Aug 1, 2025 ~7:30
67th Ave and Hillcrest Blvd, Glendale.
Police told AZ family news the pickup driver was turning right when he struck a youth riding an bike in the crosswalk on his way to school.
From the pictures, it appears the driver of the Large pickup was proceeding eastbound Hillcrest turning right onto 67th Ave; and the cyclist was in the west crosswalk . This is a signalized intersection. Someone ran the red light.
The cyclist’s direction appears to have been southbound (that is to say going in the direction of adjacent traffic), but that’s just a guess as the bike is laying on the SW corner. If the cyclist was northbound, he would have been traveling counter-flow to the direction of adjacent traffic.
The main reason I’m making a note of this particular crash is that the bike appears to be some form of ebike, and possibly an out-of-class ebike. As of a few years ago, ebike (class 1,2,3) “count” statistically as bicycles; whereas out-of-class bike are (and always were) motor vehicles. Ebikes (class 1,2,3) are generally treated same as bicycles under state law but are subject to a patchwork and seemingly ever-changing local regulation, see e.g. Phoenix.
A common crash mode for sidewalk/crosswalk cyclists is a motorist turning right-on-red. Police have not indicated who had what signal. The right-on-red error is exacerbated when the cyclist is counter-flow.
Large vehicles have a tendency to injure those outside of the vehicle more severely when their drivers become involved in a collision; due to the design and height of their front-ends.
Girl riding in SV crosswalk struck by Pickup Driver
There was another child hit in a crosswalk by a pickup driver, this one in Sierra Vista hit at Coronado Drive and Golf Links Road Monday Aug 11, 2025. “The driver was cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk” Relative directions weren’t mentioned but given that the driver was cited it would follow that police believe both units would have had a green; in other words, the children were proceeding with a green or walk signal.
It’s also mentioned that “(police) said the driver was only cited and not arrested because, through their investigation so far, they have found no criminal element”. This is probably not the case, assuming the victim’s injuries are serious (defined in §13-105. “39. ‘Serious physical injury’ includes physical injury that creates a reasonable risk of death, or that causes serious and permanent disfigurement, serious impairment of health or loss or protracted impairment of the function of any bodily organ or limb.”), as failure to yield is a predicate violation for §28-672, Causing serious physical injury or death by a moving violation.
Speaking of the special dangers posed by large vehicles to everyone outside the vehicle, this bit sounds particularly horrifying: “The girl was still under the truck when emergency crews arrived, was removed, and transported…”
Here’s a news item:
Sierra Vista girl hit by truck while riding bike to school
By Renee Romo and 13 News Staff
Published: Aug. 11, 2025 at 12:14 PM MST|Updated: 17 hours ago
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – A young Sierra Vista girl was hit by a truck while riding her bike to school on Monday, Aug. 11.
…The SVPD said she was hit at the intersection of Coronado Drive and Golf Links Road.
Police said the girl was riding her bike and wearing a helmet as she crossed the crosswalk with her brother when she was hit by an adult driving a pickup truck who was turning left.
The girl was still under the truck when emergency crews arrived, was removed, and transported to Canyon Vista Medical Center. She was later airlifted to a hospital in Tucson.
Scott Borgstadt with SVPD said the girl, who has not been named, was in stable condition last he heard, and was airlifted to Tucson mainly as a precaution.
The driver was cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
Borgstadt said the driver was only cited and not arrested because, through their investigation so far, they have found no criminal element, and that it was truly just an unfortunate vehicle accident.
There was a press release from SVPD.
I reached out to Cpl Borgstadt via email regarding (lack of?) a 28-672 charge and will update if there is a response.
IF the truck had a red light and was turning right on red and IF the motorized bike was zooming along the sidewalk with a WALK signal THEN the motorbike was coming fast toward the intersection from many feet away and the truck would not have seen the motorbike because it is too far behind the truck on the sidewalk. A crosswalk is meant to be WALKED through…not motor-biked or any-biked through. Bikes on sidewalks are pedestrians and need to WALK their bike in a crosswalk. Bikes on the roadway are vehicles and need to obey all rules of the road.
I’m sorry for the loss of this young person. Teach your kids safety and danger with motorized bikes!
“the truck (driver) would not have seen the motorbike because it is too far behind the truck on the sidewalk”. There’s a lot we don’t know; but the most likely scenario is the cyclist was approaching from the driver’s left, the 2nd most likely is the cyclist was approaching from the driver’s right; and that the driver had a red signal. This is guessing from the positions of the truck/bike post-crash. You probably know, drivers are required to stop, a full stop, at a red light (this intersection has a painted stop bar, and painted crosswalk) but routinely do not, they just roll on through when they decide they can turn right-on-red https://youtu.be/7jHUb2sGEuI?si=Qmwa_8_lSHRg7FV6&t=9
I will update when the info gets into the crash database. I am also not even sure if it was an ebike, and if it was what type, the database won’t have that level of detail, it would probably only be in the full police departmental report, assuming they do a full report as is customary for any serious injury crash.