Cycling, traffic safety, traffic justice, and legal topics; energy, transit and transportion economics
Tidbits of information continue to trickle out related to the spate of three wrong way crashes that killed 7 motorists on Phoenix area freeways in three separate crashes in less than a week.
The suspect in the third wreck, Patricia Murphy was apparently drunk at the time, and additionally tested positive for some drugs. The wreckage of the Ford F-150 pickup she was driving is shown at right. Continue reading “Murder Weapon?”
This time the wrong-way driver killed two; bringing the death toll for the three incidents in a week to SEVEN in three incidents.
Sun May 18, 2014 ~ 2a: The wrong way pickup driver, 68-year-old Patricia Murphy killed Michael Ruquet, 25, and his passenger Ashley Adea, 20 both of Mesa. Murphy had a passenger, her 9-year-old grandson; both are expected to survive Continue reading “More head-on freeway deaths”
So it’s been a bad week for Phoenix/Valley motorists; 5 dead in two head-on freeway collisions. Plus a bunch of serious injuries. Though presumably just a statistical coincidence to have two such fiery crashes in such a short amount of time, it certainly can serve as a reminder of the general dangerousness of traffic.
In the 1st incident on 5/12/2014 shortly after midnight off duty Mesa Police officer Brandon Mendoza; and wrong-way highly intoxicated Raul Silva Corona both died after colliding head-on. [Officer Mendoza’s case was mentioned in Families of slain Arizona officers wait for federal benefit, noting that a $340,000 federal benefit to the families of police officers killed in the line of duty isn’t available under federal benefit rules. Federal rules do not include driving to or from work to be “line of duty”]
In the 2nd incident 5/16/2014 on I-17, dead are; Evan Christian Hendriadi, 50; Jenny Sudjono, 70; and Lioe Kim Tjhiuw, 78. That crash left three others with serious injury (4 counting the wrong-way driver, a man in his 60’s who is suspected of being impaired. [minor UPDATE: police/DPS still haven’t named the driver. I was told on 8/1/2014 this is still the case because the suspect is still in the hospital, and has so far not been charged]
Brittany Nolan was charged with 2nd degree murder in connection Continue reading “Second wrong-way driver this week kills 3 more on freeway”
Phew, 10 dead in just two incidents. In Arizona. In the past few days. The news had been dominated by headlines and Congressional hearings revolving around approximately 13 deaths over something like a decade ( and throughout the entire county, of course) that are linked to a defective GM ignition switch part. Here is how in one instance the defect is said to be linked to the driver’s death, from the Detroit Free Press describes how “…(the victim) got into her Chevrolet Cobalt, jammed down the accelerator and lost control in a nearby cul-de-sac, slamming into a tree. The impact crushed her against the steering wheel. She wasn’t wearing a seat belt; she’d been drinking, too. Despite the crash, the air bags didn’t go off…”. I don’t know if that’s typical or not, presumably some of the crashes could be due to loss of power (brakes/steering) but that’s besides the point…
I can’t help thinking that if as much attention were paid to the ~ 400,000 other traffic deaths that have occurred in the US over the past decade, we might get somewhere on the problem of traffic fatalities being a leading cause of death among Americans. Along the same lines as the gm-ignition switch; there’s an excellent editorial in the AJPH Sept 2014 (Vol 104 No 8) by human-factors traffic safety expert Leonard Evans recounting a similar drama with Toyota, but how US policy is topsy-turvey and misses the big picture due leading to “Twenty Thousand More Americans Killed Annually Because US Traffic-Safety Policy Rejects Science” Continue reading “Car Carnage Wrapup + GM Ignition Switch recall”
[ Update mid-June — well the “verdict” is in and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has announced there will be no charges filed. Here is the azcentral news story. I am more aligned with columnist Robert’s thinking; than I am with Montini… though there is still an undeniable appearance of impropriety on County Attorney Montgomery’s part. In summary, Roberts points out that the prosector’s office lets anybody and everybody off the hook (except when impaired); Montini insists it’s simply political. I believe the city of Glendale certainly has enough evidence to charge Pearce with criminal speeding — if they choose to. That would be largely symbolic but would still require the defendant to appear before the court. ] Continue reading “Crash charge weighed vs. deputy”
Yikes. The unlicensed (permit) 15 y.o. pickup driver made a bad left (“left cross”); killing a motor scooter rider. March 12, 2014. The driver fled the scene.
