Pickups are getting bigger

A 12 foot lane is NOT shareable side-by-side

And as Dan Neil, car guy for the Wall Street Journal points out: “Are pickups really getting bigger, on average, or do they just look scarier? Both. The average pickup gained 1,142 pounds between 1990 and 2019.”

Safety failings: “(during Trump administration, the) NHTSA proposed that new pedestrian-safety tests for SUVs and trucks be included in the New Car Assessment Program in 2015. But as of this writing, the agency had not issued guidance on new standards. When asked, the industry trade group Alliance for Automotive Innovation had no comment.”

Being ever-heavier with ever-boxier body design, they use more fuel than a car, of course but what about pollution? nothing in the articles, Dan missed the boat here — pickups and SUVs are typically in “high” bins. They pollute a lot

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Police arrest driver in high-speed crash that killed 2

Drivers tend to lie after doing something bad.

Also of interest, it’s normally the left-turners “fault”; in this instance the left-turner is dead, but when the other (going straight ahead) driver is doing something horrendously wrong, charges can crop up. See e.g. bad-drivers-and-friendsofcalholman-com

 

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Man killed by hit-run driver in Tucson backyard

12/17/2020, Thursday night (time not specified; also victim’s name not released). The driver of a Ford F-150 left the road near West Grant & North Oracle crashing thru a fence into a backyard striking and killing a person there, then ran away. Police think the driver may have been drunk.

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Driver indicted in texting-killing incident

Scene on SR101 where officer was killed

Jerry Sanstead Jr, the driver in this Jan ’19 incident was finally indicted on manslaughter in Dec 2020. That it takes this long to even bring charges speaks volumes about the sorry state of holding drivers responsible for their actions behind the wheel:

DPS: Driver who killed officer was texting and driving

Waymo releases data on 6 million miles

“In its first report on its autonomous vehicle operations in Phoenix, Arizona, Waymo said that it was involved in 18 crashes and 29 near-miss collisions…” reports the Verge

The 18 refer to actual crashes where actual contact was made was contacted with another vehicle (or potentially if it has been, or bicyclist). There were no injuries.

The 29 near-misses refer to simulated responses of their AV system; which didn’t actually happen, because the human driver intervened. The vast majority of Miles logged were with a human “safety driver” present.

By the way here’s the story of the kook that caused one of the crashes, he was apparently a disgruntled ex-Waymo driver ; it also includes a link to the nut who brandished a gun at a waymo driver, apparently because he was aggreived by the waymo vehicles.

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Cottonwood PD seek hit and run suspect in bicyclist injury crash

9/28/2020 Injury collision at intersection of N. Willard Street and N. Main Street Cottonwood. Driver fled. Police believe the driver is identified as mentioned below. This is a ‘T’ intersection with Main continuing through, and Willard on the stem of the ‘T’ having a stop sign.

A hit-and-run involving injury or death is a felony, varying from a class 5  to class 2; depending on the extent of the injuries.

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SE Valley bleed sheet 8/31 edition

From last week’s roundup of traffic mayhem in the southeast Valley:

8/31/2020 around 8pm BE ON THE LOOKOUT Suspect vehicle left scene described as dark SUV towing 10-12 ft. flatbed trailer, contact Chandler PD near Chandler Blvd and McQueen fatal ped hit-run:

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Driver critically injures Mesa Police officer in freeway crash

8/11/2020 around 11am. Horrendous crash on US60 near Greenfield. Is it really too much to ask drivers to look where they are driving? The driver of an enormous* SUV plowed into the rear end of a stopped police cruiser, seriously injuring the officer.

Mesa officer, woman injured in multivehicle crash on east U.S. 60 near Greenfield Road

No word on why the driver wasn’t in control of her vehicle. How will this be handled? for comparison, see: Continue reading “Driver critically injures Mesa Police officer in freeway crash”

Fatal Bicycle collision mid-town Tucson

8/8/2020 ~ 10PM. Fatal collision along the 3300 block of E Grant Road near Northway (east of Country Club Road). The name of the bicyclist was not released.

“…it was determined the bicyclist was traveling eastbound on Grant Road in the middle multi-use turn lane.It appears the bicyclist veered into the eastbound median lane and was struck from behind by a …”

For crash categorization purposes in FARS, this will likely be  an unsafe lane change by bicyclist (in other words, it’s not a motorist overtaking / strike from behind).

Tangentially related, in the footer of the TPD press release, they always place a traffic fatality summary for City of Tucson comparing current year to previous year period. The number of vehicle (so enclosed vehicle occupants) and motorcyclist is shockingly high year-over-year. Up 200% … can that be? (11 vs. 36). Peds fatals are down a good bit, bicyclist fatals are flat.

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Double fatality in Glendale on Thunderbird

Sunday 7/12/2020 ~ 7:30pm, Near 51st Avenue and Thunderbird Road double bicyclist fatality in a crash.

In a news report nearly devoid of any details other than approximate time and location; no updates as of mid-day.   Glendale Police apparently released some details, including the names of the persons killed, that were reported MOnday afternoon. This describes a right-angle collision at the intersection of 52nd and Thunderbird, the bicycle was southbound on 52nd and was struck after presumably failing to yield by a westbound motorist on Thunderbird.

This area is near ASU West campus; that corner is heavily commercial. Sunset was 7:39PM.

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Hit and run driver drives over two women on Scottsdale sidewalk

photo: Tami M. Hoey

6/4/2020 7pm. A hit and run driver drove over the sidewalk and seriously hurt two women who were walking on the sidewalk in Old Town Scottsdale. Injuries are said to be serious, with one “fighting for her life”.

Police arrested a suspect, Allami Hussain, nearby a short time later.

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Bicycle Passing Law Sign

r4-11 with Change Lanes To Pass placard

Despite availability of BMUFL/Change lanes to pass signs; there has been work ongoing to approve a whole new sign which would specifically refer to state passing law requirements in states with so-called numerical passing laws. According to NCSL as of April 2020, 34 states have such laws, almost all of them specifying a minimum of 3 feet, and most have some loopholes.

There are any number of home-brewed (non-standard) such signs in use all over the place (e.g. City of Phoenix has been using this sign since 2007); hopefully this will at least clean up that mess. Continue reading “Bicycle Passing Law Sign”

Bicyclist dies while “crossing midblock” 19th ave / Bethany Home

5/27/2020 ~ 4AM. A male bicyclist was “crossing midblock” on Bethany Home Road near 19th Ave, Phoenix when he was struck by a west bound driver.

I-17 is about a mile west of there. It’s a heavily commercial area. “Crossing midblock” implies pedestrian behavior.

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Drifting driver kills bicyclist in Scottsdale

[Updated March 23, 2022 — nearly two years have gone by and no prosecution has taken place at least according to records search. I have no idea why. If MCSO is not going to ever bring the felony charge, the City of Scottsdale Prosecutor’s office can and should charge the misdemeanor version — 28-672; which has a TWO year statute of limitations… TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE]

5/23/2020 Morning, eastbound Happy Valley Rd near 91st St. An SUV driver “drifted over the fog line” and killed a bicyclist, 48 y.o. Miodrag Milovanovic.

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