Arizona e-bike model municipal law

ca-e-bike-cropped[UPDATE: spring 2018 in AZ State legislature, HB2652, has PASSED; how this relates to local laws isn’t completely clear to me]

This is not coincidentally  similar to legislation passed in California in 2015, and pushed by People For Bikes along with the e-bike industry, so start there. I say similar because it’s odd it doesn’t follow the class 1/2/3 in the CA (and as of Aug 2018 the AZ law?)

Electric bikes fall under the category of what Arizona calls a Motorized Bicycle at the state level. There are a number of gotchas involved, which have been copiously documented on these pages, e.g. start here. The main gotcha is illustrated below about unwittingly needing a drivers license, insurance and registration.

No municipality can fix these gotchas, they can only be addressed by the state legislature. I can only speculate the idea is for Tempe (or whoever; there is similar effort for MAG to recommend/adopt model regulations) to adopt rules that would in effect only kick in when the state “fixes” the state statutes. Continue reading “Arizona e-bike model municipal law”

2014 and 2015 Arizona Bicyclist Fatalities

With the sharp increase in traffic fatalities in 2015 (35,092 a 7.2% increase) — this is getting some extra attention, e.g. the Fastlane blog said on Aug 29, 2016: “2015 Traffic Fatalities Data Has Just Been Released: A Call to Action to Download and Analyze”. The big data news here is that PBCAT data has reappeared, and the 2014 and 2015 datasets released today both have a PBtable. PBCAT data is important because it give much more granular information about bicyclist (and pedestrian) fatalities. Continue reading “2014 and 2015 Arizona Bicyclist Fatalities”

NE-side Tucson serious injury — driver arrested

Bicyclist Brett Karrle was seriously injured in a hit-and-run crash, Monday 10/10/2016 mid-afternoon.

Catalina Highway,  south of Fort Lowell Rd, in Tucson, AZ (I can’t find that on google maps?). Presumably hit from behind but there are no details in the reporting.

The driver fled the scene, and was later located a short time later and arrested on hit/run and aggravated assault charges (suspected impairment).

Continue reading “NE-side Tucson serious injury — driver arrested”

Driver kills 4, injures 9 in horrific crash

photo: Jeff Lasky @10NewsLasky
photo: Jeff Lasky @10NewsLasky

Chandler residents Cruz and Annamarie Contreras were among the 4 pedestrians killed (plus more injured) in a park  when a pickup driver lost control and crashed in San Diego / Coronado.

The driver was also injured and arrested for DUI causing death/injury. Continue reading “Driver kills 4, injures 9 in horrific crash”

Cyclist killed, another injured in Chandler crash

10/1/2016 fatal victim: female. Northbound on Arizona Avenue near Ryan Road.

This is only a couple of miles from the scene of another fatality in April on Riggs Road near Arizona Ave.  Donald Neu  was struck and killed by a driver who “drifted” into the rather wide, designated BL.

I don’t know what “criminal charges are possible” means; but once more-serious criminal charges have been ruled out — cases where a same-direction motorist drifts causing a rear-end collsion with a bicyclist in a bike lane (or a shoulder), on its face, should trigger a misdemeanor “causing death by moving violation” charge, see arizona-already-has-a-vulnerable-user-law

Continue reading “Cyclist killed, another injured in Chandler crash”

Dead sign

deadsignranchcircleApparently a driver failed to negotiate the turn from E Ranch Circle South onto Mountain Sage Drive.
According to unconfirmed reports it was “a bunch of high school kids”; sometime during the day September 28, 2016.

This was apparently PDO, but unfortunately sometimes when drivers do these maneuvers, there’s somebody walking on the sidewalk and they end up killing them.

 

 

City of Tempe tests ‘Bike Box’

The City of Tempe installed a bike box on the east side of 10th Street at Mill Ave.  Note that in that google street view, there is already a bike box on the west side of the same intersection, installed by ASU according to the news item (apparently ASU and not the City of Tempe has jurisdiction over that piece of 10th street?). Continue reading “City of Tempe tests ‘Bike Box’”

Hi-viz clothing and safety

cycle-outfits-ian-walker-researchThe drumbeat to encourage bicyclists to always wear “hi-viz” (hi-vis, high-visibility, fluorescent) colored clothing — even in daylight — seems to become louder and louder. But it appears there is scant evidence suggesting any measurable safety improvement. The best I get when asking what evidence exists is something along the lines of “it can’t hurt”. (this has echos of the never-ending helmet wars; helmet’s claimed safety improvements have been overstated, sometimes vastly, over the years) Continue reading “Hi-viz clothing and safety”

Bicyclist killed 24th St at 202 in central Phx crash

9/23/2016 just before 6AM. Victim: male in his 40s,

A cyclist collided with a cement truck 24th Street at the Loop 202 in central Phoenix. No details were released at this time

  • specific location?
  • direction of bicyclist?
  • direction of motorist? (the w/b exit ramp of 202 was closed)
  • lighting conditions; sunrise is 6:18a, so the collision occurred before that?

Continue reading “Bicyclist killed 24th St at 202 in central Phx crash”

Three crashes so far with Google self-driving cars in Chandler

Google autonomously driven cars have been rolling in Chandler, AZ for a couple of months now.

There was a fairly long story in the AZ Republic today, Three crashes so far with Google self-driving cars in Chandler. 

Three crashes in a month seems like a lot, though none implicated autonmous driving mode — all three involved poor (human) drivers.

The incidents according to the story: Continue reading “Three crashes so far with Google self-driving cars in Chandler”

Bicyclist killed crossing 43rd Ave near Bethany Home Phx

Sat 8/27/2016 ~ 7:30pm. Bicyclist Thomas J. Butler. 35 was killed as he road across 43rd Ave near Bethany Home Rd mid-block from west to east; then turned north when he was struck from behind.

The tone of the statements indicates the police don’t believe the driver’s alleged impairment wasn’t a factor. I.e. the driver is likely to be charged with only DUI.

Continue reading “Bicyclist killed crossing 43rd Ave near Bethany Home Phx”

35% drop in AZ traffic tickets

If ~ $250 sounds like a lot of money for a civil traffic infractions — learn where all that money goes. Most of it does NOT inure to the city which issues the ticket. Cities only get a small fraction of the ~ $250.  The rest of the money goes to state-levied “surcharges” that fund all sort of law-enforcement-related programs. This give lie to the myth that cities are getting fat off of enforcement in AZ; see revenue-from-traffic-fines for some examples, e.g. city of Phoenix generates about 1% of it’s budget from traffic fines. Continue reading “35% drop in AZ traffic tickets”

Driver in fatal hit and run arrested for second degree murder

8/12/2016 Victim Scott Koch, 58

Driver Eric Joseph Corral, alleged red light running, DUI, and hit-and-run. Driver arrested on suspicion of 2nd degree murder.

Victim was crossing the road in a crosswalk with a green/walk signal when struck by a red-light-runner. Valencia and Nexus, Tucson. Continue reading “Driver in fatal hit and run arrested for second degree murder”

Chandler Boulevard Extension

ChandlerBlvdExt2When the final portion of the Loop 202 / South Mountain Freeway (SMF), the part that connects I-10 to Laveen, gets constructed it will replace Pecos Road. Pecos Road in Ahwatukee will be no more. This would otherwise leave everything west of 19th Avenue inaccessible from the rest of Ahwautkee, except for the freeway. The construction of SMF is supposed to begin summer 2016 and opens late 2019. Continue reading “Chandler Boulevard Extension”