10/6/2024 Sunday morning 7:45 College Ave near 15th St, Tempe. This is a very low speed (posted 25mph) collector street, with unusually wide bike lanes (6 feet or more?) here. Leading directly to the ASU campus, about a quarter mile away.
Below is what police told me a few days later; it’s odd it wasn’t (apparently?) sent to the news media, I also note that the name of driver who was arrested was not revealed (arrestees are usually named)… will need to get a police report, but that won’t be available for awhile. Circumstances indicate police would looking at felony criminal charge. The details, such as they are, don’t indicate which driver was arrested. However, besides impairment, the condition of the red vehicle, plus where it came to rest ( a couple hundred feet) indicates excessive speed.
———- Forwarded message ——— Date: Fri, Aug 19, 2022 at 2:47 PM Subject: RE: Warner Rd Crash Fwd: Recent roadway fatalities and severe crashes
On Tuesday at approximately 9:50 a.m. Tempe PD worked a two-vehicle collision near E Warner Rd and S Dorsey Ln. One of the subjects was transported to the hospital with a serious physical injury that was not life-threatening. The collision caused the eastbound lanes on Warner Rd at Lakeshore Dr. to be closed for a bit. During the investigation on the scene, the driver of the other vehicle was placed under arrest; impairment was a factor.
Best, Tempe Police Media Relations Unit 480-350-8311 480-341-0441 (cell) policepio@tempe.gov
See comment below for another violent turning-error crash along Warner at Hardy in Feb 2023 that sent a vehicle out of control through the BL and up on the sidewalk; anyone walking or riding there would have been seriously injured or worse. See March 2023 Tucson fatality where a motorist left-turn error caused a 2-vehicle crash that resulted in the death of a cyclist when one of vehicles careeened onto the sidewalk.
68 Foot (curb-to-curb) arterial (the white hash lines on the left and right represent gutters) — Old (top) vs. new (bottom) — BL was minimum; now is 5 feet plus gutter (6.5′ total)
Beginning in 2016, working from west to east, the entire length of Warner Road in City of Tempe has been resurfaced. The last segment, was just completed in May 2022.SMOOTH! Continue reading “Warner Road in the 21st Century”
Raul Meza Portillo was arrested in connection with last night's fatal hit and run crash at Mill/Baseline. Portillo struck the victim who was on a bike and dragged her several hundred feet before leaving the scene. Impairment may be a factor. He is facing 2 felony charges. pic.twitter.com/qHuR2xfxuS
— Tempe Police Department (@TempePolice) April 3, 2021
Crash Friday evening around 7:30PM, 4/2/2021. Tempe police say a driver of a pickup towing a trailer made a left northbound Mill turning onto westbound Baseline collided with a 41 y.o. female bicycle. She was dragged to her death, and the driver fled the scene. Police arrested a suspect, Raul Meza Portillo, around 1AM at his home. That he was held on suspicion of 2nd degree murder, as well as leaving the scene indicate police believe he both was intoxicated at the time, and caused the crash.
1/23/2019 6:14a Victim 66 y.o. male Peter Bergsneider. In the area of College and Curry. It must have been near the intersection because of the mention they were struck next to a left turn lane. One unconfirmed report is that it was eastbound Curry at College, and another unconfirmed report states “the driver was allegedly texting”. Continue reading “Bicyclist killed in Tempe”
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)
[ 1/29/2018 City of Tempe is considering changing cyclist right-of-way rules. This is potentially very involved and intricate. See both below, and also see letter and replies from Councilman Keating sent as CAZBike ]
[ 11/24 Updates on this shocking crosswalk fatality continue to ooze out from Tempe police, as the grieving family of Xiaoying Wen came to Tempe from China seeking answers; “Tempe police said both had the green light, but Wen failed to yield, and Tempe city law dictates that bicyclists must yield to motorists”. See below for this bad local law. LAB Bike Friendly GOLD? ]
There have been 4 bicyclists killed in Tempe traffic collisions on city streets (excludes limited-access highways) over the past 5 years [five year period 2010-2014); at the same time dozens of motorists and 14 pedestrians have been killed.
[UPDATed totals: There have been a total of 9 bicyclist traffic fatalities in the past 13 years, 2009-2021]
Skip below to #fatals for an incident-by-incident description
Scope of the Problem
For the figures in this report, a 5-year time period, 2010-2014 was selected (the most recent available at the time; 2015 & 16 has since become available). Many additional crashes occur (14,000!) occur in Tempe on limited access highways; these crashes are not included.
northbound Hardy near University Drive. Could a bus driver safely overtake a cyclist here? Could a bus driver safely overtake 50 bicyclists here? Should a bus driver attempt to overtake 50 cyclists here?
Out for a Saturday morning group ride on Hardy Drive in Tempe July 2, 2016, cyclists had some sort of negative encounter with a motorist. Traffic would be light at 9AM on a Saturday morning in the dead of summer, except for the group of estimated 50 bicyclists (dispersed, not one group) and that motorist. The street here is very narrow, is traffic-calmed with ped islands and speed tables installed in a 2014/15 streetscape project, and has a speed limit of 30mph. Continue reading “This happened one day in Tempe”
Warner Road; typical cross section ~ 68 feet curb-to-curb (google maps sat view before 2016 resurface)
Warner Road is a major east-west arterial that runs through much of the East Valley. It’s continuous from Phoenix (Ahwatukee area, where it forms a loop with Elliot Road, another major e-w arterial), thru Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert. In the city of Tempe it runs the entire width of the city, from wherever exactly it is that Tempe begins (just east of I-10 bridge) to just west of SR101 (google maps)
Warner in this area generally has two through lanes and a designated bike lane (BL) in each direction as well as a continuous center lane, some major intersections have right-turn-only lanes (RTOL), but others do not (more on that later). There are no BLs in the area immediately east of I-10, and there are numerous “dropped” BLs; where the BL is intentionally discontinued to make room for a RTOL. Continue reading “Warner Resurfacing”
the minimum bike lane width is 5 ft (1.5 m), measured from the face of a curb or vertical surface to the center of the bike lane line
However, that changes when a gutter pan is involved, more width is required to meet their recommendations —
Along sections of roadway with curb and gutter, a usable width of 4 ft (1.2 m) measured from the longitudinal joint to the center of the bike lane line is recommended
10/6/2024 Sunday morning 7:45 College Ave near 15th St, Tempe. This is a very low speed (posted 25mph) collector street, with unusually wide bike lanes (6 feet or more?) here. Leading directly to the ASU campus, about a quarter mile away.
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
