Haven’t done one of these for awhile… but they do keep happening. all the time. Seriously? Continue reading “Man killed by driver while sleeping in his home; Man killed on sidewalk after driver goes airborn”
Bicyclist killed in collision at College/Alameda 4-way stop
Feb 14, 2023 5:38AM College and Alameda, Tempe AZ.
A 55 y.o. male bicyclist was killed at this all way (AWSC, All Way Stop Controlled) intersection.
According to the police report, based on the driver and two independent witness statements, the northbound bicyclist failed to stop and rode into the side of a westbound driver of a F-150 pickup. Continue reading “Bicyclist killed in collision at College/Alameda 4-way stop”
Arizona Crash Facts 2022
ADOT released Crash Facts 2022 July 24, 2023, which is back to the normal schedule (last year’s was released in late Sept for unstated reasons).
2022 was, again, a very bloody year on Arizona’s roads and highways. Overall deaths increased over the already bad 2020, and 2021 figures. Continue reading “Arizona Crash Facts 2022”
VETOED: AZ Legislature’s latest emission
[Spoiler alert: As expected, Gov. Hobbs vetoed this bad bill 6/20/2023] Arizona legislature’s merged “prop 400” (a bill to enable a vote on Maricopa county SALES tax for transpo) bill has been passed by both house and senate on 6/13/2023 along straight party lines (i.e. by one vote in each chamber). As I said before, AZ Republican’s war on walking continues.. or rather their war on anything that’s not a car. Continue reading “VETOED: AZ Legislature’s latest emission”
DRIVER SENTENCED for killing man in Glendale hit-and-run
Alexandra Mendez was sentenced last month in the hit-and-run death of a bicyclist in Glendale. A death she caused (felony 2).
A 4.5 year prison sentence is suprisingly stiff, indicating something else, besides just the hit-run went on.
Read the whole story here: hit-and-run-alert-driver-kills-man-on-northern-ave-glendale
Urge Veto of SB1234
Today I contacted Gov. Hobbs to urge her to veto Sen Rodger’s SB1234, which would further ban all forms of automated enforcement in the state. Including red-light signal, as well as school zone speeding enforcement.
The current status quo would simply allow local authorities to continue to use it where they feel it will improve safety. The state legislators have no business telling localities what to do. Republican’s claims that phot0-enforcement is unconstitutional are entirely unfounded, and unsupported; and their continuing to peddle that lie is shameful.
Driver sentenced to 8.75 years prison for hit-and-run killing a Goodyear child
The justice system utterly failed everybody here. The only bright spot is he’ll be locked up and not driving his monster truck for a few years.
FARS 2021: Arizona among top 10 states for drunken driving deaths
The NHTSA released traffic fatality figures, FARS, for calendar year 2021 a few weeks ago; to little fanfare and quite late as noted by Smart Growth America. Here’s an overview.
Arizona, once again, scores in several “top 10 lists” that nobody wants to be on, notably landing 8th on the list of top states for DUI-involved fatalities, despite being only the 14th most populous states. Arizona among top 10 states for drunken driving deaths. (That azcentral story, by the way, had an interesting DUI case inserted with bodycam footage of the Cochise County Attorney being arrested for extreme DUI back in February). Continue reading “FARS 2021: Arizona among top 10 states for drunken driving deaths”
Bicyclist seriously injured by driver at Grand Canal crossing
4/19/2023 11a; Police say driver, 24 y.o. Rainer Perez Cordero, ran a red, striking and seriously injured bicyclist at the marked and signalized crosswalk at Central and Grand Canal. Police say the light for the driver had been red for eight seconds (curious how they would know that?). Continue reading “Bicyclist seriously injured by driver at Grand Canal crossing”
Dead Tucson bicyclist is collateral damage; Driver(s!) arrested
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Tues March 21, 2023. A driver is accused of making a bad left, causing a collision with another vehicle at East Speedway and North Country Club Road. “The impact forced the (other vehicle) into the bicycle lane and onto a sidewalk, hitting bicyclist Isaiah Williams Escalante,” killing him.
