as hit and run, however police now believe the man fell in the roadway for unrelated/unknown reasons; and was subsequently run over by the driver of a Toyota Camry. Continue reading “Cyclist falls in roadway; then fatally struck by passing motorist”

Car-scooter crash in Mesa leaves 1 dead

Aug 2, 2014 ~ 7:30AM The driver of a car was speeding and possibly impaired when she failed to stop at t red light, rear-ending a stopped motor scooter driver, killing him. The delay in the arrest was apparently due to the driver’s hospitalization. Julie Ann Gutierrez  was arrested 8/19 on suspicion of manslaughter; and MSCO is awaiting blood test results that could bump up the charge to 2nd degree murder.

Statistical note: motor scooters (and mopeds, and motorized bicycles) are categorized as motorcycles. Continue reading “Car-scooter crash in Mesa leaves 1 dead”

Yikes. Inattention/Distraction, much?

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photo credit: Peoria Fire Dept. Pecos Road near 17th Street

Rest assured the authorities are dealing harshly with the inattentive driver who caused a serious injury; she gets a traffic ticket “The driver of the Kia will be cited…”. That the driver will be immediately cited indicates police aren’t even bothering to look at any more serious charges — this distracted driver is facing 2nd Degree murder charges, exactly how are they different? He wasn’t looking at the road. According to the present story, something in the rear seat distracted this driver; somehow causing her to suddenly veer.  So, this yields nothing more than a traffic citation — what constitutes recklessness. Endangerment/assault/aggravated assault — these are apparently not within the ken of the Phoenix PD, and/or prosecutor(s). “A person commits endangerment by recklessly endangering another person”. “A person commits assault by…recklessly causing any physical injury”. “A person commits aggravated assault if the person commits assault …and… causes serious physical injury to another”

Continue reading “Yikes. Inattention/Distraction, much?”

Girl hit and killed when driver runs red light

July 12, 2014 / victim crossing in marked crosswalk w/traffic signal. The 5 y.o. female victim was riding a tricycle; this I would guess should be coded as a pedestrian (though i cross-tagged this article as both a ped and cyclist fatality). This is listed on 2014 cyclist traffic  fatalities.  [update: is coded as a pedalcyclist in both ASDM and FARS] Continue reading “Girl hit and killed when driver runs red light”

Non-traffic traffic crashes

 

This is a placeholder for info for what I am referring to as a non-traffic  (you can click there to get a list of incidents like this) traffic crash. Which I define as some sort of traffic crash that doesn’t get reported in official traffic crash stats. The most common reason these incidents might fall into this category is they occur on private property, like a parking lot, or private streets, like cyclist Robert McCain who was killed in a collision on a private street, or inside a building driver-slams-into-day-spa-1-dead-4-go-hospital. Other reasons, especially for cyclists, is for crashes “count” they have to include at least on motor vehicle in transport; so e.g. a cyclist crashing into a parked vehicle is not counted; nor are cyclists who have “simple” falls, or bike-bike crash, even when resulting in death (for example in 2014 see Karl Gerschutz and Jim Walen fatalities, respectively). Likewise bike-bike, or bike-ped crashes are not reportable as traffic crashes. Continue reading “Non-traffic traffic crashes”

MCSO: Man arrested in fatal East Valley hit-and-run

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defendant Derek Tinsley faces felony charge

According to the azfamily/3 video report (sigh, that link is dead; the newpaper story is below) witnesses saw a company pickup vehicle being driven erratically along Apache Trail near 80th St in Mesa, swerving across 3 lanes of traffic, killing a bicyclist riding at the side of the road. Witnesses provided a license plate number for the fleeing vehicle, and police have arrested Derek Tinsley. Continue reading “MCSO: Man arrested in fatal East Valley hit-and-run”

3 year old killed in Mesa parking lot by hit-and-run driver

[Updated 7/8: victim  is 3 year old Jaqueline Monroe-Mendoza; police are processing two potential suspect vehicles, a white Chevrolet Suburban and a large white pickup, and have a “person of interest” and so far no arrests have been made. This story makes plain the collision occurred in the apratment’s parking lot azcentral.com]

Sunday July 6, 2014. 2pm. Near Alma School Road and Rio Salado Parkway in Mesa “struck by a large vehicle traveling through the parking lot”. Continue reading “3 year old killed in Mesa parking lot by hit-and-run driver”

Dead Right?

Armored Truck Flips in Phoenix; striking pickup seriously injuring its driver.

A Garda armored-truck driver, who was reportedly using his cellphone, flipped the vehicle on its side Tuesday (7/1/2014) morning, smashing in the hood of an oncoming pickup truck carrying a family of three, according to Phoenix police officials. The incident occurred around 8:15 a.m. on 51st Avenue north of Elliot Road, said Sgt. Trent Crump, a Phoenix police spokesman. The driver of the Garda truck said he picked up his cellphone to call his next stop when he lost control of the truck and swerved into oncoming traffic, Crump said… Officials said the (driver of the pickup) is in very critical condition at a local hospital… — azcentral

Continue reading “Dead Right?”

Scottsdale Golf-Cart Shuttle Crash

First off; this has nothing whatsoever to do with a bicycle. This is interesting in light of the pedicab crash last year (golf carts apparently are being used to provide non-taxi shuttles in the immediate downtown area); and also wondering if this will generate an ACR? (Arizona Crash Report). I assume it would but you never know. For example, two of last year’s (see 2013 grid) bicyclist fatalities did not result in an ACR for various reasons; one a bike-MV collision on private streets, and another bicyclist hit-and-run with an ATV. An ACR is generally required if a crash involves at least on motor vehicle on a “trafficway”… see do-all-crashes-count for more. Continue reading “Scottsdale Golf-Cart Shuttle Crash”

Tucson police: Driver who killed bicyclist was high

Wed June 18,2014 (i think, the news story ran Thursday) ~ 6a. Victim: Kris Lee Chambers, 38. Suspect: Gerardo Luna Cazares, 25. Speedway just west of N Main, Tucson. Both westbound (rear-end); there is a bike lane in this area; in other words, it wasn’t as though it was a misjudgment of passing room. Continue reading “Tucson police: Driver who killed bicyclist was high”

Cyclist killed at south Tempe intersection

preface: ALWAYS ride with the flow of traffic; even on the sidewalk…

A cyclist was killed Thursday (June 12, 2014) morning; at the intersection of Elliot Rd and Harl Dr. I learned his name only  by chance it was in a news story about bicycling and Rural Road: Jesus Pena-Quinonez, age 55. Continue reading “Cyclist killed at south Tempe intersection”

Cyclist, 78, killed in late-night (2013) Mesa crash

Incident occurred 2/26/2013. This is a so-called “non-traffic” fatality — presumably due to it being on private streets, this appears to be a trailer park. As such, this death doesn’t “count” towards the official crash stats, listed at arizona-crash-facts-2013, and will also presumable be suppressed from counting in FARS. What is the real, total traffic death toll? See the tag non-traffic for more of these; I think initial reaction is there are vanishingly few, but perhaps it’s not as rare and uncommon as all that? Continue reading “Cyclist, 78, killed in late-night (2013) Mesa crash”