There was an extreme typo in today’s (my printed edition, anyways) WSJ: “…the U.S., which consumes 25 barrels (of crude oil) a day per person”. Presumably they meant to say 25 barrels a year per person. Continue reading “25 barrels a day”
One-man brown cloud
20,000 miles per year!? A heavy-duty pickup truck as personal transportation!? Diesel!? Loads of particulates, loads of air pollution. He is a one man brown cloud!
Eric Anderson, Title: Transportation director, Maricopa Association of Governments…His daily commute: South on Loop 101 to the Loop 202 and Interstate 10 into Phoenix. What he drives: A 1999 Ford F-250 diesel pickup so he can haul a horse trailer. It gets about 18 to 20 miles a gallon and has about 80,000 miles on it. Gas costs: Around $70 a week. He drives about 400 miles.
— FOR FREEWAY CHIEF, HIS WAY IS THE HIGHWAY, October 27, 2007, Glen Creno, The Arizona Republic
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BUI — Bicycling Under the Influence
PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND — email me or leave a comment as to your interest in the subject… I am not a lawyer, I am not soliciting business, just wondering why all the interest in this subject???
It goes without saying that mixing bicycling and drinking is extremely dangerous — there I said it after all — but what about the law? Bicyclists in Arizona are subject to DUI law, Continue reading “BUI — Bicycling Under the Influence”
Understanding Collision Summaries
Cities and the state (ADOT) issue various reports with regard to traffic safety, Continue reading “Understanding Collision Summaries”
Cross and Fisher 1977
Cross and Fisher 1977 is a landmark and oft referenced study. Continue reading “Cross and Fisher 1977”
Cleapor Fatality — Mesa police stonewall
The stonewall has broken, and a flood of details that implicate the cyclist as being at fault in the collision have been released in an AZ Republic article published October 13, 2007. Why it took until now, weeks after Mesa police declared there would be no citations issued is baffling. Mesa police spokesman Detective Chris Arvayo could have (and in my opinion, should have) either released these explanations sooner, or simply stated the investigation was ongoing. He either said, or left the impression that the case was closed without saying why. Continue reading “Cleapor Fatality — Mesa police stonewall”
Phoenix Bans Text Messaging
The City of Phoenix became one of the few (only?), places in the US that specifically bans text messaging. I would be much more happy to see a statewide ban — so to the extent that this is being used as leverage against a recalcitrant legislature I think it is a good thing. Continue reading “Phoenix Bans Text Messaging”
Super Extreme
The latest crop of new DUI laws goes into effect soon. The most notable changes are mandatory ignition interlocks for any, including first time, DUI, and a new category of above extreme DUI. Continue reading “Super Extreme”
Moped and Motorized Bicycles in Arizona
[Updated in 2019 to mention new laws regarding ebikes and escooters]
[for a 2009 update involving troubles in Tempe, see Is your motorized bicycle a play vehicle?]
Every now and then an unusual story involving bicycles, in this case motorized bicycles, and a point of law comes along. Surely, this is one of those cases. It revolves around a relatively new law enacted last year, that defines a whole new category: motorized bicycles. See HB2796, 2nd Regular legislature (2006). Continue reading “Moped and Motorized Bicycles in Arizona”
Pecos Death Trap?
UPDATE SEP 22,2010: AFN reports that that there was an injury wreck at 32nd and Pecos resulting from a “bad left”. The 17 y.o. EB driver turned left into the path of the WB driver, who was injured “seriously but not life threatening”. Bad lefts were the cause of both a 2003 fatality and a 2007 very serious injuries; both of those were at 40th and Pecos. Continue reading “Pecos Death Trap?”
Police seek white Viper
This is a rather sensational story. It will be interesting to see how police handle it. Can the white Viper be found? It is a relatively rare model, and of course even fewer of them are white with blue stipes, it doesn’t seem like it should be very difficult to find the car. Continue reading “Police seek white Viper”
Carbon’s New Battleground
WSJ article Carbon’s New Battleground, Sept 12, 2007 describing the choice as basically between cap-and-trade scheme vs. a carbon tax. The carbon tax is virtually universally favored by economists as being superior. So we will end up with a cap-and-trade system that is susceptible to political nonsense. Continue reading “Carbon’s New Battleground”
Insurance Considerations
I’m reading Bob Mionske’s excellent book Bicycling & the Law (available from velogear), here is what I distilled out of the section on car insurance and liability systems as it relates to Arizona.
Arizona operates on the traditional “tort liability” system. By comparison, the three other systems used in decreasing order of popularity are: no fault, hybrid, and choice. Continue reading “Insurance Considerations”
Critical Width
Here are two shots of Chandler Blvd in Phoenix westbound, the first one is approaching 25th Street, and the second is at the intersection with 24th Street, going westbound. Continue reading “Critical Width”
Driver arrested in quintuple(!) fatality — excessive speed and red-light-running alledged
A driver was arrested on suspicion of five counts of manslaughter (see homicide categories) and 3 aggravated assaults. What makes this unusual is the absence of suspicion of DUI. We shall see what the prosecutor does with it. This is a tantalizing comment: “data recorded when the truck’s airbags deployed substantiated detectives’ findings that Myers was driving at ‘an excessive speed,’ “. Data recorder? We (the public) often hear that these sorts of crashes are tragedies but not crimes — because the prosecutor claims that they can’t prove anything. Continue reading “Driver arrested in quintuple(!) fatality — excessive speed and red-light-running alledged”