Cycling, traffic safety, traffic justice, and legal topics; energy, transit and transportion economics
3/21/2016 ~ 8pm Bicyclist struck going northbound in the intersection of Queen Creek Road and Ranch House Parkway, Gilbert, AZ
The bicyclist was identified as 28 year-old Erik Alsaker.
The driver fled the scene. Police are looking for a dark colored, small SUV or sedan w/ heavy front-end passenger side damage.
A Tucson bicyclist was struck from behind and seriously injured 2/14/2016 ~3PM; the driver fled the scene. Both were N/B on S Craycroft Rd near E 25th Street, Tucson. The cyclist was said to have been riding in a bike lane. He was also said to have not been wearing a helmet (no word on whether or not a helmet might have prevented the broken ribs, but I digress).
The suspect was located with the help of some surveillance photos; indicating that Tuscon PD invested significant resources into the investigation. Continue reading “Tucson Bicyclist seriously injured; Driver Flees”
T
he owner of the red Alfa Romeo convertible involved in the killing of a pedestrian on a Phoenix sidewalk in 2013 was found guilty of negligent homicide and leaving the scene of a fatality caused by the defendant. I have no idea what the defense was; but at the conclusion of the twelve-day trial, the jury also found an aggravating factor of dangerousness. Details at another-ped-gets-whacked-on-phoenix-sidewalk
Continue reading “Owner of Red Alfa found guilty of killing ped on sidewalk”
This was both DUI and hit-and-run; it also involved a minor passenger. Driver sentenced in a plea deal to 14 years prison / 7 years probation for 2nd degree murder + the hit-and-run (other charges? e.g. no license, minor involvement?). The case minute for sentence is here. View all case minutes for CR2014152207. Continue reading “Drunk driver gets 14 years for Chandler officer’s death”
[synopsis: this is not a “classic” right hook; the cyclist appears to have been riding on the sidewalk and entered into the crosswalk (or “just south of the crosswalk”) just before the collision with a right-turning semi]
11/24/2015 0540am. Phoenix police say bicyclist Krystle Ann Klain, 33, was riding eastbound on Glendale Avenue, approaching 43rd Ave where she collided with a right-turning semi-truck driver.
The news reports don’t mention if the bicyclist was riding in the roadway, or on the sidewalk/crosswalk. There doesn’t appear to be a Bike Lane there, which would lead me to speculate it was a sidewalk thing. (the crash database says the cyclist was in the crosswalk, the crash narrative is different: it states ROADWAY, but goes on to say “due to report management system limitations box 24 [bike/ped location] was not accessible to check unknown location for the bicyclist (Unit 1) as it is undetermined if she was in the crosswalk or immediately south of it”), and in to report box 24 has no entry. Continue reading “Bicyclist killed in Phx semi truck right-hook crash”
This showed up on review of the 2015 ASDM data, although I had missed it at the time…
11/19/2015 ~ 6:15pm. Bicyclist killed in the crosswalk by a hit-and-run driver. Bicyclist was northbound crosswalk at 43rd Ave and Bethany Home Road, Glendale, AZ. Continue reading “Bicyclist killed in Glendale crosswalk hit-and-run, suspect on the loose”
All according to Phoenix police, the driver:
Continue reading “Police: Driver in fatal Phoenix hit-run was impaired”
Weekend roundup of drivers behaving badly in the Phoenix metro area; it must have been a rough Saturday night, 4 dead in 3 incidents early AM hours of Sunday 11/8/2015: Police say a speeding & impaired driver rear ended and killed 2 motorists in Avondale. Phoenix police says a pedestrian is dead after apparently intentionally stepping in front of a moving car — the driver, of course, hit-and-ran, police caught him soon after and say he appeared impaired. In the third story a driver crossed over and struck another vehicle head on; killing her. Continue reading “MCSO: Impaired, speeding driver kills 2 in Avondale”
Oct 20, 2015 Pedestrian fatality. According to police, the driver was speeding (“at speeds over 100 mph”) and lost control, crossed the center line, jumped curb and drove up on sidewalk; hit-and-run of course. Yes, again, see another-ped-gets-whacked-on-phoenix-sidewalk. This obviously happens regularly… Seriously, how often does this happen? Police are seeking Rudy Loyoza Jr., the owner of the vehicle, in connection with the incident.
[UPDATES plea deal January 2017, then imprisoned due to probation violation Sept 2017]
Driver Wanda Snow House has been charged with hit-and-run in connection with the death of a pedestrian. According to police she “was driving in a bicycle lane on Dobson Road near West Canyon Way on Jan. 14 2015 when she hit a pedestrian, identified as Frances Johnston”. Continue reading “Driver charged w/hit-and-run in Chandler ped fatality”
Incident 9/5/2015
Man accused of hitting four U of A students faces 9 counts … Tucson Police believes Gerald Taylor, 45, ran through the crosswalk and hit four of the five students crossing. Investigators revealed that Taylor did not stop at the scene and continued driving. About two hours later, he turned himself in. Three children were in the car with him when the incident happened. One student is in the hospital with life threatening injuries. Two suffered serious injuries and one had minor injuries…
[ Update Sept 3: they seem to be implying this was not a vehicle involved, there was no hit-and-run, thus this was not a traffic crash, so I added the non-traffic tag, and am removing the hit-and-run tag. There is some sort of fairly deep ditch/canal(?) running in the median]
Sept 2, 2015. Police were notified of a dead body and nearby mangled bicycle in the median of Apache Trail near Ocotillo 8:30am. Though this is apparent hit-and-run traffic fatality, it’s not clear and the investigation will have to confirm.
Apache Trail near Ocotillo road has three lanes in each direction plus a BL. East and West are separated by a VERY wide median (I see ~ 65′ on google maps). Continue reading “Apparent hit and run bicyclist fatality in AJ”
names not yet released. 8/13/2015 ~ 1AM. Near 51st Ave near Southern Ave in Phoenix. Both driver and bicyclist were southbound.
Suspect vehicle is a white chrysler minivan with heavy passenger-side damage has been located and police have spoken with the registered owner. KPHO Continue reading “Phoenix bicyclist killed in nighttime hit and run”
The case of Trevor Clarke, an Ottawa Canada driver who was involved in a serious 2012 collision with a bicyclist while drunk, and then fled the scene raised quite a stir. According to news reports, the driver was convicted (by a judge, meaning this was for unstated reasons not a jury trial) in 2015 of “impaired driving causing bodily harm”, but was found not guilty of leaving the scene because the judge said. “I am left in a reasonable doubt about whether Mr. Clarke knew or was wilfully blind to having collided with a person, precisely because he was so drunk. He cannot, therefore, be convicted of this offence”. Continue reading “Knowingly”
Collision occurred near the east entrance of Walmart on Hunt Highway, San Tan Valley (San Tan Valley is in the far south-east Phoenix metro area) Friday evening May 22, 2015. The fatality victim was a passenger in a van that was rear-ended while stopped.
police say: the suspect(s) were impaired, hit-and-ran, hid evidence, lied to police…
Continue reading “San Tan Valley passenger killed in fatal hit and run”