Some reports referred to the victim’s vehicle as a scooter, and another a motorized scooter… from the pics it was apparently what is officially called a “Motor driven cycle”; which is like a motorcycle but with a limit on engine power; i.e. more power than a moped and less than a “full” motorcycle.
Mesa police plan to recommend hit-and-run charges against a 15-year-old boy who caused a fatal accident on Wednesday afternoon when he made left turn in front of a scooter, according to a police spokesman.
Police did not identify the boy because he is a juvenile, but the victim was identified as Mason Merrill, 22, who was aided by a detective who happened upon the collision on University Drive just east of Alma School Road. Continue reading “Unlicensed pickup driver’s bad left kills motorscooter rider; hit and run”
So this is weird — the weird part being that a driver who doesn’t seem to have been doing much if anything wrong, while the driver/victim seemed to have been doing everything wrong — was charged with Neg Hom.
The victim was a driver emerging from a driveway. The driver, Jeffrey David Meyn, who plead guilty to negligent homicide, was simply going straight along the main road; he was said to have just passed through a yellow-light (which is perfectly legal) when he struck the victim’s vehicle as it emerged from a driveway on Northern Ave just west of the intersection of Northern Ave and 12th St, Phoenix on June 25, 2012 (almost two years ago!). Continue reading “Phoenix driver pleads guilty in fatal 2012 car a-word”
[Updated 12/2013; Deputy fired, see below]
So this is pretty weird situation stemming from a fatal wreck occurring August 2012. I don’t know how any of this is supposed to work — but it occurs to me that County Attorney Voyles could have sent this to a neutral party (another county) for disposition, and that would have avoided any appearance of impropriety. As it stands, Voyles had a clear conflict-of-interest; and he decided it in favor of his interests. Voyles description of the deputy’s actions (‘patrolling’ at ~ 100mph?) as “an acceptable investigating patrolling activity” is quite bold, and troubling. They don’t call it “criminal speeding” (see 28-701.02) for nothing, well I mean reasonable people call it that, I don’t know how Voyles (or the deputy) rationalizes it. The victim’s (that is to say, the guy that died; the deputy was seriously injured) actions were certainly also negligent — he was very drunk, and made a bad left — but that certainly doesn’t absolve Steele of all responsibility for the collision. In any event, this is going to be very expensive for Pinal county taxpayers. Continue reading “(still) No charges filed vs. Pinal deputy in 2012 fatal crash”
Both drivers were killed when their full-sized SUVs collided head-on Saturday evening 11/23/2013 near 83rd Ave and Durango, Phoenix. The driver who crossed over the center line was fleeing the scene of another wreck. Lovely. Continue reading “Double fatal SUV head-on collision”
The news today was almost too much to bear.
You might recall the absurd story from a couple of weeks ago (the news story ran 8/6/2013) azcentral.com where an unlicensed(!) driver was driving a minivan full of kids; “The 16-year-old was driving his six brothers and sisters westbound on Southern Avenue when the minivan collided head-on with a passenger car. The van had attempted to pass a car on the right shoulder and overcorrected, sending the van into oncoming traffic, where it was hit by a sedan, witnesses said”.
Yes, it gets weirder, yesterday (8/29/2013)… I’ll just give you the headline, Phoenix police: Girl, 6, dies after brother, 8, drives car into pole.
And for good measure, today besides that shocker, there were all manner of Arizona automobile-mayhem stories: $50M claim filed in crash that killed Tucson boy; it involved an on-duty Pima County Sheriffs Deputy. 10-year-old Xavier Arturo Sanchez died July 15, 2013 when he was hit by a deputy. I don’t know anything other than to note that “Tucson police investigators decided against submitting the case to the county Attorney’s Office because they felt the circumstances didn’t warrant criminal charges against the deputy” except to say, they probably ought to do more to avoid the appearance of impropriety; though i suppose TPD is supposed to be independent of PSCO. (far higher on the impropriety scale: see this one, involving a speeding PCSO deputy)… … … Road Rage, oh this it always fun: a PCSO deputy was the victim of apparent road rage: “Pima County Sheriff’s officials say 38-year-old Eric Santos ‘deliberately rammed and pushed the officer’s vehicle’ Wednesday night on Interstate 10″… … oh and the usual mayhem, this one seems tame by comparison: “Impairment may be factor in (double)fatal crash” in a 1PM high-speed collision at 43rd Ave and Indian School.
