This is probably only of interest to me and has nothing to do with bicycling… Continue reading “Email issues: migration from Godaddy to Webhost.pro”
Bicyclist killed in Glendale crosswalk hit-and-run, suspect on the loose
This showed up on review of the 2015 ASDM data, although I had missed it at the time…
11/19/2015 ~ 6:15pm. Bicyclist killed in the crosswalk by a hit-and-run driver. Bicyclist was northbound crosswalk at 43rd Ave and Bethany Home Road, Glendale, AZ. Continue reading “Bicyclist killed in Glendale crosswalk hit-and-run, suspect on the loose”
Police: Speeding driver kills 2 on N Phx residential street
~ 8:15pm May 14(?), 2015. 34th Ave near Deer Valley Road, Phoenix. Double pedestrian fatality. This is very much a residential neighborhood. The victims were “having a roadside conversation” when the crash occurred. (Does that mean they were standing in 34th Ave? There are certainly sidewalks there).
Continue reading “Police: Speeding driver kills 2 on N Phx residential street”
Head-on collision sends 3 to hospital
Cornville Road Head-on collision sends 3 to hospital; just coincidentally this is the same road and very near where cyclist Ethelyn Hartline was killed in 2014 when a motorist failed to overtake her safely.
The driver who police say caused the crash was cited for “Failure to Drive in the Proper Lane, and Causing Serious Physical Injury during a Moving Violation”. That second part would have to be 28-672, a minor criminal misdemeanor that has penalties that can include license suspension, and traffic survival school, as well as a small amount of restitution. I’m unclear what is particular statute the proper lane business refers to — 28-672 has a specific list of enabling violations. It would most likely be 28-729(1) which requires not moving from a lane unless it can be done safely. Crossing a double-yellow is also illegal (statute?), but that’s not a ‘672-enabler.
Police: Driver in fatal Phoenix hit-run was impaired
All according to Phoenix police, the driver:
- Fled from a fatal crash that he clearly did not cause — this is a Class 3 Felony 28-663 (the pedestrian “intentionally walked into traffic” after an unrelated altercation/incident of some sort)
- When caught, said he wasn’t their guy… “he denied driving on Indian School Road and hitting the pedestrian”… “saying the damage to his vehicle was caused while he was pulling into the parking lot”.
- By way of explanation the driver “… said he was evading police officers and driving fast because he knew he had been drinking and had a suspended license”.
- Blew a 0.186 BAC in a PBT. Thus the aggravation part of the DUI. One imagines there was then a blood draw. Above 0.15 would qualify for extreme DUI; however due to have an already suspended license bit, he’s looking at aggravated DUI/lic susp, 28-1383, a class 4 felony.
Continue reading “Police: Driver in fatal Phoenix hit-run was impaired”
MCSO: Impaired, speeding driver kills 2 in Avondale
Weekend roundup of drivers behaving badly in the Phoenix metro area; it must have been a rough Saturday night, 4 dead in 3 incidents early AM hours of Sunday 11/8/2015: Police say a speeding & impaired driver rear ended and killed 2 motorists in Avondale. Phoenix police says a pedestrian is dead after apparently intentionally stepping in front of a moving car — the driver, of course, hit-and-ran, police caught him soon after and say he appeared impaired. In the third story a driver crossed over and struck another vehicle head on; killing her. Continue reading “MCSO: Impaired, speeding driver kills 2 in Avondale”
Another Phoenix Ped killed on sidewalk
Oct 20, 2015 Pedestrian fatality. According to police, the driver was speeding (“at speeds over 100 mph”) and lost control, crossed the center line, jumped curb and drove up on sidewalk; hit-and-run of course. Yes, again, see another-ped-gets-whacked-on-phoenix-sidewalk. This obviously happens regularly… Seriously, how often does this happen? Police are seeking Rudy Loyoza Jr., the owner of the vehicle, in connection with the incident.
Truck driver get 1 year for fatal muscle relaxer crash
The original story is below. Plea deal dropped the manslaughter and two aggravated assault charges (these are *very* serious felonies, F2 & 3) in exchange for a guilty plea to endangerment (a *very* minor felony, F6). Exactly how the prosecutor cooks up these deals is unknown but it seems hard to understand how this is, if not reckless manslaughter, at least negligent homicide. Continue reading “Truck driver get 1 year for fatal muscle relaxer crash”
Pickup driver loses control, kills bicyclist
10/29/2015 ~ just before midnight. 35th Avenue near Montebello Avenue, Phoenix. Victim 42 y.o. male Hussein Yunus. Driver was taken into custody, name not released, and later released. This is a residential area, with residences fronting a “busy” street, 35th Ave. The “pickup truck left the roadway and hit him. A witness said the bike rider flew about 100 feet…The driver was taken into custody. Investigators are looking into intoxication as a factor and are awaiting results from a toxicology analysis”. The news report video said something to the effect that “police believe impairment was involved but not necessarily alcohol”. Continue reading “Pickup driver loses control, kills bicyclist”
Court of Appeals rules against Nissley
Nissley was an impaired driver who killed a pedestrian, noted doctor Richard Pavese, on the sidewalk in 2010… seriously-how-often-does-this-happen !?
