Category: safety

Dodge Blvd Bridge and sub-standard Pima Co bike facilites

First off — never ride too close to the edge of the road; you are more likely to run into problems there including debris, bad road surface conditions or other obstructions like drainage grates and so forth.  See where to ride on the road for more.

Pima County / Tucson does not have “Bike Lanes”, they, if asked, insist there are no bike lanes, but rather they are “Bike Routes with Striped Shoulders“. Though of course they (everyone, including Pima County’s press releases ) refer to these odd bike facilities as bike lanes whenever convenient — e.g. “The bike lanes on the Dodge Boulevard Bridge over the Rillito River will be closed for drainage modifications, starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 3, 2013. Bicyclists are asked to seek an alternate route.” [Some updates; as of Jan 2015 I just noticed there are two different bikeway maps covering Pima county, one put out by pima co DOT, at pima.gov and another put out by PAG (Pima Assoc of Gov’ts) the PAG map marks almost everything in blue, including this hot mess, which according to the key is a “Bike Lane”. The PCDOT map is the one that still refers to the bike route with striped shoulders, using the red key color]

Now there’s this… this is a real abomination:

BadBikeFacilityDodgeBlvd

(I’m not sure if this reflects what is there now, or rather what was there at the time of this bad crash) Here’s a google maps street view of the Dodge Blvd bridge over the Rillito near Tucson (apparently it’s owned by Pima County). There is some sort of weird 2′ wide band of green (paint, i guess?) directly next to the curb — from what i gather the gap referred to below is between the curb and the green paint. The google street view coincidentally caught a cyclist dutifully riding within that very narrow band of green paint, just inches from the “drainage gap”. Continue reading “Dodge Blvd Bridge and sub-standard Pima Co bike facilites”

Man killed in Scottsdale collision

Details from news stories are vague; occurred 3/14/2014 ~ 5:30pm (daylight). “Investigators say Moeckel drifted into the traffic lane just before he was hit”. The victim’s was 71-year-old Larry Moeckel. The story doesn’t say but one would guess the collision occurred on Pima Road somewhere south of Dixileta Drive (since another news story said Pima was closed between Dixileta and Dyanamite Blvd). No direction was specified. Google maps view of Pima Road and Dixileta Drive. Continue reading “Man killed in Scottsdale collision”

Unlicensed pickup driver’s bad left kills motorscooter rider; hit and run

Yikes. The unlicensed (permit) 15 y.o. pickup driver made a bad left (“left cross”); killing a motor scooter rider. March 12, 2014. The driver fled the scene.

Some reports referred to the victim’s vehicle as a scooter, and another a motorized scooter… from the pics it was apparently what is officially called a “Motor driven cycle”; which is like a motorcycle but with a limit on engine power; i.e. more power than a moped and less than a “full” motorcycle.

azcentral.com

Mesa police plan to recommend hit-and-run charges against a 15-year-old boy who caused a fatal accident on Wednesday afternoon when he made left turn in front of a scooter, according to a police spokesman.

Police did not identify the boy because he is a juvenile, but the victim was identified as Mason Merrill, 22, who was aided by a detective who happened upon the collision on University Drive just east of Alma School Road. Continue reading “Unlicensed pickup driver’s bad left kills motorscooter rider; hit and run”

Phoenix driver pleads guilty in fatal 2012 car a-word

So this is weird — the weird part being that a driver who doesn’t seem to have been doing much if anything wrong, while the driver/victim seemed to have been doing everything wrong — was charged with Neg Hom.

The victim was a driver emerging from a driveway. The driver, Jeffrey David Meyn, who plead guilty to negligent homicide, was simply going straight along the main road; he was said to have just passed through a yellow-light (which is perfectly legal) when he struck the victim’s vehicle as it emerged from a driveway on Northern Ave just west of the intersection of Northern Ave and 12th St, Phoenix on June 25, 2012 (almost two years ago!). Continue reading “Phoenix driver pleads guilty in fatal 2012 car a-word”

Another MV-house collision

KNXV_Van_slams_into_north_Phoenix_home_20140207205834_320_240I’m becoming increasingly intrigued by these sorts of things. Like how often do cars just ram into houses? Is it a traffic crash? (i.e. will there be an ACR? I am tagging it as a non-traffic just to remember to go back and check).