EVERY YEAR we get treated to this stupidity: Allstate study ranks metro Phoenix high for driver safety. The story appears to be ripped right from a press release. Supposedly metro Phoenix has “safe” drivers because the number of claims is low. I’m sure this is all statistically true — unfortunately it does NOT translate into safe traffic (which normal people measure in terms of deaths and injuries), here is a comparison from last year’s Allstate data. In short, other cities that have far “worse” drivers, according to Allstate, have far better traffic safety records. It would seem to me this indicates something it terribly wrong with Arizona’s transportation infrastructure; we have surface streets built for hi-speed/hi-volume first and safety last.
Are cars dangerous? We all know it’s not the cars per se; but obviously we’re not doing enough to control their use.
Another, seriously how often does this happen?
Woman killed by truck identified
A pickup truck full of teenagers struck and killed a 23-year-old woman named Jackie Ruiz Saturday (2/2/2013) afternoon as she was walking on the sidewalk near 19th Ave and Thunderbird Road. Police say the 1997 Dodge 2500 pickup up truck was swerving before it left the roadway and went up on the sidewalk hitting Ruiz and then barreled into an apartment patio wall…The driver was identified as an 18 year old male. He had three other teens with him, said Phoenix Police Sgt. Steve Martos…
Think you’re safe in your car?
Man arrested in I-17 fatal crash in north Phoenix
Police have arrested a man suspected of killing a 61-year-old man in a high-speed collision on Interstate 17 in north Phoenix on Monday night (6/17/2013), a Department of Public Safety official said Tuesday…. Police say the white sedan was driven by Vick A. House (the victim)… Police are not releasing the name of the suspect yet.
…
This appears to be highly typical mode of motorcyclist fatality
A motorist makes a bad left at intersection, striking oncoming motorcyclist.
Had this been a bicyclist-MV collision, it would be a crash type 212 – Motorist Left Turn—Opposite Direction, commonly called a “left hook”. This is a relatively uncommon fatal crash type, just 12 of 617 bicyclist fatalities nationwide in 2010 according to FARS. One supposes that the relative speeds involved make this far more likely to be deadly for motorcyclists than for bicyclists.
One wonders how the police handle such cases; from the description, it appears the motorist should be cited for 28-772 making a bad left, and charged with 28-672. since a death resulted.
Motorcyclist, 20, killed when driver, 84, failed to yield
By Yihyun Jeong
The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team
Thu Apr 11, 2013 4:03 PMA motorcyclist died after a car tried to make a left turn in front of the motorcyclist at Cave Creek Road and Union Hills Drive in Phoenix Wednesday, officials said. Police responded to a serious injury collision at the intersection of Cave Creek Road and Union Hills Drive around 4 p.m., Sgt. Steve Martos, a spokesman for the Phoenix Police Department said. Police were told that a motorcyclist was down and his motorcycle was on fire. The motorcyclist, Angelo Wright, 20, was taken to a nearby hospital where he died of injuries, Martos said. The police department’s Vehicular Crimes Unit responded to the scene and determined that an 84-year-old female driver of a Volkswagen Rabbit, was heading east on Union Hills and tried to make a left turn at Cave Creek Road to travel north, Martos said. The driver failed to yield to Wright, who was riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle, and collided with him. Wright was not wearing a helmet.
Was the driver cited and/or charged? Dunno. Would have to get police report and get driver’s name, since police didn’t say, and then do a lookup.
[Final update 3/17/2015: The defendant was found incompetent to stand trial and all charges were dismissed CR2013003301. A statement on the defendant’s lawyer’s website relates some more details: “Marie Blandford, who accidentally took Ambien (zolpidem) and blacked out while driving…” “Blandford, a widow and mother of three children, has suffered from progressive dementia and Alzheimer’s and is incapable of assisting her counsel at trial” She now “resides in a 24-hour care facility and has significant memory deficits” ]
[Update 4/5/2013: Authorities have released the victims’ names, they were Clare Louis Kirby, 46, of Mesa (bicyclist) and William Phillips, 72 (motorist). The sheriff’s office spokesman said a homicide investigation is underway; and that criminal charges will be filed and that other charges will depend on the results of the investigation. The suspect was also identified as 73-year-old Marie Blandford of Payson. Victims in 2 fatal crashes ID’d; charges likely for injured driver ]
A hit-and-run driver in a green SUV killed an as-yet unidentified female cyclist on the Bush Highway near Usery Pass Rd 4/3/2013 around 9am. in the Tonto National Forest. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.
