Tucson pedestrian killed in marked crosswalk; driver faces citation
This was on the AZ Daily Star Website today:
Pedestrian struck in crosswalk dies
A 79-year-old man who was struck by a vehicle on the west side last week died Sunday.
The vehicle hit Jose Jesus Garcia in a marked crosswalk near the intersection of West St. Mary’s Road and North Cherokee Avenue around 4 p.m. Wednesday, said Sgt. Diana Lopez, a spokeswoman for the Tucson Police Department.
The driver, whose name hasn’t been released, is facing a citation.
Marisa Gerber
I was talking to my friend Collin the other day. He has invented some clever computer robots that compile crash data in Tucson and he runs various analyses on the data. He has enough information now to learn some interesting things about when most crashes occur and (possibly) why. For example, his database showed that cyclists are less likely to be hit on Mondays. He found that to be puzzling until he realized that some Mondays are holidays, which probably accounts for the dip.
Anyway, during the conversation he said, “After looking at this crash data all I can say is I am glad I’m not a pedestrian. Those guys have it way worse than us cyclists do.”
My condolences to Mr. Garcia’s family. I hope one day this city is safer for all of us who, like Mr. Garcia, choose alternative means to get to the places we want to go.
–Erik Ryberg
Montana legislator speaks out to support drunk driving as “a way of life”
You gotta give a guy like that some credit.
–EBR
99 years for a DUI . . . (but it’s his 16th one)
I’ve been thinking about this for awhile. Is it right to put someone in prison for the rest of his life after pulling him over with 0.10 blood-alcohol content? Even if it’s the 16th time it has happened?
Readers of this blog know that I am critical of our DUI laws. I want more enforcement and I want penalties that result in the loss of driving privileges, but lower fines. I believe the financial costs to the defendant of a DUI are too high right now (they run in the thousands of dollars even for a first-time DUI) because they put people in truly desperate situations. But I think a loss of driving privileges for a significant amount of time is warranted, and I think after two or possibly three DUIs that loss should be forever.
But prison? Forever? Obviously you have to enforce a situation where a person just plain refuses to stop driving no matter what the court says, but this seems excessive to me, even draconian. What about three years or so after each offense? The person in the video above has a drinking problem, obviously. Wouldn’t it be cheaper and safer for everyone to find a way to get that person into a lifestyle where driving is not necessary and he can drink himself to death without risking the lives of others? Do we need to punish him for the rest of his life in a prison cell?
–Erik Ryberg
Ciclovia this Sunday — and it’s right in my neighborhood!
I’m very excited about the Ciclovia route this year. It goes down Meyer and to “restaurant row” in South Tucson. It’s a very good route with good pavement, no traffic, and lots of stuff to look at.
The bike ride is from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Start anywhere you like, go whichever direction you like, and have fun! The streets will be car-free and there will be events along the way.
More atwww.cicloviatucson.org.
There’s still time to sign up to volunteer, too — email Ann Chanecka at achanecka@pagnet.org.
I’ll be volunteering in the morning at Silverlake and 8th Avenue, so be sure to wave as you go by. See you there!
–Erik Ryberg
Tucson mayoral candidate has unfortunate motoring habits
I don’t necessarily think that vehicular manslaughter should forever bar a person from public life, but it seems that Ron Asta, who is running for Tucson Mayor as a Republican, could probably face his past a little more frankly, and he could certainly deal with his current driving problems in a manner that would show more respect for other users of the road.
Asta told the Arizona Daily Star’s Josh Brodesky that his killing of 18 year old Jennifer Reeves when he ran a stop sign in 1994 was merely “an accident.” Well, it was an “accident” in the sense that he surely did not mean to kill this girl, but his continued driving is something that makes me afraid to share the road with him.
According to Brodesky, who includes an anecdote about being a terrified passenger in a car Asta is piloting, Asta has received 13 traffic tickets since 1992 and has attended Defensive Driving School six times. He admits that he is a dangerous driver, yet continues to drive.
I wish there were a way to keep such people off our streets, never mind out of City Hall.
