Cycling, traffic safety, traffic justice, and legal topics; energy, transit and transportion economics
Tag “drifted” means a motorist leaves a general purpose travel lane and strikes a bicyclist from behind, typically either in a bike lane or shoulder
Also see tag, strike-from-behind which is wher a motorist strikes a bicyclist from behind in the same general-purpose travel lane (not a bike lane, or shoulder), excludes unlit/unreflectored bicyclists; tag strike-from-behind-unlit
11/12/2024 around 5:30p.
14-year old was retuning home from a MTB ride was struck and killed on Viewpoint drive near Manley, Prescott Valley.
A specific location wasn’t mentioned; from some of the new video, it’s in an area similar to this where the road is 1 lane in each direction with a very small paved shoulder, and then some gravel. Continue reading “Teenager killed in PV by pickup driver”
10/6/2024 Sunday morning 7:45 College Ave near 15th St, Tempe. This is a very low speed (posted 25mph) collector street, with unusually wide bike lanes (6 feet or more?) here. Leading directly to the ASU campus, about a quarter mile away.
The driver of an SUV ran over 5 bicyclists on College Ave, hospitalizing several of them, with serious but not life-threatening injuries. Note to AzFamily caption writers: the vehicle was under human control, a driver ran over 5 people. Continue reading “Driver runs into 5 Bicyclists on College Ave, Tempe”
Saturday March 19, 2022 9:45 a.m. Suspect arrested; 26 y.o. Ryan Machado; Manslaughter, driving under the influence, leaving scene of a fatal, etc.
Continue reading “Hit run driver kills two on Sunrise Drive”
7/8/2020 6:45PM San Tan Valley area, on Gary Road just south of Judd Road, at around 6:45 pm on July 8.
A driver nearly killed bicyclist Larry Fawcet when police say he drove off the road; as you can see from the extensive damage on the vehicle, the driver was WAY off the road, striking the bicyclist on the (unpaved part?) of the shoulder. When the investigation report was finally released months after (but still before tox results were released) being harangued by ABC15, it revealed that the driver “… Cooper Lamb failed nearly every field sobriety test administered. The Drug Recognition Expert wrote that Cooper ‘displayed poor balance and fine motor skills, his speech was slow and slightly slurred, and he had major problems with simple comprehension on instructions’.”
[ 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”
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”
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.
Continue reading “Portland man, well-known in music community, killed in crash near Safford, Arizona”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”
5/25/2021 6:30AM. McDowell Mountain Road near milepost 2 (here is a random spot on that road). Bicyclist killed after being struck by a driver who fled the scene. Suspect vehicle is this heavily damaged Toyota pickup truck; and the driver was arrested. Continue reading “Cyclist killed on McDowell Mnt Rd; driver flees; suspect arrested”
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”
[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”
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”
There was a bunch of information published about a settlement between a bicyclist injured in 2014 and the city of Scottsdale; After much back-and-forth the city eventually settled the case for $120,000; significantly less than the $1M ask, but significantly more than the city’s earlier offer of $60,000.
The city staff reports mention the cyclist had (already) settled with the driver, presumably the driver’s insurance, and as this was a strike-from-behind they probably just accepted liability. The theory of liability with the city is they should have, but did not, provide a bicycle lane or shoulder.
It provides an look at the machinations of personal injury law that those of us on the outside don’t usually see. Continue reading “Scottsdale settles bicyclist injury lawsuit”
11/15/2019 3:09AM A hit and run motorist drifted (or otherwise was driving) in the Bike Lane, northbound S Park Ave near E 27th St, Tucson and killed 45 y.o. bicyclist Michael Noriega.
HIT AND RUN BE ON THE LOOKOUT: suspect vehicle: dark-colored pickup truck similar in style to a Ford Ranger. See something say something; a sharp eyed neighbor enabled police to make arrest in ped-fatal hit/run in Chandler a few weeks ago.
Continue reading “Tucson cyclist killed by hit&run driver on Park Ave”
7/9/2019 ~5PM McDowell Road near Higley; police say an eastbound driver drifted into the very wide bike lane and killed bicyclist Scott Purdie who was also eastbound. The driver was arrested due exhibiting signs of impairment.
Continue reading “PD: Impaired driver hit, killed man riding bicycle along Mesa street”