Witnesses who followed the green SUV saw that vehicle, then get into a separate collision several miles away at Ellsworth and McKellips where the driver of the green SUV T-boned another vehicle, the driver of the other vehicle died a short time later; The driver of the green SUV was injured; police identify her only as a 73-year old female.
Driver suspected in fatal hit-run gets in 2nd fatal crash in Mesa
Google maps view of the two locations; pin A is the bicyclist fatality, and B is the motorist fatality. They are 6.7 miles apart; a driving time of some 9 minutes according to google maps. A more exact location of the bicyclist crash wasn’t give, it appears from the news-copter footage that it was Bush Highway somewhere west of the intersection with Usery Pass (Usery Pass Road is also called Ellsworth Road in Mesa; the 2nd collision was at the intersection of Ellsworth and McKellips). This area is a designated bike lane, and appears to be in good shape.
This is FARS case=40216 ; the driver is positive for zolpidem (Ambien).
(motorist) Cal Holman was killed in a horrific traffic collision in 2007 involving very high speeds and alleged street racing. Going on 5 years later a lot has and continues to happen, the two other drivers, Van Brakel and Aronica, have eventually plead guilty to certain crimes, Van Brakel going to prison for manslaughter. Aronica received probation, and subsequently requested it be reduced, but that apparently was denied.
The site friendsofcalholman.com is doing, and has done an excellent job of making court documents available; such as the plea agreements. Van Brakel’s 5 year sentence was reduced to below 3 years actual both by the 1 day for every 7 served (that’s normal; it where the “85%” figure comes from); but also apparently because of “over 2 years credit because he was out on bail while the criminal hearings were going on“. How does that work? Being out on bail somehow counts as the same as being incarcerated? [see suggestion in comment below that this may have been erroneously calculated] This is criminal case CR2008-031157 (minutes) (which i could only find by searching Maricopa County Superior directly) — and here is Van Brakel’s (who is Party 001) 9/16/2011 sentencing minute “5 year(s) from 09/16/2011; Presentence Incarceration Credit: 487 day(s); Presumptive”. Note that this is “non-dangerous” manslaughter — sick joke. p.s. the way sentencing math works apparently is: 85% (assuming he got the most time off) of 5 years is 1551 days minus the 487 leaves 1064 (just under 3 years).
Van Brakel’s pre-sentence credit of 487 days was due to him being incarcerated immediately (i guess) after his initial sentencing in 2010.
Here is Aronica’s 5/18/2010 sentencing minute of probation; pleading guilty to two counts of endangerment which is, like Van Brakel’s manslaughter, designated as a “non-dangerous” crime.
On a larger scope, they have exposed these two men’s driving history; again something we rarely get to see. According to friendsofcalholman the two,
Van Brakel was driving an AMG Mercedes, after hitting Cal Holman his car continued 75 feet past the intersection. Van Brakel hit first on the passenger side. He did not sustain any injuries in the crash… Since 2004 there have been 7 tickets for various moving violations. Driving 55 in a 35 zone, 67 in a 40 zone, and failing to yield in a cross walk are a sample of his driving record… Van Brakel has several previous driving violations. One ticket in 2004, was for doing 120 miles per hour in a 75 miles per hour zone. [link]
and the other:
Aronica’s Mustang flipped on impact and landed in the ditch on the side of Scottsdale … Aronica was injured with a broken arm and his passenger had minor cuts…. Since 2002 Aronica has had 13 citations. On December 3rd, less than four weeks prior to the accident where he hit and killed Cal Holman, he was cited for doing 88 miles per hour in a 60 miles per hour zone. This was in Texas while he was traveling to Arizona… Other citations include speeding. In Virginia speeding 84 in a 65 zone, in Florida traveling 20-29 miles per hour over the posted speed, again in Virginia speeding 79 in a 65 zone, in Maryland he had four speeding violations, and in Michigan he has 3 violations for speeding including a careless driving and a 78 in a 55 zone. [link]
This really makes me wonder how such repeated dangerous driving behavior can be tolerated — why weren’t their licenses suspended or revoked before they killed somebody? Traffic collisions, even after a marked decline, continue to be a leading cause of death for Americans. Who’s minding the store?
Off duty Tempe police officer Scott Saffell died in a motorcycle-car wreck at an Ahwatukee intersection. The motorcyclist was proceeding straight through southbound 48th Street, when the unnamed driver made a bad left just north of Elliot Road. The “enhanced” criminal traffic charge would be 28-672. Continue reading “Motorcyclist killed by driver making a bad left”