Police say the driver making the left, Matthew Lee Taleck, was impaired, and was arrested and booked by police on suspicion of manslaughter and related charges. The other driver was arrested on an unrelated issue.
Continue reading “Dead Tucson bicyclist is collateral damage; Driver(s!) arrested”
AZ Republican’s war on walking continues
After appropriating $400MM of GENERAL FUNDS last season in order to widen the I-10 freeway between ~ just south of Phoenix to Casa Grande (towards Tucson); the legislature this year is on track to appropriate ANOTHER $360MM (also general funds) to the project, to backfill currently unavailable federal matching funds.
SB1065 appropriation; widening; I-10
Just to re-cap, general funds come from things like state sales taxes, property taxes, and income taxes. Notably, they do not come from gas-taxes, or other motor vehicle user fees. Continue reading “AZ Republican’s war on walking continues”
Goodyear Police arrest driver who killed 2 and injured 11 more
Goodyear police have arrested the driver who crashed into a large group of bicyclists Saturday 2/25/2023 around 8:15am; other traffic at that time would have been very light.
The location was on or near the bridge over Gila River on Cotton Lane, Goodyear, AZ, about a mile south of the intersection with MC86 Continue reading “Goodyear Police arrest driver who killed 2 and injured 11 more”
Arizona Legislation 2023
Please see:
cazbike.org/arizona-legislation-2023
Mixed in with tweaks that appear designed to increase car-use at the expense of everything else, there are some downright extremist proposals here, including one that prohibit ADOT from building bicycle paths.
Another common-thread in these bills are a group of state legislators, all from the majority party, that complain bitterly (possibly even sometimes rightly) that the feds are “cramming” things down their throats. Hypocracy reigns however, because this same group of legislators want to turn around and cram down their own ideas onto cities and towns. In the case of the Maricopa county transportation sales tax, these state legislators feel it’s ok to dictate how Maricopa county can spend Maricopa county citizens sales taxes. In the case of photo-enforcement, it’s these state legislators attempting to prevent cities and towns from enforcing traffic laws —
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- SB1234 Wendy Rodgers; Bans Photo-enforcement of traffic law by a city or town. Background: Despite evidence photo enforcement improved safety, the state DPS discontinued photo-enforcement on freeways in 2010, and subsequently legislated a ban on the entire state highway system in 2016. The legislature has, year after year for more than a decade, proposed total bans, which would prevent cities and towns from enforcing traffic laws by photo; this year’s SB1234 is the current incarnation. [PASSED Senate GOV committee and full senate; transmitted to House 2/15]
Legislature votes to exempt self from state records laws
In other news: In early 2023, the GOP-led Arizona Senate, and GOP-led Arizona House has exempted itself from open-records laws
Legislature votes to exempt self from state records laws
The new rules allows (mandate?) destruction of legislator’s emails and texts after 90 days, and in the Senate, texts from legislator’s private devices/accounts are excluded altogether regardless of the nature of the content.
This is the opposite of transparancy.
Police: Bicyclist dies after impaired driver struck him on Tucson sidewalk
2/22/2022 ~2PM. Tucson police says a suspected impaired driver killed a bicyclist on the SIDEWALK.
Names were not released as of 2 days later; and no follow up reporting can be found on this fatal incident that occurred 10 months ago (?). Continue reading “Police: Bicyclist dies after impaired driver struck him on Tucson sidewalk”
Phoenix e-bike Ordinance (Class 3 Banned!)
[UPDATE: council passed yet more rule changes. Dec 2024. Ordinance G-7334, min age for ebikes/scooters is not 16 AGAIN. Class 3 remains banned for anybody. ]
City of Phoenix passed an ebike law recently; I was unaware.
Arizona’s state ebike laws, which were passed in 2018, are essentially mum on ebikes vis a vis sidewalks, leaving them in the same somewhat strange boat as bicycles; “what is not prohibited is allowed”. And leads to a lot of confusion as local regulations, if any, regulate sidewalk cycling. See this long discussion of Arizona’s sidewalk laws including selected municipalities. Continue reading “Phoenix e-bike Ordinance (Class 3 Banned!)”