Incident occurred 2/7/2014 around 3pm; house at the 9800 block of N 9th St Phoenix Continue reading “Another MV-house collision”

Un-charged hit and run

This is an old incident from April 2012 — I’m posting it here just to reorganize things… This is a SUV  vs. ped (the ped happened to have been walking a bicycle) in crosswalk initially investigated as hit-and-run since the driver, well, hit and then ran. For whatever reason Chandler Police decided that was fine, but oddly never cited her for what had to have been a moving violation.

The below old/original information has been left here for posterity but struck-through. Newer (written in 2015), longer, explanation with case law references is here, see in particular Blevins with regard to hit-and-run mental state. Continue reading “Un-charged hit and run”

Police Identify Woman Run Over, Killed by SUV

This is a non-traffic traffic fatality. (meaning it doesn’t get reflected in traffic stats)…

Police ID woman run over, killed at Scottsdale Costco

A Fountain Hills woman who was run over and killed at a Scottsdale Costo on Saturday (01/04/2014) was identified by Scottsdale police Sunday. Police said Patricia A. Covault, 74, died after she was accidentally stuck by a Jeep SUV at the Costco gas station at 15255 N. Hayden Road. Covault was hit when she walked around her own vehicle after the 86-year-old man driving the Jeep SUV backed into her vehicle parked at a gas pump, police said. The man backed over Covault and dragged her a short distance, according to police. She was pronounced dead at the scene. No charges will be filed against the driver of the SUV, Scottsdale police spokesman Officer Dave Pubins said in a statement.

Phoenix police make hit-run arrest in death of BMX rider

So this is unusual; the driver of an ATV struck and killed a cyclist who was riding a BMX-style bicycle. I was curious to look up the leaving-the-scene statutes (28-661) to see where the law applies; if it was in fact off-road, the article doesn’t really specify… 28-621 seems to indicate H&R doesn’t apply off-road, see this comment.

The incident occurred about 5 p.m. near 56th Street and Happy Valley Road 12/17/2013 and won’t “count” as a traffic fatality if it was off-road. For now, I’ve tagged it non-traffic-fatality

Phoenix police make arrest in death of BMX rider

Phoenix police have arrested a man who investigators believe collided with a BMX rider in the desert last week and fled the scene on his ATV.

The BMX rider later, Frisco Davidson-Spurs Yankolovich, died from his injuries and police began a search for the ATV driver that ended Monday with the arrest of 47-year-old Gregg Creevy, police said. Continue reading “Phoenix police make hit-run arrest in death of BMX rider”

3 year-old squashed to death in crosswalk

tundra-stroller
Drivers operating pickups and other so-called “light trucks and vans” account for a disproportionate amount of pedestrian fatalities; but nobody seems to care…

3 year-old Anthony Meade was squashed to death in crosswalk at 20th and Camelback Rd, Phoenix on 12/4/2013 ~ 7:30PM. The driver (whose name apparently has not been released and is referred to only as a 26-year-old) was driving a 2009 Toyota Tundra, a large pickup…

All parties were northbound; the driver making a left from 20th Street onto Camelback, and the peds were crossing Camelback at the intersection. Continue reading “3 year-old squashed to death in crosswalk”

El Tour de Tucson rider killed in collision

11/24/2013 ~ 5:20pm: El Tour rider John S. Henderson was struck and killed while riding in “the El Tour bike lane”  when he was struck from behind by a driver; authorities believe the driver may have suffered some sort of medical emergency causing him to lose control.  The crash occurred eastbound on the Interstate 10 frontage road near Sunset Road, Tucson. This section appears to have a very wide shoulder, and some news stories mentioned cones, which I would surmise is what was meant by calling it an “El Tour bike lane”.