‘In the presence’ Requirement?
With the prevalence of dash cams, go pros, and smart phones, these sorts of videos have become more and more common, e.g. here’s another one from Oregon in 2015, Police credit cyclist’s video in careless driving citation: Continue reading “‘In the presence’ Requirement?”
Funding proposal would add BLs on Chandler Blvd over I-10
This is pretty interesting for those of us in the Ahwatukee / Chandler area…
[ update: 11/2017 here is the “15%” Initial Project Assessment ; also see below for related update on Phoenix side circa 2020 ]
[Updates, as of early 2022; project is completed, scroll down]
City of Chandler has made a request for TA/CMAQ (see also alameda-drive-tempe-bicycle-pedestrian-proposal for more about TA/CMAQ) funding to add BLs on Chandler blvd between where they stop now (~ 54th St) and continue them to the “far” side of the bridge (City of Phoenix jurisdiction). It’s about .4 miles and the bottom line cost estimate is ~ 600,000 (details are in the link below). The main money driver here is some of the area needs to have curb/gutter/sidewalk relocated in order to make room. See the area on Google Maps. Continue reading “Funding proposal would add BLs on Chandler Blvd over I-10”
Wrong way August I-17 pickup driver
For much more on dangerous, impaired (mentally, disoriented, or via chemicals/alcohol) see wrong-way. They drive among us. One of my fears is the incidents are being treated as though the problem is with not enough signs on freeway. These are dangerous, criminal in most cases, drivers who are out driving around, who can (and do) cause all sorts of mayhem.
News story about the aftermath of Aug 22, 2015 wrong-way pickup truck driver, 48-year-old Timothy Harjo of Wickenburg. Was driving ~ 70mph north in the southbound lanes of I-17 around 5:45am ~ 12 mile from Sunset Point. DPS Trooper Jeremy Barr acted heroically to essentially crash into the perpetrator, averting what could easily resulted in a major disaster. Continue reading “Wrong way August I-17 pickup driver”
Phoenix media blitz addresses wrong-way riding
[Update — a newer presentation of more-or-less the same material can be found at azbikelaw.org/ride-with-traffic ]
Phoenix last week rolled out a major media blitz to target wrong-way riding
- Newtimes: Phoenix Pushes Bicyclists to Avoid Death and Injury by Riding With Traffic Flow
- azfamily/KPHO New Phoenix signs warn wrong-way bicycle riders
- abc15 New signs installed to prevent wrong-way biking in Phoenix
- KJZZ radio interview New Phoenix Bike Signs Will Discourage Wrong-Way Cycling
- City of Phoenix Youtube videos Ride on the Right (should be called Ride with Traffic, for reasons stated below, and, Stop on Red.
They all struggle with the fact that the direction of riding on sidewalks, in Phoenix, is not regulated. In other words, it’s not illegal to ride counter-flow on Phoenix sidewalks. But they didn’t do a scrupulous job of noting the difference between legal counter-flow sidewalk riding, and the (always) illegal counter-flow street riding. Since the State of Arizona has chosen not to regulate riding on the sidewalk at all, and individual cites do, the topic is voluminous — for much much more about sidewalk riding see sidewalk-cycling-in-arizona.
So some of the stories take odd turns, like the the notion that “…because riding a short distance against traffic sometimes might be safer, Wilcoxon says”. Oh my. Continue reading “Phoenix media blitz addresses wrong-way riding”
Alameda Drive Tempe Bicycle / Pedestrian Proposal
If you’ve never read one of these funding proposals before, they’re pretty interesting. This is one of some number of TA / CMAQ Application for FY 2018, 2019, and 2020 Projects submitted to MAG. Phew, lots of initials: TA / CMAQ Transportation Alternatives / Congestion Mitigation Air Quality. MAG is the Maricopa Association of Governments, who has some sort of process to score these things and recommend (decide?) who gets what. They also have relatively detailed cost estimates, e.g. this project’s bottom line is just shy of $2M total; the kicker is the cost split Continue reading “Alameda Drive Tempe Bicycle / Pedestrian Proposal”