[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]
Both cyclist and motorist were westbound Pecos approaching 17th Ave 11/12/2014 ~ 0900. NOTE the google maps has both new and old views of the striping — be sure you are seeing the current version of the stripes, see pic below.
Damage pictured indicated the driver struck the cyclist with the left – center portion of the front of car. More details are at ourhtn.com; and reports the cyclist to be Dwayne Falkner, age 60 of Tempe “Mr Falkner is known in the cycling world as ‘Highly’ Falker… For at least a decade, Mr Falkner competed in cycling competitions. USA Cycling lists Mr Falkner’s participation in 15 competitions between 2004 and 2013”.
at ourhtn.com
I should mention this road is very popular with recreational and training/competitive cyclists drawing folks from all around the area.
afn reported: A 59-year-old man was riding his bicycle westbound down Pecos Road around 9:10 a.m. on Wednesday (11/12/2014). He was attempting to cross a right-turn only lane approaching 17th Avenue to continue westbound when he was struck from behind by a vehicle…Police are researching speed and impairment as possible contributing factor…
There have been some recent (how recent?) restriping at the intersection. The fat black line in the picture used to be the shoulder stripe. Google satellite view shows what looks like matched the present; but the street view, most recently dated 2011, showed there was no turn lane at that time.
So the current striping has the right through lane on Pecos dropping ~ 600 feet from the intersection with 17th Ave (thus the black line in the photo), through traffic in the right lane must merge into the left lane, or alternately traffic turning right must bear to the right to enter the newly formed right-turn-only lane. There is what appears to be a brief bike lane (I mean, i’m not sure it’s designated) between the left/through lane and the newly created RTO lane.
Pecos Road in Phoenix
It appears (preliminary) the crash was in the “mixing zone”. I have to wonder if this new (sometime after 2011) striping regime was ever a good idea. This road functions as a high speed / low volume highway, particularly out this far west (the road dead-ends ~ 1 mile west of here). It directly connects to the east with a (full blown, limited access) highway; by directly i mean there is no interchange, or ramps, it just suddenly becomes limited-access east of 40th St.
This pic shows signage at the Scene of the Crash. There is an R4-4 sign “Begin Right Turn Lane Yield to Bikes”. Also this photo shows there were no evident skid marks.
There have been numerous traffic fatalities over the years along Pecos Road (in Phoenix. It’s a stretch of about 7 miles), including one other cyclist back in 2004, and numerous motorist fatalities and of course numerous serious injuries; including this serious ped injury due to a driver’s gross distraction just a few months ago.
Criminal Case
The driver, Diego Ivan Venegas DOB 3/1990 was arrested/booked 2014-12-24 on suspicion of manslaughter, and then indicted: criminal case CR2014-160593 (direct link to Case minutes ) . See also clippedin.bike story
The driver took a plea deal in January 2016, plead guilty to reduced charge of Neg Hom, and was sentenced to 6.5 years prison. The neg hom was sentenced pursuant to 28-704 (meaning his plea deal had it as “dangerous”). Presumptive Class 4 first-time felony being 6 years, not sure where the extra .5 years came from? State’s attorney was Tiffany Leigh Brady.
Crash History near/at that Intersection
It’s been claimed this intersection generally has “a lot” of crashes. I don’t know how to evaluate that claim but I did look at reported crashes; there have been 23 crashes of all types at or near this intersection over the 5-year period 2009-2013. Two involved a bicyclists; one from 2009 was an oddball one (discussed here) where a cyclist crashed into a stopped (police!) car; the other involved a classic motorist overtaking/sideswipe in 2013 causing incapacitating injuries to two bicyclists that was, incidentally, eastbound). Neither involved the intersection. There were no MV-ped crashes.
There were two motorist (both were motorcyclists) fatalities; the first 10/27/2012 a single vehicle motorcyclist road departure (and was not intersection related); and the second a motorist turning left from 17th failed to yield to a westbound motorcyclist, killing him. It was this second one that occurred in April 2013 that apparently directly led to the new striping plan, which was installed (i’m thinking i heard something like) June 2013. I was totally unaware of this new striping; I don’t travel on Pecos much (it’s too far west of me) so I wouldn’t have seen it, and I hadn’t otherwise heard anything about it. [update on the 2013 fatality, in 2017 the city settled with the family of the deceased motorcyclist for $6Million, see comment below]
SELECT IncidentID,IncidentYear, TotalNonMotorists,eJunctionRelation,OnRoad,CrossingFeature from 2009_incident WHERE (OnRoad LIKE 'PECOS%' AND CrossingFeature LIKE '17th%') OR (CrossingFeature LIKE 'PECOS%' AND OnRoad LIKE '17th%') ;
History of bicyclist traffic fatalities in Ahwatukee
Ahwatukee is relatively isolated section of the city of Phoenix; population ~ 75,000. Earlier large scale development was mostly Presley developed retirement communities dating back to the 1970s.
Most of what is now Ahwatukee was “built-out” between the mid to late ’80’s to the mid ’90’s)
Bicyclist fatalities are relatively rare and idiosyncratic. In any event, in the (somewhat short) history of Ahwatukee, there have been three known bicyclist traffic fatalities — back to at least the mid-1980’s (before that is hard to research). The previous two were:
In 2001 a 9-year-old boy failed to yield at a stop sign at Liberty Lane at 17th Street .
