Cycling, traffic safety, traffic justice, and legal topics; energy, transit and transportion economics
11/10/2021 ~ 10am. What was the driver doing to cause such an obvious and fatal mistake? Authorities have not yet said or speculated. The driver’s name has not been released. Scottsdale PD is investigating. McDowell Road near 87th St.
As I’ve noted before, police work can be dangerous, and traffic is a leading cause of death for law enforcement officers.
This is a pedestrian fatality. Continue reading “Maricopa County sheriff’s lieutenant fatally struck while conducting traffic in Scottsdale”
police-speeding without the benefit of lights or sirens, seems to be a routine thing. In this incident from a several years ago:
“[a Tempe Police officer] was travelling at 95 mph in a 45 mph zone without the use of his siren or light bar… five seconds before the crash”
…striking and killing a drunk pedestrian near Baseline and Rural roads who was (I presume) “jaywalking”. The incident occurred in 2005, but a wrongful death lawsuit wasn’t settled until 2010.
Continue reading “$1.35 Million Settlement in Tempe Police Speeding Wrongful Death Suit”
April 8, 2018 a hit/run driver killed Taylor White, a 21 y.o. GCU student that was jogging in a crosswalk.
Three years later, a driver was arrest on susp of 2nd degree murder (and presumably, leaving the scene of a fatal). There is much that is not said in the news article. 2nd degree murder indicates police believe they can prove the driver not only caused the crash that resulted (it was in a crosswalk, so that’s probably covered), but that the driver was doing something particularly reckless at the time — normally the only thing that will ever rise to that level is intoxication. The article says nothing about why he was charged that way.
This wouldn’t be the first time diligent policework led to a driver’s hit-and-run arrest much later, see e.g. hit-and-run-and-good-old-fashioned-policework/
Continue reading “Driver arrested in hit/run death of jogger in 2018”
3/3/2021, morning. Ug. Driver wipes out a family walking on a sidewalk within a Walmart parking lot.
“the driver could face a reckless driving charge”. Don’t count on it. Authorities have already said impairment is not involved, more than likely this will be seen as the usual “just an accident”. Continue reading “A 4-year-old girl was killed in a crash outside a Glendale Walmart”
12/17/2020, Thursday night (time not specified; also victim’s name not released). The driver of a Ford F-150 left the road near West Grant & North Oracle crashing thru a fence into a backyard striking and killing a person there, then ran away. Police think the driver may have been drunk.
Continue reading “Man killed by hit-run driver in Tucson backyard”
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:
From last week’s roundup of traffic mayhem in the southeast Valley:
8/31/2020 around 8pm BE ON THE LOOKOUT Suspect vehicle left scene described as dark SUV towing 10-12 ft. flatbed trailer, contact Chandler PD near Chandler Blvd and McQueen fatal ped hit-run:
3/7/2020 ~9:40am. Add this to the list of seriously how often does this happen?. A driver “lost control” and drove up on the sidewalk, killing a 2-year old who was walking there with his parents. Hayden near Royal Palm Road, Scottsdale.
12news: 2-year-old dies after being struck by car in Scottsdale
12/26/2019 11:15AM Bell Rd at 35th Ave, Phoenix. The driver of the grey Avenger “was driving west at a high rate of speed and entered the intersection, colliding with the (red) Mustang”, after which he drove up on the sidewalk and killed/injured a bunch of people. The Mustang driver was attempting to turn left. Police have said they intend to charge the as yet unnamed Avenger driver with manslaughter and aggravated assault. Continue reading “Teen, unborn baby killed after crash sent car onto Phoenix sidewalk”
A woman has been arrested after she killed two pedestrians including a boy and a grown man, stopped briefly, then fled the scene, telling police, because “she thought she hit a dog.” Must have been one big dog.
See something, say something — In this case there was a fairly good vehicle description between witnesses and evidence left at the scene. The news reports that police found the driver via a neighbor’s tip. Continue reading “She thought she hit a dog”
4/23/2019 ~ 8:30PM Pedestrian walking along an unmarked crosswalk struck in center of road by a driver who was swerving around other traffic who had stopped in compliance with the law; to allow the pedestrian to cross in the unmarked crosswalk at the intersection of 59th Avenue and McLellan Road. Continue reading “Police: Pedestrian in crosswalk killed by suspected distracted driver in Glendale”
4/23/2019 ~ 11pm victim Thomas Taraba and another person were walking on the sidewalk along McDowell Road near 37th Street. Police say river 20-year-old Zachary Showers was the driver; he was arrested on suspicion of DUI
“According to court documents, Taraba was thrown 75 feet” indicating the driver’s speed was very fast, perhaps too fast for any city street. 12news.com. a few more details at fox10news.
Continue reading “Vision Zero PHX, was: PD: Driver kills man on sidewalk”
Traffic incidents are particularly deadly for law enforcement officers; see the ODMP
3/21/2019 ~ 8:30am: This is a pedestrian fatality. Continue reading “Phoenix police officer killed on the scene of another crash”
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”
9/23/2018 9:30am pedestrian 48 y.o. male Dana Machado was killed when a driver drove onto the sidewalk where the victim was walking his dog. Police arrested driver Richard Cruz on susp of DUI and are awaiting tox results.
Continue reading “Driver jumps curb, kills Mesa man on sidewalk”