Cycling, traffic safety, traffic justice, and legal topics; energy, transit and transportion economics
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here's another illustration — BL is narrow. Only about 3' clear space (BL symbol is 40", as you can see it overhangs well into the gutter) pic.twitter.com/BXwrSYm2Zj
— Az Bikelaw (@azbikelaw) October 24, 2022
Continue reading “Avenida del Yaqui project completed Oct 2022”
ADOT released Crash Facts 2021 in late September 2022 (a bit later than usual? and oddly, the database was missing a lot as recently as end of June; what is causing these huge delays? are police sitting on reports?
2021 was a very bloody year on Arizona’s roads and highways. 2020 had unusual traffic patterns due to pandemic [1], but comparing 2019 to 2021 deaths were up sharply for all person types (driver, passenger, bicyclists, pedestrian), about 20% overall. Continue reading “Arizona Crash Facts 2021”
Massive crash mid-morning Tuesday Aug 16, 2022 about 9:00 a.m. Warner Road between Juniper and Lakeshore (a.k.a. Dorsey Ln) in southern Tempe.
Police had eastbound traffic diverted most of the day, indicating serious injury or fatality.
It would appear high speeds are involved (the red vehicle pictured came to rest 200′ east of the intersection where the collision occurred) but no information seems to have been released by Tempe pd, no news, etc.
If you have any information, please leave a comment below. This is a little over a mile away from the spot on Rural Road where a driver lost control and killed a woman sitting at a bus stop earlier this year.
Below is what police told me a few days later; it’s odd it wasn’t (apparently?) sent to the news media, I also note that the name of driver who was arrested was not revealed (arrestees are usually named)… will need to get a police report, but that won’t be available for awhile.
Circumstances indicate police would looking at felony criminal charge.
The details, such as they are, don’t indicate which driver was arrested. However, besides impairment, the condition of the red vehicle, plus where it came to rest ( a couple hundred feet) indicates excessive speed.
———- Forwarded message ———
Date: Fri, Aug 19, 2022 at 2:47 PM
Subject: RE: Warner Rd Crash Fwd: Recent roadway fatalities and severe crashes
On Tuesday at approximately 9:50 a.m. Tempe PD worked a two-vehicle collision near E Warner Rd and S Dorsey Ln. One of the subjects was transported to the hospital with a serious physical injury that was not life-threatening. The collision caused the eastbound lanes on Warner Rd at Lakeshore Dr. to be closed for a bit. During the investigation on the scene, the driver of the other vehicle was placed under arrest; impairment was a factor.
Best,
Tempe Police Media Relations Unit
480-350-8311
480-341-0441 (cell)
policepio@tempe.gov
See comment below for another violent turning-error crash along Warner at Hardy in Feb 2023 that sent a vehicle out of control through the BL and up on the sidewalk; anyone walking or riding there would have been seriously injured or worse. See March 2023 Tucson fatality where a motorist left-turn error caused a 2-vehicle crash that resulted in the death of a cyclist when one of vehicles careeened onto the sidewalk.
News of Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown being arrested for criminal speeding driving in Phoenix last week makes one wonder if such excessive speeds are limited to professional athletes, or if it’s going on all the time and we only hear about when some sort of ‘celebrity’ is involved. See e.g. Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Yasmany Tomas (105 in a 65); or state Rep Paul Mosley (R-Lake Havasu City. 97 in a 55, repeat offender. Brags on video of going ‘almost’ 120). Continue reading “Cardinals WR ‘Hollywood’ Brown arrested for driving 126 mph on the 101, troopers say”
You are not safe; you are not safe driving in a car; you are not safe riding in a car; you are not safe in the daytime; you are not safe walking on the sidewalk; you are not safe riding in a bike lane; you are not safe riding a bike on the sidewalk; you are not safe riding in a “protected” bike lane. You are not safe. Continue reading “Passenger dead, driver arrested in Gilbert Rd single-vehicle crash”
3/30/2022 3:31pm. [this was several months ago]
both the tandem and vehicle were southbound S 2nd St at intersection of Ajo Way. This is a signalized intersection, it is an entrance/exit to Veteran’s Hospital complex.
