Cycling, traffic safety, traffic justice, and legal topics; energy, transit and transportion economics
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”
ped fatality in apt complex; victim 3 yo girl. Occurred in the parking lot of apartment complex near University Drive and Rural Road around 2 p.m. June 25, 2018
It’s been widely noted that AZ has a growing and worsening ped traffic fatality “problem”; fortunately this one doesn’t count (yes, this is sarcasm, but nevertheless true)… because it happened in a private lot, it’s non-traffic and as such doesn’t count as a traffic fatality; DUI or otherwise. (similar to e.g. little Daylin Garcia Enos who was killed in a Tucson apt complex parking lot by a backing UPS truck)
6/24/2018 around 4pm Baseline near 7th st, Phoenix.
From the probable cause statement:
The defendant was operating a motor vehicle in the area of 700 E Baseline road where he was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes of Baseline Road. The def proceeded eastbound through the intersection of 7th street in the westbound curb lane of Baseline Road where he drove up onto the sidewalk along the north side of baseline road and struck the victim WHO WAS WALKING ON THE SIDEWALK…
[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”
Sun April 29, 2018 ~ 10:30pm. Van Buren, near 27th Avenue, Phoenix. Fatal hit-and-run victim Isela Ortega.
Horrific witness video shows a hit-and-run driver carrying the body of victim on top of car for several blocks. and then driving away after it fell off. The victim’s family is hoping someone can identify the driver, and/or encourages the driver to come forward. 12news.com Continue reading “Driver carries body several blocks before fleeing”