Cycling, traffic safety, traffic justice, and legal topics; energy, transit and transportion economics
Yikes
11/29/2015 Sunday morningtime. Jicarilla just off of Warner-Elliot loop, Phoenix/Ahwatukee. This is a pic of the backyard/patio of the house on the SE corner. Continue reading “Out of control on Warner-Elliot Loop”
10/29/2015 ~ just before midnight. 35th Avenue near Montebello Avenue, Phoenix. Victim 42 y.o. male Hussein Yunus. Driver was taken into custody, name not released, and later released. This is a residential area, with residences fronting a “busy” street, 35th Ave. The “pickup truck left the roadway and hit him. A witness said the bike rider flew about 100 feet…The driver was taken into custody. Investigators are looking into intoxication as a factor and are awaiting results from a toxicology analysis”. The news report video said something to the effect that “police believe impairment was involved but not necessarily alcohol”. Continue reading “Pickup driver loses control, kills bicyclist”
Yes, another sidewalk death caused by out of control drivers; Sunday 9/27/2015 — Seriously, how often does stuff like this happen?
According to the story, this was an apparent left turn 2-vehicle collision that sent two out-of-control drivers all over the place. The man who died, Juan Mena-Brito, is credited for shoving his wife to safety just before getting mowed down. 43rd Ave and Peoria, Phoenix, AZ. Continue reading “Out of control drivers kill man on Phoenix sidewalk”
So as things turn out, drivers lose control and drive up on sidewalks on a regular basis. Seriously, just look around. People sometimes get hurt; it’s a random function of being there. What happens to all these reckless drivers? Hard to know, many times nothing, like the young man who killed a jogger on an Ahwatukee sidewalk a few years ago. In other cases, these are hit-and-run; nobody pays, so you pay for the damage through increased taxes and insurance rates. Continue reading “Car Drives Into Man At Tempe Bus Stop; leg amputated”
5/25/2015, evening. This will be most likely a so-called “non-traffic” crash because it appears to have begun in the private parking lot — so these injuries don’t “count”. Several serious, including one in critical condition with a head injury, and another with a partially severed leg. All pedestrians who were waiting outside for a table when an SUV driver somehow jumped the sidewalk and rammed into them while parking. Glendale police say they are investigating impairment and a driver’s surgical boot for possible causes. Continue reading “5 hurt when SUV slams into Glendale Restaurant”
Another ped whacked on a Phoenix sidewalk — seriously, how often does this stuff happen? — this time at Glendale and Central Ave, Phoenix. Austin Lipko-Benito was killed mid-day May 13, 2015 on the sidewalk along Glendale Ave. The crash occured because one of the drivers failed to yield to the other driver. Continue reading “Car slams into bus stop, teen bystander killed”
Tuesday March 3, 2015 ~ 1230pm. Oh my. The story is conspicuously silent on what might have caused a driver to end up in such a situation; an apparent “single vehicle” collision. Tag this one as yet another Seriously, how often does this kind of stuff happen?
Continue reading “Car crash damages new monument at Capitol”
Oops, more driving on the sidewalk. This happened sometime before Sunday morning, 3/1/2015 when I passed by. It seems like it was just a few days ago that someone drove up on the sidewalk and killed a bus stop; or just a few weeks ago that someone drove up on the sidewalk and killed a wall. What leads to this sort of behavior — I suspect it has something to do with dangerous drivers. Like I said before, it’s all fun-and-games until someone drives up on the sidewalk and kills a jogger.
Was this a hit and run? I always wonder.
This bus stop on Warner Road, just west of 51st Street, Phoenix (Ahwatukee) was killed sometime ~ 2/25/2015 by some sort of careless, dangerous driver. It’s all fun and games, except when somebody gets killed, like the drunk driver who killed 2 at a Phoenix bus stop in March of 2013.
Seriously, how much driving on the sidewalk goes on?
This incident apparently happened Saturday afternoon around 5p 2/7/2015. This is about a mile away from the spot where a driver drove up on the sidewalk and killed a jogger a few years ago.
48th St northbound, near Ahwatukee Drive.
A passerby told me he heard a driver was planning on turning left from NB 48th onto Ahwatukee was rear-ended and pushed here. It’s only happenstance that no one was walking on this sidewalk at the time.
Just one day’s worth, all in Phoenix-metro — remember this is only a small sample of the hundreds of car wrecks that occur daily around Arizona. Are Cars Dangerous? Continue reading “More driving on the sidewalk”
July 12, 2014 / victim crossing in marked crosswalk w/traffic signal. The 5 y.o. female victim was riding a tricycle; this I would guess should be coded as a pedestrian (though i cross-tagged this article as both a ped and cyclist fatality). This is listed on 2014 cyclist traffic fatalities. [update: is coded as a pedalcyclist in both ASDM and FARS] Continue reading “Girl hit and killed when driver runs red light”
[Updated 7/8: victim is 3 year old Jaqueline Monroe-Mendoza; police are processing two potential suspect vehicles, a white Chevrolet Suburban and a large white pickup, and have a “person of interest” and so far no arrests have been made. This story makes plain the collision occurred in the apratment’s parking lot azcentral.com]
Sunday July 6, 2014. 2pm. Near Alma School Road and Rio Salado Parkway in Mesa “struck by a large vehicle traveling through the parking lot”. Continue reading “3 year old killed in Mesa parking lot by hit-and-run driver”
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”
[Jan 2016: case finally resolved, defendant/driver convicted and sentenced, see below.] Woman walking on the sidewalk in broad daylight killed by a hit-and-runner, Sunday March 3, 2013. I say ‘another’ because it was only about a week ago another unforunate soul was hit just standin-on-the-corner; fortunately she wasn’t killed. Seriously, how often does this happen? Continue reading “Driver Convicted: Another ped gets whacked on Phoenix SIDEWALK”
[ Update: 3/6/2015. One of the drivers has plead guilty to manslaughter and agg assault in a deal ]
Killed while mowing the grass? Seriously, how often does this stuff happen? 52nd and Earll in Phoenix is a residential neighborhood:
Jose Angel Gonzales, 17, and Esteban Chavez Jr., 16, were reportedly racing down a residential street near Earll Drive and 52nd Street (Phoenix) on March 26, when Gonzalez blew through a stop sign and collided with a Toyota pickup. The pickup crashed through a cinder block wall and hit Grijalva, 61, who was mowing a lawn. — azcental.com
Octavio Grijalva Herrera later died of his injuries. The teens have since been indicted on eight charges including manslaughter, endangerment; Chavez was also charged with leaving the scene.
Automobiles are frequently driven negligently and go careening all over the place; like the Maricopa county deputy who was speeding 81mph along a Glendale street recently… fortunately only 1 person was killed in that incident; as can be easily seen from the video it’s only a matter of coincidence and luck that more weren’t killed by the out-of-control vehicles.
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The Arizona Republic had a nice, tear-jerking story reflecting on the victim. Phoenix landscaper killed by crash remembered, who was a veritable caricature of a hard-working immigrant (permanent legal resident; in case anyone was wondering). The story, as if on cue said “On this particular day, Hererra was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”, which is undoubtedly true.