Continue reading “El Tour de Tucson rider killed in collision”

Girl narrowly escapes injury after driver slams into her home

Seriously? Seriously, how often does stuff like this happen? A driver slams through the wall of a home and into the bedroom of a girl who’s sleeping just inches away. The suspect/driver Daniel Sanchez Patino fled, but of course.

Freak “accident”? Lots of freaks out there… how about: Driving into a classroom (killing 1, injuring 11), driving into a Seven-11 and killing a shopper, walking out the front door of CVS (one dead), or taking a break out in front of the Walgreens where you work (one dead), or rammed at a bus stop (2 dead, one injured), or just out for a stroll on the sidewalk (one dead) / or a jog on sidewalk (one dead). I could go on.  Oiy Veigh.

Continue reading “Girl narrowly escapes injury after driver slams into her home”

Report: Truck driver was looking at phone in deadly crash

[July 2015 Jorge Espinoza was sentenced to 6 years prison ]

[2/6/2015 A Yuma county jury found the driver guilty of negligent homicide, a class 4 felony, along with several other endangerment charges. yumasun.com I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that it’s unprecedented for a prosecutor to bring, and get conviction, on any homicide charge against a driver not suspected of being   impaired. Note that the “defense had also argued that is not against the law to use a cell phone while driving” claim did not win the day; he was convicted anyway. ]

[Update Sept 2014; trial should have been going on but has been delayed due to defense attorney’s medical condition reports the yumasun.com ]

Police and prosecutors have released info regarding why they decided to charge the truck driver who caused a wreck that killed DPS Officer  Tim Huffman near Yuma on May 6, 2013 with a string of felonies including 2nd degree Murder.  (see Police work is dangerous, scroll down a bit, for earlier reports) Excerpts from Report: Truck driver was looking at phone in deadly crash: Continue reading “Report: Truck driver was looking at phone in deadly crash”

Fatal pedestrian crashes reach record level in City of Tucson

speedwayAndAlvernonCarSewer
Speedway and Alvernon — whole lotta lanes! Seven y.o. Simon Foster was killed while crossing here in a crosswalk, with a green light
speedwayAndAlvernonCarSew
Speedway and Alvernon — intersections the size of parking lots.

Fresh on the heels of Another-Speedway-crosswalk-ped-death (10/20/2013); the azstarnet.com is reporting ped fatal in the City of Tucson are at record levels: “Twenty-one people have died when they were walking or hit by a vehicle since the beginning of the year (the year is 2013, as of late-October). The average for the Tucson area is 15 pedestrian deaths per year”. I doubt fancy engineering, like HAWKs, can have much of an overall effect — rather the Tucson area, like the Phoenix metro area, is simply Dangerous by Design. Things like a handful of extra blinkie crosswalks are merely a band-aid over the (apparently worsening) problem. “transportation agencies typically prioritize speeding traffic over the safety of people on foot… Pedestrian fatalities have fallen at only half the  rate of motorists, dropping by just over 14 percent during the period (2000-2009). In many places, including 15 of the country’s largest metro areas, pedestrian fatalities have actually increased even as overall traffic deaths fell”. This preference for extra lanes and speeding-up motorists it detrimental to the safety of motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists — all road users!

Another Speedway crosswalk ped death

Crosswalk ped death of Matthew Bono 10/20/2013, initially hit-and-run; driver returned and was arrested on suspicion of 2nd degree murder (dui). The crash was at East Speedway and North Richey.

This death comes just a couple of weeks and less than 1/2 mile away from after another Speedway crosswalk ped death “…Simon Foster, 7, whose father, Don, took him and his sister, Charlie, 5, to dinner at McDonald’s at East Speedway and North Alvernon Way the evening of Sept. 29. Afterward, as they were crossing Speedway, on a green light and in the crosswalk, a driver simply turned right (on red) and plowed into them, police reports say. That driver, 31-year-old Saylee Solo,…”. Sol was later charged with causing a death w/moving violation, a misdemeanor. Continue reading “Another Speedway crosswalk ped death”