Arizona Bike Law

HIT RUN ALERT: red 2-door, 12th St near AZ Canal, Phx

UPDATE: a newer version of the KTAR story says police believe the suspect vehicle is an older Porsche, red 2-door.

Friday 1/14/2021 ~ 1:30AM. A man riding an electric bicycle 12th St near the Arizona Canal, Phoenix and was struck after falling in the street. The criminal driver fled eastbound on Wagon Wheel dr, police say the suspect vehicle is a red 2-door (sedan, i guess?)

Drivers who flee are usually impaired; driver Alexandra Mendez was arrested last week in connection with the killing of a Chris Owan near Luke AFB before Christmas.

Also note that electric bikes riders are classified as “drivers” (and not bicyclists/pedalcyclists) for statistical purposes.

Continue reading “HIT RUN ALERT: red 2-door, 12th St near AZ Canal, Phx”

Woman sought in connection to a homicide investigation

In case you are keeping score; this will (likely) not be a traffic statistic.

Fatalities that are, or believed to be, caused by intentional acts are not counted as traffic casualties… though the usual criminal ancillary charges would still apply (e.g. hit and run). This being on a reservation and involvement of tribal members changes the venue, i.e. the Pima County Sheriff and prosecutor would not be handling and the jurisdiction becomes federal. (see info linked here)

12/26/2021 1:20AM Tucson. Victim’s name wasn’t release; the suspect is near 7781 S. Camino Benem

Continue reading “Woman sought in connection to a homicide investigation”

SENTENCED; driver kills man on Northern Ave, Glendale

Alexandra Mendez arrested. Suspected driver in fatal Hit And Run and manslaughter. photo: MSCO

[ SUSPECT ARRESTED: Alexandra Mendez in connection with this fatal hit and run. By the way, “people” often say hit-and-run drivers not immediately captured in effect can’t be prosecuted — tell that to Christophen Wakefield Chevalier who went to prison for 5 years after driving up on a Phoenix sidewalk in 2013 killing someone and fleeing. He did his best to hide the car, but it just wasn’t good enough]

Continue reading “SENTENCED; driver kills man on Northern Ave, Glendale”

Bicyclist killed in crash along Camelback near 42nd St

Very light on details, the entire blurb below is from 12news and there seems to have been no other coverage, other than to have been picked up/repeated on a personal-injury lawyer’s blog.

12/9/2021 8:20am near Camelback and 42nd Ave. No mechanism was given. There is no 42nd avenue there, but what would align with 4200 west block of Camelback is an off-ramp for Grand Avenue ( a.k.a. US60, which is apparently limited access in that area) to Camelback Road.

Continue reading “Bicyclist killed in crash along Camelback near 42nd St”

Man drives up on sidewalk, killed pedestrian in his Tempe neighborhood

Joining the “seriously, how often does stuff like this happen?” file.

Answer is with alarming regularity.

No one is safe from traffic violence.

12/17/2021 7:30AM Pedestrian was walking along Cornell near Forest; this is the neighborhood adjoining Kiwanis park in Tempe. This is a residential area, traffic engineers would call Cornell Drive “collector” street.

The driver, of course, fled the scene. He was later arrested for susp of hit-and-run, and manslaughter and a few other things. Continue reading “Man drives up on sidewalk, killed pedestrian in his Tempe neighborhood”

Bicyclist killed crossing McDowell Rd, Phx by hit-and-run driver

12/16/2021 ~ 10pm

“in the area of 34th Street and McDowell Road, according to a Phoenix Police Department news release… Jeffrey Ray, 53, was riding a bicycle and crossing McDowell Road mid-block”
“A sedan driven by 18-year-old Javon Holston was traveling east on McDowell Road when the vehicle struck Ray and continued driving, according to police officials. Officers found Holston and took him into custody.” — azcentral Continue reading “Bicyclist killed crossing McDowell Rd, Phx by hit-and-run driver”

Cyclist seriously injured in Prescott by driver; succumbs

9/19/2021 11am Sunday. Bicyclist Roberto Cota was seriously injured; and ultimately succumbed to injuries sustained in a crash.

The crash was caused when a driver turning left from White Spar onto Haisley, Prescott failed to yield. A so-called “left cross” crash type.

Vehicle Causes Crash Involving Bicyclist on White Spar

Continue reading “Cyclist seriously injured in Prescott by driver; succumbs”

Maricopa County sheriff’s lieutenant fatally struck while conducting traffic in Scottsdale

driver of vehicle struck/killed officer doing traffic control in Scottsdale

11/10/2021 ~ 10am. What was the driver doing to cause such an obvious and fatal mistake? Authorities have not yet said or speculated. The driver’s name has not been released. Scottsdale PD is investigating. McDowell Road near 87th St.

As I’ve noted before, police work can be dangerous, and traffic is a leading cause of death for law enforcement officers.

This is a pedestrian fatality. Continue reading “Maricopa County sheriff’s lieutenant fatally struck while conducting traffic in Scottsdale”

Driver kills man at south Phoenix bus stop

A phrase you’ll often hear connected with these sorts of incidents is the victim(s) were in the “wrong place at the wrong time”. Well it seems that the wrong place is anyplace; and the wrong time is anytime morning noon or night.