The bicyclists were struck when the driver turned right from 2nd Ave, as they were crossing southbound in the marked crosswalk, which is in effect a trail crossing of the Julian Wash Greenway; the cyclists presumably had been heading east on the trail, where it crosses from the North to the South side at the intersection of Ajo Way. Continue reading “Tandem crash at Julian Wash Greenway crossing”
7/26/2022 ~ 830am. Fatal collision between an e-bicyclist and heavy truck, along E 22nd St near Pantano, Tucson. According to the police/news report the cyclist was headed westbound in the eastbound bike lane when he collided with a semi-truck emerging from a private drive. Continue reading “Teenage e-bicyclist killed in Tucson crash”
[UPDATE: yes, this is wrong wrong wrong. 2022 was in fact a terrible, bad, worse year; see Arizona Crash Facts 2022 ]
This is a warning about preliminary data and drawing stats from it… there was a news article “Arizona traffic fatalities are down in 2022, data shows” that was suggesting that 2022 might be on-track for significantly fewer traffic fatalities:
After a deadlier than usual year for traffic deaths in 2021, fatalities in 2022 showed a sharp decrease, according to preliminary data from the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.
According to the preliminary data from the office, traffic fatalities between January and June fell from 626 deaths in 2021 to 350 deaths in 2022 — a 44% decrease.
Sadly, this is unlikely to be true. Continue reading “2022 Preliminary Arizona Traffic Crash Stats”
At azbikelaw, we don’t discuss abortion; but we do talk about how some police disregard the law; all while acting heavy-handed. There’s also a huge creepyness factor here in that these people that were arrested besides not doing anything illegal, and were literally not bothering anyone, they were leaving the area and were ‘caught’ on video surveillance. Continue reading “Crosswalks, Jaywalking and Abortion?”
The case grinds on; police say the driver involved in the “autonomous” uber-pedestrian death in 2018 was watching TV instead of watching the road. Prosecutors (finally) brought negligent homicide charges in 2020. The current news item of interest is the driver has recently rejected an offer which would entail the driver pleading guilty to the charge in exchange for it being treated as a “non-dangerous” felony. That would, almost certainly, result in a sentence of only probation and no incarceration. Continue reading “Driver in fatal Uber crash rejects plea deal”
There is a search tool available, consider it in ‘beta’, for any Arizona reported crash involving a motor vehicle for any years between 2009 and 2022. And most, but not final 2023 is loaded (note it takes as much as many months to get into the database):
You can search by specific date, name of road, city, county, year, injury type, latitude/longitude. In addition to Arizona, the complete United States FARS (fatality only) is searchable but only by date. Continue reading “Arizona Crash Data”
5/21/2022 6AM. Bicyclist 60 y.o. George Cooper is dead, and another hit-and-run suspect Fernando Ramos, was arrested by MSCO, “… a crash recreation showed he was going around 60 mph in a 45 mph zone. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office says Ramos previously served time for aggravated assault with a vehicle and has also been arrested in the past for DUI”.
This comes less than a month after police arrested another driver, Richard Romo, also with a horrendous past driving record in connection with the hit-and-run killing of a 13 y.o. child in Goodyear neighborhood. What are authorities doing to keep the public safe from criminal drivers? Continue reading “Hit-and-run driver was speeding before killing bicyclist in Buckeye, court docs say”
Beginning in 2016, working from west to east, the entire length of Warner Road in City of Tempe has been resurfaced. The last segment, was just completed in May 2022.SMOOTH! Continue reading “Warner Road in the 21st Century”
Update: suspect arrested; 44 y.o. Richard Romo. Suspect had a long list of dangerous driving problems, as well as other legal difficulties; previous DUI(s; multiple. aggravated DUI) suspended license (why wasn’t probation revoked last year when he was caught driving?); reckless driving. Much more as situation develops. The suspect, the victim, and the victim’s school are all within 1/2 mile or so of each other. This is in a neighborhood. Disgusting. Continue reading “Driver sentenced; Goodyear police seek hit-and-run killer”
UPDATE; sentencing happened 10/14/2022; See details at original story