Cycling, traffic safety, traffic justice, and legal topics; energy, transit and transportion economics
11/15/2019 3:09AM A hit and run motorist drifted (or otherwise was driving) in the Bike Lane, northbound S Park Ave near E 27th St, Tucson and killed 45 y.o. bicyclist Michael Noriega.
HIT AND RUN BE ON THE LOOKOUT: suspect vehicle: dark-colored pickup truck similar in style to a Ford Ranger. See something say something; a sharp eyed neighbor enabled police to make arrest in ped-fatal hit/run in Chandler a few weeks ago.
Continue reading “Tucson cyclist killed by hit&run driver on Park Ave”
Ann Day is a prominent member of a prominent Pima county family; a former County Supervisor, and was the sister of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’connor.
Something is rotten in Pima County. It seems to me cases with very similar fact-sets (extreme speed and recklessness, DUI, causing headon) routinely go for manslaughter elsewhere. Continue reading “Driver who killed Ann Day gets less than 5 years”
11/8/2019 ~ 8:30PM 42 y.o. female bicyclist Brandy Heideman was killed along Thomas Road somewhere between 32nd and 35th st, Phoenix. Continue reading “Woman killed along Thomas Rd, Phoenix”
Early morning head-on freeway crash SR51 near Indian School. The driver known only as a 27 y.o. man from Ohio was driving a (new?) Corvette the wrong way. Police think the driver may have been impaired. Really? You don’t say. The name hasn’t been released but expect aggravated assault charges when he’s released from hospital.
Two Tempe officers hurt in wrong-way crash on SR-51 in Phoenix
10/7/2019 6:42PM (sunset was 6:04, so mostly darkness). Sierra Vista police report that a 53 y.o. female bicyclist was killed crossing SR92 against the light, according to witnesses, at Kachina Trail.
Continue reading “Sierra Vista woman killed at intersection”
A woman has been arrested after she killed two pedestrians including a boy and a grown man, stopped briefly, then fled the scene, telling police, because “she thought she hit a dog.” Must have been one big dog.
See something, say something — In this case there was a fairly good vehicle description between witnesses and evidence left at the scene. The news reports that police found the driver via a neighbor’s tip. Continue reading “She thought she hit a dog”
9/24/2019 ~ 6PM Gilbert Police said a 15 y.o. girl was seriously injured while crossing Greenfield Road after being struck by a southbound(not sure?) driver. She died the next morning.
This is at the trail crossing of Greenfield Road and the Western Power Line / Sun Circle Trail. The crossing there, unlike many of the others further west, has no signal or markings. Continue reading “Teen hit, killed on bike while crossing Gilbert street”
Goodyear police are investigating a 9/12/2019 crash that occurred around 6:30 involving 3 cyclists transported with injuries, and a fourth who was not transported. The news-chopper footage shows a black sedan, as well as a large number of additional cyclists who were presumably riding together in a group but were not directly involved in the crash. 12news.com azcentral Continue reading “Multi-bicycle crash in Goodyear”
In last week’s (8/30/2019 afternoon) serious crash a pedestrian crossing Broadway was hospitalized after being struck by a driver. Victim-blamers will joyfully point out that the crash occurred “near Hardy Drive outside of the crosswalk”. Jaywalker! Worse yet, the driver — the “other victim” here — is being persecuted for being suspected of DUI. — Driver arrested for DUI after hitting pedestrian in Tempe Continue reading “Two girls hurt in Tempe crosswalk crash”
Aug 20, 2019 ~ 8PM. The crash occurred near the intersection of East Frontage Road and North Starlight Drive, Prescott Valley. There were no details on the manner of collision.
Hit and run, bicyclist suffered serious injuries and died several days later on Aug 26. The suspect driver was book on suspicion of aggravated assault, etc.; hinting the police believe the driver was impaired and caused the crash. Now that the victim has died, charges would presumably be upgraded to a homicide.
Continue reading “Bicyclist dies after injuries in hit-run Prescott Valley crash”
ADOT has released Crash Facts 2018 in the later part of June (of 2019), as usual; this year and I did not order CDs but rather accessed the raw data online sometime in July (it will in relatively rare cases be updated after this).
The graphical crash map has been NOT updated and so continues to have years 2009-2017 ; the tool used to present the map, Google fusion tables, is being discontinued end of 2019, and I need to find a replacement.
The Fatality Grid has been reconciled and contains some specifics on every bicyclist fatality in Arizona from 2009-2018, and ongoing as discovered.
There is nothing remarkable about this intersection; it is a prototypical arterial-arterial signalized intersection like many others in the Phoenix Metro area — this one is in the City of Tempe. Both streets are high-speed (45mph posted maximum limit); with two through lanes, a bike lane in each direction; in addition each approach the bike lane discontinues ~ 250′ from the intersection where the space flares to become a dedicated right turn only lane, additionally all approaches have a dedicated right turn only lane. The signal is timed, and there is a demand, leading, left turn arrow on all approaches. Continue reading “McClintock And Warner Wreck”
Hit and run. Police are treating this as a suspected aggravated assault; according to the silent witness flyer
Continue reading “Police: Pickup truck driver deliberately hit stalled motorcycle”
3/12/2019 A hit and run driver struck a bicyclist along West Ajo Way near Interstate 19. The bicyclist 70 y.o. David Ramirez died in July of injuries suffered.
Readers of these pages will recall the justice system in Arizona fails to treat hit and run drivers as serious criminals, despite it being a serious felony.
Also as a statistical note, this death will not “count” statistically as a traffic fatality because the victim died more than 30 days after the incident; these and other non-fatality-fatalities get recorded below the line in the spreadsheet
Continue reading “Tucson bicyclist dies months after hit-and-run collision”
7/9/2019 ~5PM McDowell Road near Higley; police say an eastbound driver drifted into the very wide bike lane and killed bicyclist Scott Purdie who was also eastbound. The driver was arrested due exhibiting signs of impairment.
Continue reading “PD: Impaired driver hit, killed man riding bicycle along Mesa street”