distracted driving – Arizona Bike Law

Truck driver distracted by TikTok in Chandler crash that killed 5 is sentenced to over 22 years in prison

Jan., 12, 2023; I-10 in Chandler, AZ, near Wild Horse Pass Blvd (just a couple of miles from my home. There have been other fatal collisions here)

It’s highly unusual (practically unheard of!) for a not-impaired driver to be punished with prison for causing a death. This one other case, from 2015, comes to mind. Every year in Arizona about 1,000 people die at the hands of a negligent driver. Most of them are not impaired, so here are two out of thousands of cases where the driver went to prison.

Continue reading “Truck driver distracted by TikTok in Chandler crash that killed 5 is sentenced to over 22 years in prison”

Family of dead pedestrian suing driver and Grubhub

Police say that on Feb 2, 2022, a driver failed to stop at a red light, and ran over Rosa Mroz, a Maricopa County Superior Court Judge, killing her. She was in a marked crosswalk, crossing on the green/walk near 56th St and Camelback.

Continue reading “Family of dead pedestrian suing driver and Grubhub”

Driver Sentenced to prison in 2019 killing of a motorcyclist on SR101

August 24, 2019 — a driver rear ended a motorcyclists on SR101, killing him.

This is certainly one for the record books: sending a not-impaired driver to prison. This is exceedingly rare (but see below, there’s more to this story). There is one other case where a driver was convicted in the 2013 killing of DPS officer Tim Huffman; that driver was said to be distracted by and “watching” his phone…. Continue reading “Driver Sentenced to prison in 2019 killing of a motorcyclist on SR101”

Driver in fatal Uber crash rejects plea deal

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”

Arizona’s handheld cell phone ban; citations

The 7/7/2021 print edition (p.12-13) of AFN ran a story detailing the number of citations issued Phoenix and metro area police against motorists violating Arizona’s “new” handheld cellphone ban. The law has been on the books since 2019, but the penalty (a fine) only began on Jan 1, 2021; prior to that it was simply, at most, a warning. So at about 6 months in here’s what they found: Continue reading “Arizona’s handheld cell phone ban; citations”

Driver veers into Scottsdale Bike Lane; kills woman and injures man

2/18/2021 One bicyclist was killed and another injured and taken to hospital when a driver “veered” into a BL along Legacy Blvd, near scottsdale Road, Scottsdale (here’s a sample google street view of the area; location not exact). Continue reading “Driver veers into Scottsdale Bike Lane; kills woman and injures man”

Driver indicted in texting-killing incident

Jerry Sanstead Jr, the driver in this Jan ’19 incident was finally indicted on manslaughter in Dec 2020. That it takes this long to even bring charges speaks volumes about the sorry state of holding drivers responsible for their actions behind the wheel:

DPS: Driver who killed officer was texting and driving

Driver critically injures Mesa Police officer in freeway crash

8/11/2020 around 11am. Horrendous crash on US60 near Greenfield. Is it really too much to ask drivers to look where they are driving? The driver of an enormous* SUV plowed into the rear end of a stopped police cruiser, seriously injuring the officer.

Mesa officer, woman injured in multivehicle crash on east U.S. 60 near Greenfield Road

No word on why the driver wasn’t in control of her vehicle. How will this be handled? for comparison, see: Continue reading “Driver critically injures Mesa Police officer in freeway crash”

Drifting driver kills bicyclist in Scottsdale

[Updated March 23, 2022 — nearly two years have gone by and no prosecution has taken place at least according to records search. I have no idea why. If MCSO is not going to ever bring the felony charge, the City of Scottsdale Prosecutor’s office can and should charge the misdemeanor version — 28-672; which has a TWO year statute of limitations… TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE]

5/23/2020 Morning, eastbound Happy Valley Rd near 91st St. An SUV driver “drifted over the fog line” and killed a bicyclist, 48 y.o. Miodrag Milovanovic.

Continue reading “Drifting driver kills bicyclist in Scottsdale”

Killed in bike lane by distracted driver

Stock photo of distracted driver in Chandler who caused death (photo: Sky12)

5/9/2020 victim Ed Rockland

According to a public post on Ed Rockland’s facebook , Ed’s wife Carole made this announcement “This morning Ed and I were riding our bikes safely in a bike lane when he was struck from behind by a driver checking his cellphone”.

I’m guessing from the post that there were no other serious injuries. Continue reading “Killed in bike lane by distracted driver”

Tempe City Council candidate hurt after car rolled under school bus in crash

Green means go, right? Even when there’s something really big, with really bright flashing lights. Yet somehow a driver missed all those cues — “The Jeep’s driver told the responding police officer that he didn’t realize the bus was going to stop at the railroad tracks and kept driving because there was a green light”. Continue reading “Tempe City Council candidate hurt after car rolled under school bus in crash”

Arizona to finally restrict cellphone-use while driving.

The political intrigue is fascinating; was Mesnard’s distraction bill just an attempt to derail a cellphone restriction? Did citizens of Arizona really have to wait 12 years for this — even as traffic safety got worse-and-worse — only because Farley was a Democrat and the legislature is controlled by Republicans? Continue reading “Arizona to finally restrict cellphone-use while driving.”

DPS: Driver who killed officer was texting and driving

Law enforcement officers face significant risk of injury and death from traffic incidents; it’s a serious occupational hazard; The leading cause of death for police are … traffic collisions — not shootings or other attacks, and very few of the collisions involve high-speed chases. Just run-of-the-mill crashes where inattentive or otherwise impaired drivers crash into them. Continue reading “DPS: Driver who killed officer was texting and driving”

Report: Uber driver streaming Hulu prior to deadly self-driving crash in Tempe

[below is for historical purposes; please visit the main consolidated page at uber-involved-pedestrian-fatality. The driver was finally charged in Sept 2020]

Tempe Police’s report on the March 2018 Uber-involved pedestrian fatality has been released, 318 pages(!) it was reported on 6/22/2018 from various news organizations. It would be good if all serious and fatal traffic crashes were investigated so thoroughly. Continue reading “Report: Uber driver streaming Hulu prior to deadly self-driving crash in Tempe”

Uber involved pedestrian fatality

Preface: This crash has nothing to do with bicycling other than the pedestrian was pushing a bicycle at the time. Because of the notoriety, the incident has its own wiki article.

3/18/2018 night-time (10pm?) mid-block pedestrian fatality might not even be reported in the news; but this being the first reported AV (Autonomous Vehicle) traffic fatality (in the world?!), it’s huge news. Continue reading “Uber involved pedestrian fatality”