About a week ago, Pima County “Administrator Chuck Huckelberry experienced life-threatening injuries after a driver of a car made an unsafe lane change and collided with another vehicle that caused it to careen into Huckelberry as he rode his bike…” tucson.com Incidentally, the driver was apparently charged with a 28-672, a criminal misdemeanor; the news story refers only to a “citation” which while true isn’t the usual nomenclature. Continue reading “Driver kills man at south Phoenix bus stop”

Wrong way driver leaves two dead on Price Road in Tempe

Stock photo of aftermath of fatal wrong-way wreck

11/1/2021 ~ 11:30pm. Two of the four people in a car being driven the wrong way by a 17 y.o. male died when that vehicle collided with another. The driver of that other vehicle sustained serious injuries. The driver has not been charged, investigation is ongoing; and police haven’t hinted at why the driver made this fatal error. Most wrong-way drivers are impaired.

Price road here is a “frontage” road which parallels the Price Freeway / Loop 202. It’s configured as a separated one-way running along both sides of the freeway (i.e. on the west side, it’s only southbound; and on the east it’s only northbound). They didn’t say specifically where along Price the incident occurred but here is a sample intersection (e.g. at Southern); another possibility for going the wrong way would be for a driver to turn left from a side-street (only rights are permitted. I’m a little surprised there aren’t diverters on the side-street to make it more difficult to turn left).

McClintock High School senior identified as victim in Tempe wrong-way crash

Aldous Harris, a 17-year-old McClintock High School senior, was one of two victims who died during a wrong-way collision on Monday on Price Road in Tempe, police officials said Wednesday… According to police, a single driver who was headed south on Price Road was struck by a wrong-way driver headed north in the southbound lanes…A 23-year-old woman was driving the right way when she was struck by a northbound vehicle, according to Tempe Police Department spokesperson Natalie Barela. She remains in the hospital with serious injuries, according to police.

The wrong-way driver was a 17-year-old boy whom The Arizona Republic is not yet naming because he is a minor and has not been charged with a crime as of Wednesday afternoon. He sustained injuries that were not life-threatening and his case is being submitted for review by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, Barela said…

Hit-run driver eludes capture for a year — sentenced

This is a story from Boulder, CO

The story doesn’t say how the driver was caught — but it’s heartening to see law enforcement keep after these dangerous criminals — hit and run is a felony in Arizona as I’m sure it is also in Colorado. Again, no legal details at this level but the end result was the driver was sentenced to 2.5 years. And, oh yeah, the driver was uninsured (of course).

There are numerous examples of outstanding police-work hit and run cases in Arizona that I am aware of… I’m sure there are more but e.g. the alleged killer of GCU student and jogger Taylor White took 3 years.

According to the sparse details of the crash itself, on a Saturday afternoon in 2019, a van driver, Stephen Grattan, drifted from the lane onto a wide shoulder for unknown reasons (drunk? high? sleeping?), and struck the bicyclist from behind.

Andrew Bernstein on Hit-and-Run That Nearly Killed Him, Search for Justice and Life Now

The victim’s statement at sentencing I found quite well-stated: Continue reading “Hit-run driver eludes capture for a year — sentenced”

Phx Police recommend officers be trained in bicycle law

More vindication to this story that began in January 2020 cyclists-stay-to-the-LEFT? where, if you will recall, the bicyclist was incorrectly ticketed with an AFRAP (As Far Right As Practicable, 28-815) violation, and found responsible at trial, and dismissed on appeal in February 2021. The facts of the case were plain and undisputed: the bicyclist’s alleged violation was for not being AFRAP while stopped at a red light. Continue reading “Phx Police recommend officers be trained in bicycle law”

Arizona Crash Facts 2020

ADOT has released Crash Facts 2020 mid-year 2021, as usual. As was the case since 2018; I no longer need to order CDs but rather access the raw data online, in this case August 2021 (in very rare cases, the data will be updated after that).

Crashes were down dramatically due to pandemic’s affect on traffic

The Bicyclist Fatality Grid has been reconciled and contains some specifics on every bicyclist fatality in Arizona from 2009-2020, and ongoing as discovered. Continue reading “Arizona Crash Facts 2020”

Arizona Bicyclist Street Smarts

Why this post is here: sometime in 2021, ADOT reorganized what used to be known as the Bicycle and Pedestrian Program’s website, azbikeped.org ; that link still works, but it just redirects to what is now called the ADOT Active Transportation program’s website: activetransportation.az.gov

The old site contained a full online copy of Arizona Bicycling Street Smarts, a 42 page booklet that contained excellent advice for how to ride a bicycle safely in traffic, among other topics. The bad news is the new site no longer contains that content; the good news is Arizona Bicycling Street Smarts is available in its entirety from archive.org.

Continue reading “Arizona Bicyclist Street Smarts”

Portland man, well-known in music community, killed in crash near Safford, Arizona

10/14/2021 ~ 4:20AM according to the story from the gilaherald Ian Mouser of Portland died as a result of a crash that occurred on US-70 near Haekel Rd, just east of Safford, in Graham County; so somewhere near here.

The nature of the roadway there is a two lane highway (one lane in each direction) with what appear to be relatively wide paved shoulders, and significant rumble strips.