Cycling, traffic safety, traffic justice, and legal topics; energy, transit and transportion economics
[UPDATE; criminal case driver sentenced to 6.5 years prison, see below]
[There have been a couple recent items of interest documented at ourhtn.com, on Nov 29 there was a MV crash at intersection, and on Dec 1 a mobile speed trailer was set up] Continue reading “Cyclist dead in Ahwatukee car wreck”
Victim 23/M Brandon Rutledge; 11/6/2014, no time specified, video indicates it was daylight. 59th Avenue & Roosevelt, Phoenix; A semi tractor (video shows no trailer) was turning right from 59th Ave (direction was not specified) on to Roosevelt. The bicyclist had been riding on the sidewalk on 59th and continued through crosswalk, though the direction is not specified. “(phoenix police) did say the bicyclist appears to have broken some traffic laws” may be incorrect, Phoenix PD tends to fault bicyclists riding in crosswalks despite it not being illegal. I have attempted repeatedly to point this out to Phoenix PD; e.g. when an 82-year-old driver left-crossed and killed an 11-year-old girl , they determined the driver had done nothing wrong.
Continue reading “Crosswalk cyclist killed in crash w/ turning semi driver”
[because of the obvious mis-codings (UNKNOWNS that are obviously known, in both asdm and FARS I’m tagging this missing hit and run, not because it was a hit and run, just to make it easier to find mis-coding ]
[ Update — as things turn out, this does appear in both asdm and FARS data for 2014, but i’m not sure why; since it was private roads? For comparison purposes, check out this one from Mesa 2013 that did not appear in the data]
11/7/2014 ~ morning time “(PCSO) said the man was riding eastbound on Hawks Wing Drive, when he was struck by a car heading southbound on Mooncrest Drive” Hawks Wing Dr, which has a stop sign, is on the stem of a T intersection with Mooncrest. [google maps]
The 79 y.o. male victim’s name is Richard Hayward Leon.
These are both residential streets; and the location is within a gated-community, which makes this highly unusual.
That it is on private streets probably means this is a “non-traffic” traffic fatality — that it won’t count towards traffic statistics, and will not be entered into ADOT traffic collision database, nor will it be reported to FARS when the time comes. This somehow seems wrong, so I want to make note of it and keep an eye out. Continue reading “79 y.o. Bicyclist killed in gated-community car crash North of Tucson”
Bicyclist Jesse A. Simon, 64 was killed Thursday 10/30/2014 ~ 1213pm on US 191 northbound ~ 3.5 miles north of US Highway 70; when he was clipped by the (right, i assume) mirror of a passing pickup (which may have been towing an RV trailer?) Continue reading “Bicyclist killed in Graham Co highway collision”
11/1/2014 ~ 10:15pm, victim: Francisco Galvez. The location was on 1st Ave “near” Navajo Rd. 1St Ave is a multi-laned arterial-looking road; Navajo is a minor street that is offset at 1st Ave — in other words it makes two intersections with 1st. I’m not sure exatly what “near” means.
The report notes the bicyclist had a functioning headlight, and had a taillight but didn’t know if it was working (that should have no bearing on the angle collision described).
here’s the bicycletucson.com report.
Continue reading “Fatal bicyclist collision with Tucson PD unmarked vehicle”
[Update 4/8/2016: the update is there is absolutely no update on the suspect; it’s been over a year and half. Besides the hit and run, FARS has her at .12 BAC]
9/25/2014 12:23am. Hit run. Driver arrested, suspect intoxication. Suspect Nichole Jacinto. Victim 58 y.o. James Frankiewicz. Another news reports says was struck from behind in bike lane. The area appears to have a striped shoulder; it even goes on to be to the right of a RTO lane at Grant.
Location: southbound on Oracle Rd near Jacinto St. (yes, that is a coincidence; the suspect’s name is also Jacinto).
The most-detailed reporting is at bicycletucson.com
Continue reading “Tucson hit-and-run driver kills cyclist; woman arrested”
Wed, 8/27/2014 ~ 2030. Cyclist 69-year-old Andrew Yearby. In the area of 43rd Avenue and Crittenden Lane, Phoenix. This was initially investigated as hit and run, however police now believe the man fell in the roadway for unrelated/unknown reasons; and was subsequently run over by the driver of a Toyota Camry. Continue reading “Cyclist falls in roadway; then fatally struck by passing motorist”
July 12, 2014 / victim crossing in marked crosswalk w/traffic signal. The 5 y.o. female victim was riding a tricycle; this I would guess should be coded as a pedestrian (though i cross-tagged this article as both a ped and cyclist fatality). This is listed on 2014 cyclist traffic fatalities. [update: is coded as a pedalcyclist in both ASDM and FARS] Continue reading “Girl hit and killed when driver runs red light”
According to the azfamily/3 video report (sigh, that link is dead; the newpaper story is below) witnesses saw a company pickup vehicle being driven erratically along Apache Trail near 80th St in Mesa, swerving across 3 lanes of traffic, killing a bicyclist riding at the side of the road. Witnesses provided a license plate number for the fleeing vehicle, and police have arrested Derek Tinsley. Continue reading “MCSO: Man arrested in fatal East Valley hit-and-run”
victim: Richard Vejar, 8 y.o. male. Wed July 9, 2014 830p, i.e. nighttime (no mention of lights). 26th Ave and Roeser Rd, Phoenix. Continue reading “Boy, 8, on bike dies after being hit by vehicle in Phoenix”
Wed June 18,2014 (i think, the news story ran Thursday) ~ 6a. Victim: Kris Lee Chambers, 38. Suspect: Gerardo Luna Cazares, 25. Speedway just west of N Main, Tucson. Both westbound (rear-end); there is a bike lane in this area; in other words, it wasn’t as though it was a misjudgment of passing room. Continue reading “Tucson police: Driver who killed bicyclist was high”
preface: ALWAYS ride with the flow of traffic; even on the sidewalk…
A cyclist was killed Thursday (June 12, 2014) morning; at the intersection of Elliot Rd and Harl Dr. I learned his name only by chance it was in a news story about bicycling and Rural Road: Jesus Pena-Quinonez, age 55. Continue reading “Cyclist killed at south Tempe intersection”
Incident occurred 2/26/2013. This is a so-called “non-traffic” fatality — presumably due to it being on private streets, this appears to be a trailer park. As such, this death doesn’t “count” towards the official crash stats, listed at arizona-crash-facts-2013, and will also presumable be suppressed from counting in FARS. What is the real, total traffic death toll? See the tag non-traffic for more of these; I think initial reaction is there are vanishingly few, but perhaps it’s not as rare and uncommon as all that? Continue reading “Cyclist, 78, killed in late-night (2013) Mesa crash”
This is an “INVISIBLE” cyclist — meaning I had missed the news story at the time and only found it later by searching on location; the incident occurred 2/13/2013. Continue reading “Bicyclist hit by dump truck in Phoenix, killed”
This was discovered only after adot data was released; searching google by location…
Incident 7/25/2013; victim: Frank Elliot, 71 Driver: Freddie Sprinkles, 83. Adamsville Road, Florence. Rear-end collision. The driver said “he did not see” the bicyclist. This is a narrow rural country two lane road. Continue reading “Florence cyclist killed after being struck by elderly driver”