In 2004 Don Anselmo was killed by a driver who apparently and inexplicably drifted onto the (very wide) shoulder of Pecos Rd near 20th Street.
There is one more related bicyclist death, in 2008 a cyclist rode into a parked utility truck; This is not “counted” as a traffic fatality simply as a definitional matter; traffic crashes to be counted as such must involve at least one “motor vehicle in transport”.
The blacked out line is the old “activity lane” line. Where this occurred there is a protected bike lane in between the right turn lane to 17th Ave (shown) and the driving lane that continues West on Pecos. It appears that the cyclist was struck just past where the Yield to Bikes begins. He would have been on the process of crossing the lane to get to the center protected bike lane. The driver is at fault for failing to yield as the accident occurred well past the yield sign.
A very bad intersection that has to be redesigned from a very bad design to start with!! Someone has to take action before someone else is killed!
This was a Death by Design. Who in their right mind would put such marking on the road? They tried that same concept several years ago at Pecos and Desert Foothills Parkway. It was re-done after several accidents and complaints. The City Official responsible for this road marking decision needs to be held accountable!
I have been cycling this road a long time and commented to my riding partners that this design is death trap. Looks like i’m right. A shame.
…his name is spelled, “Falkner.”
….a Google search of “Highly Falkner Tempe” will verify the correct spelling…..
RIP Highly! So tragic and should have never happened! My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, a wonderful family!
Here is a discussion thread i started on ‘cyclists are drivers’ f.b. group (must join group to see, I think). This forum is frequented by a number of traffic engineers.
It has been pointed out to me that the concept of placing some extra space between a through lane, and a right turn only lane is referred to in ADOT’s design guide (and note, this area is not under adot control, afaik; it is city of Phoenix) as a “Bicycle buffer”. Though neither of the diagrams look much like what was done at Pecos and 17th.
From ADOT Roadway Design Guide (RDG) 2012, page 400-30:
Highly will be missed by MANY! He lived his life to the fullest as one of the kindest, honorable and most sincere human beings you will ever meet. If you are able to join us tomorrow for the memorial ride please do. All are welcome and the show of support for Highly, his family and the cycling community as a whole would be meaningful even if you never had the pleasure of meeting, riding with ir getting to know him.
My father-in-law was also struck a little more than 1 year ago at this intersection and continues to recover from serious injuries.
Please ride carefully, ride defensively and look out for one another while on Pecos or any road for that matter. And please keep the Falkner family in your thoughts and prayers.
I have both biked and driven this route many times. No doubt the bike lane/right turn lane is poorly designed, but:
1-The design requires the driver to yield to the biker; and 2-Regardless, if the driver is exercising ANY sort of common sense, there is no way he/she should hit the biker crossing over. Although I don’t know all the facts, it appears likely that the driver will be charged with something akin to criminal negligence – even if he/she wasn’t chemically impaired. My guess, though, is that for someone to do this they had to be impaired.
i was told of an “… identical case on Old Spanish Trail eastbound at the intersection with Houghton Road (Tucson vicinity). Same exact striping, same exact collision”
There’s a sign there that i can’t clearly see, looks like an R4-4.
AFN story 11/18/2014; this is, IMO, misleading, the other “cyclist” fatality was a motorcyclist, not a bicyclist, who lost control, and was nothing to do with the intersection.
archive.org of ourhtn articles up to discussion of community meeting held 11/20.
The solution here is simple. Traffic lights with NO TURN ON RED.
I live right off the corner of 17th ave and pecos. The first week after I moved into my house 3 years ago, I knew something needs to be done at that intersection. I think we need a traffic light there.
http://www.ahwatukee.com story about arrest and “PAC” meeting.
For whatever reason, the Christmas-eve arrest and booking of the suspect nearly escaped the notice of all media outlets; e.g. there’s an AP story dated 1/9/2015 — two weeks later!
Faulty roadways cost taxpayers $7.25M
BRENNA GOTH AND MEGAN CASSIDY
THE REPUBLIC | AZCENTRAL.COM
An Ahwatukee Foothills intersection with a distant stop line and an east Phoenix intersection with a dark crosswalk will cost Phoenix taxpayers $7.25 million after the city settled claims over a death and a serious injury on its roadways.
The payouts will be the highest and third-highest, respectively, for bodily injuries in Phoenix in the past five years. The City Council unanimously approved both settlements Wednesday with no discussion.
The city will award $6 million to the family of Kirk Jarvis, a motorcyclist who was fatally struck by a car at the intersection of Pecos Road and 17th Avenue. A jury last year sided with plaintiffs’ attorneys, who said the intersection was not properly maintained by the city…
Plaintiffs’ attorneys told the jury that prior reports had complained of poor visibility at the intersection, and that for three years the city took no action. They argued that the painted stop line was too far from the intersection, and that cutting trees and bushes or removing the stop line altogether could have improved visibility.
A jury initially awarded Jarvis’ family more than $11 million. The city later settled for $6 million and a promise to waive any post-trial appeals…
In response to the Jarvis case, Vo said the city “believes that stop bars were properly located … and are properly located throughout the city in accordance with existing standards.”
The intersection has since been demolished due to construction of the Loop 202 freeway extension.