5/31/2021 Monday night. Phoenix police officer killed by reported red-light runner Police say the driver of a sedan ran a red light, apparently at extremely high speed, causing an apocalyptic crash with a Phoenix police full-sized SUV at the intersection Cave Creek Road & Greenway Parkway. Both drivers are dead; the sedan driver was identified as “31-year-old Christopher Castro, died at the scene. Police say speed and impairment by Castro are believed to be contributing factors to the crash… The force of the crash caused the officer’s vehicle to crash through a brick wall and into a gas station parking lot.”
But then, this kind of stuff just happens all the time. Police (and everybody!) are at dire risk of being killed or injured by dangerous drivers on “fast” roads, but nobody seems to want to do anything about it.
Police work is dangerous
Although it seems obvious that police work is dangerous because there are bad guys with guns trying to kill them; roughly the same number of policeman killed in the line of duty die as the result of a traffic collision than by being shot (or stabbed). The Officer Down Memorial Page lists and categorizes all law enforcement deaths in the line of duty across the US. The exact numbers, of course, float around; but they tend to be about the same number of LODD (line 0f duty deaths), evenly split between traffic and gunfire.
Wrong way driver seriously injures Phx Police officer
Jan 1, 2021: Driver of wrong-way vehicle that hit Phoenix police SUV might have been impaired. Might have been? We’ll see. “The wrong-way driver, later identified by police as 22-year-old Dylan Johnson…” was arrested. The picture shows a huge wreck between a gigantic pickup truck and a Phoenix police full-sized SUV; both heavily damaged. The police officer, Chase McCance, was seriously injured.
Driver said he had 4 drinks before running into off-duty Gilbert officer on Loop 101
June 27, 2021(?), 12:30am Records: Driver said he had 4 drinks before running into off-duty Gilbert officer on Loop 101 Oh, yeah, it was hit and run too!
The pickup driver, Colton Sattler “said he struck an unknown object while changing lanes”. He blew just below the per se limit; presumably a blood test is being processed. Hit and run is a serious felony in and of itself. The off duty officer was driving his personal Harley Davidson motorcycle (just a bump in the road, I guess). Drivers who cause crashes, especially if drunk, do well to run; authorities don’t really punish them, despite it being a felony, and a driver who gets caught after causing a crash w/injury if found to be impaired will likely go to prison.
Nogales police officer dies after being struck by vehicle on I-19
May 20, 2021 8:14pm “Nogales police Officer Jeremy Brinton died on Friday from injuries he sustained after being struck by a vehicle on Interstate 19 in Nogales… On Thursday night at about 8:14 p.m., Brinton, 40, was assisting a lane closure on I-19 on an off-duty assignment when a vehicle struck him, according to the Nogales police.”
Distracted much?
The adoption of self-driving cars would eliminate these issues.