Suspected DUI driver crashes into Ahwatukee home

Yikes.

Suspected DUI? of course. Hit and Run? uh huh.

Arizona has tough DUI laws, right? Don’t count on it. If the driver is found to be impaired, expect nothing more than a misdemeanor DUI. Possibly misdemeanor hit-and-run (as apparently there were no injuries, unless you count the driver’s bump on the head). Prosecutors seem to have no imagination. EnDANGERment? Naw. Continue reading “Suspected DUI driver crashes into Ahwatukee home”

Bicyclist killed in crash at all-way stop in Prescott Valley

2025-02-02 8:17am

Prescott Valley PD posted on their facebook:

… on Sunday, February 2, 2025, at 8:17am involving a bicycle rider at the intersection of Viewpoint and Spouse Drive. The incident occurred when a male cyclist traveling north on Viewpoint did not yield to a motorist traveling east on Spouse. The cyclist was not wearing a helmet at the time of the a*******. (I censored the a-word. PVPD: please #crashnotaccident. I’m not a fan of the helmet comment, either). Continue reading “Bicyclist killed in crash at all-way stop in Prescott Valley”

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”

Phoenix drunken driving deaths soared last year; enforcement declines

Yikes. Not to single-out City of Phoenix; but we can objectively say that City of Phoenix is doing an bad job at pro-active traffic enforcement.

Phoenix drunken driving deaths soared last year

Fatalities in drunken-driving accidents within Phoenix city limits doubled in 2023 over the prior year and accounted for over a third of all crash deaths recorded in Phoenix…. Continue reading “Phoenix drunken driving deaths soared last year; enforcement declines”

Tucson ranked third most dangerous metro in entire US?!

SmartGrowthAmerica’s Dangerous by Design report has the Tucson area at the third most-dangerous metro by ped deaths in the United States for the period 2018-2022 (at 4.16 ped deaths per 100,000 population).

According to the chart, the Tuscon area catapulted from a much better (the light pink part of the bar) figure in the, prior period, 2013-2017 when it was  would have been much lower down on the list.

Continue reading “Tucson ranked third most dangerous metro in entire US?!”

AZ legislator wants to reduce number of no-right-turn-on-reds

Adding bureaucracy (which is effectively already in place at ADOT, and elsewhere apparently) seems like an odd way to have less government:

“Everything’s less government with me,” said Kern, an Arizona Freedom Caucus member …  — azcentral.com

In our area, freeway exits with poor sight lines are signed no turn on red (example: Warner and I-10), but okay sight lines are not (example one mile south on Ray and I-10).

Continue reading “AZ legislator wants to reduce number of no-right-turn-on-reds”

Satan and transportation policy

Could it be, Satan?.

So this one caught my eye;

SB1279 – satanic displays; public property; prohibition

Sponsored by Gov’t Committee chair Sen Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek). The hearing was a little bit entertaining; you can make your own judgement here, but it seems to have some constitutional problems (i.e. apparently you can build certain kinds of alters on public property, but not satanic ones) — but at the end of the day, were it to reach governor’s desk it would presumably be vetoed. Political theater. Continue reading “Satan and transportation policy”

Pedestrian killed at Paseo Trail xing, driver in custody after TWO crashes Chandler

11/27/2023 ~7am Continue reading “Pedestrian killed at Paseo Trail xing, driver in custody after TWO crashes Chandler”

Family of dead pedestrian suing driver and Grubhub

Police say that on Feb 2, 2022, a driver failed to stop at a red light, and ran over Rosa Mroz, a Maricopa County Superior Court Judge, killing her. She was in a marked crosswalk, crossing on the green/walk near 56th St and Camelback.

Continue reading “Family of dead pedestrian suing driver and Grubhub”

Ranking Phoenix metro area’s intersection safety

SPOILER ALERT — I never got the bottom of this…but I wanted to publish and get it out there. Hopefully can do data replication experiments some day.
MAG puts out a report that seeks to quantify intersection risk for each of the (1,300 was it?) intersections in the MAG region; the final score is a number between zero and 1, from no-risk to most-risky. It uses the most recently available 5 calendar years of ADOT crash data, which was for this round 2017-2021. Continue reading “Ranking Phoenix metro area’s intersection safety”

Man killed by driver while sleeping in his home; Man killed on sidewalk after driver goes airborn

Haven’t done one of these for awhile… but they do keep happening. all the time. Seriously? Continue reading “Man killed by driver while sleeping in his home; Man killed on sidewalk after driver goes airborn”

DRIVER SENTENCED for killing man in Glendale hit-and-run

Alexandra Mendez was sentenced to prison time in fatal Hit And Run

Alexandra Mendez was sentenced last month in the hit-and-run death of a bicyclist in Glendale. A death she caused (felony 2).
A 4.5 year prison sentence is suprisingly stiff, indicating something else, besides just the hit-run went on.
Read the whole story here: hit-and-run-alert-driver-kills-man-on-northern-ave-glendale