AZ Daily Star writer seeks input from Tucson bicyclists
Andrea Kelly of the AZ Daily Star is writing a story about bicycling and the most dangerous intersections in town. She has compiled information showing the intersections where a bicyclist is most likely to be hit, and she is looking for people who either ride through these intersections or specifically avoid them. Here is the email she sent me:
For my story on motorist/cyclist crashes, here are some of the intersections I’m looking at in Tucson, though not all of them will make the final list of the six worst/most dangerous:
- Grant and Alvernon
- Speedway and Euclid
- Campbell and Glenn
- Broadway and Wilmot
- Speedway and Alvernon
- Congress and Interstate 10
- Speedway and Campbell
- 22nd and Alvernon
- 22nd and KolbDo you or any cyclists you know ride in those areas, or specifically avoid those areas? I’d like to hear from cyclists who use any of those intersections, how they perceive the intersections, and a perspective from the bike point-of-view of why they are so dangerous.
Feel free to pass this along to any of your cycling friends and community or post it on your blog. My contact information is listed below.
Thanks again,
Andrea Kelly
Transportation reporter, Arizona Daily Star
Office: 520-573-4243
Cell: 520-307-0773
Fax: 520-573-4245
Blog: http://go.azstarnet.com/gridlocked
email: akelly@azstarnet.com
If you use or avoid these intersections, send her an email. It sounds like she is working on a good story.
–Erik Ryberg
July 16th, 2008 at 9:34 am
This is the same Andrea Kelly who wrote that Tucson ought to think about licensing and taxing bicyclists.
What makes these intersections so dangerous again?
July 16th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Obviously, it *has* to be the cyclists making those intersections so dangerous .
July 16th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Ms Kelly also wrote a whining column a few months ago, dismissing bike commuting, public transit, and car pooling. She is stating up front that this will be a negative column, focused on the perceived dangers of bike commuting as if the driving public isn’t already fixated on the subject…why on earth would any bike commuters want to participate? Ugh, I can already imagine the ignorant online comments we’ll be treated to.
July 17th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Well okay, she’s almost back in my good graces after her sensitive Ghost Bike article on the front page in the Daily Star today.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Hi all,
My story is not about the dangers of biking, but rather the dangers of certain intersections for cyclists. I’m hoping for feedback from those of you who use, or avoid, these intersections so I can include your point of view in the story. My data is based on the number of crashes reported to the police department city-wide, over a three-year period.
Thank you.
July 18th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
That’s my sense as well. I don’t notice Wilmot and Broadway being different from any other intersection, and I ride through there almost daily.
My husband and I had an incident tonight while riding east on Broadway at Kolb. We had a green light, but the light turned yellow shortly after we entered the intersection. We had a strong headwind so didn’t have much speed, then three cars turned left in front of us and we had to stop pedaling altogether. By that time, the light was red. As we were going the rest of the way through, cars traveling north on Kolb started through the intersection, but saw us and stopped. Those motorists did not honk at us, which was surprising and nice, because from their vantage point, I’m sure we appeared to be running the light.
Mindy
July 19th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
My comment of July 18 was deleted.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Hey P.S. — I’ve been out of town and away from blogging for the past week but I am sure Lauren would not intentionally have deleted any comments that were not demonstrably spam. (We get a lot of “comments” left about cheap car insurance that we have to go through and delete.) We don’t intentionally delete any comments that are legitimate. But, it could easily be that yours somehow got clicked as Lauren or I went through deleting the spam comments. Can you repost?
–EBR