–Erik Ryberg
Glenda Rumsey civil verdict overturned
The Arizona Court of Appeals has overturned the enormous civil verdict obtained by the Rincon family against Glenda Rumsey, Chuy’s, and the City of Tucson.
The Court found that some testimony by young Jose Rincon’s family members was inappropriate, because they testified as to the fault of the defendants — a matter they could not know.
The Arizona Daily Star has a fairly good article on the matter here.
The Court of Appeals ordered a new trial, although most likely what will happen now is a period of fierce negotiations between the parties to save everyone the cost and expense of a new trial.
Jose Rincon told the Star that his family has “done our best to honor [young Jose's] loss in the best way we can through the course of the legal proceedings, with grace and dignity, but we just wonder if it will ever end,” he said.
I don’t blame him for feeling that way. It’s been a long, long ordeal that the family no doubt wants to put behind them, so they can finally grieve and remember young Jose in the traditional fashion — out of sight of newspapers, the public, and bloggers like me. I hope the case does not go back to trial and that a settlement is quickly achieved that satisfies the family.
–Erik Ryberg
AZ Daily Star reminds us to remember that bicyclists do not pay for infrastructure
Oh for the love of . . .
Andrea Kelly, whose journalism I have praised in the past, finished her AZ Daily Star piece on the new 4th Avenue bike-paving with this doozy:
And while many won’t care whether there’s a new strip of pavement placed where bicyclists will likely ride, plenty of others will see that as a problem and will undoubtedly remind us that bicyclists don’t pay for infrastructure.
What does it mean to be “reminded” of something? It means to be made aware, once again, of something you once knew but had forgotten.
Is she trolling for on-line comments? Because that’s what it seems like. She admits in her own article that the project is being paid for with a sales tax, and surely she does not believe that bicyclists don’t ever buy anything.
There are so many problems with the “bicyclists don’t pay for infrastructure” argument that it is hard to know where to begin. Bicyclists don’t pay gas taxes for the miles they cover on their bikes, but that’s about where it ends. They pay for infrastructure in the normal ways like through state and federal taxes.
And of course, bicyclists pay dearly for infrastructure they don’t use, just like everybody else does. I pay for schools, but have no children. I pay for a military that I wish would stay at home. I pay to subsidize various industries I loathe and whose products I vow never to use. But like everyone else I also benefit in incomprehensible ways from living in a civilized country where there is give and take, and I’m proud of it.
Bicyclists also pay for infrastructure by not harming it in the first place. People on bikes don’t take up (many) parking spaces, don’t hold you up at the light, don’t wear down pavement, and almost never kill you if they hit you.
But everybody knows all this. The “bicyclists don’t pay for infrastructure” is not an argument about facts. Facts have nothing to do with it. It’s an argument about values. And the values argument is this: bicyclists get in my way. They are different from me and just by being there they make me feel guilty and lazy for sitting around on my fat ass, and I wish they would go away. Therefore, because they make me feel lazy, I am going to call them lazy: they always want to get something for nothing. And I am going to accuse them of not paying their way to do their silly, effete, elitist activity. They don’t contribute. They aren’t Americans.
–Erik Ryberg
Developers to Tucson bicyclists: Eff you and the bike you rode in on
(Apologies for the advertising in the above video)
Tucson has embarked on what it calls a “Sustainable Land Use Code Integration Project,” whose objective is “…to prepare a sustainability analysis of the Land Use Code, identify a series of recommended amendments to the [code], and ultimately to draft amendments that implement the City of Tucson’s sustainable goals and policies.”
A well-known threat to Tucson's sustainability is its over-abundant bike parking, which experts like Jason Wong,the developer interviewed in the above story, tell us is currently limiting our business's ability to prosper and thrive. So the City Council will be voting on a proposal to improve our sustainability by reducing the onerous bike parking requirements that are currently inhibiting sustainable development in the city.
You can attend the meeting and voice your support for more sustainability and fewer bikes at 5:30 PM on March 8 at the Mayor and Council Meeting, 255 W. Alameda Street.
Lots more information about this issue can be found here (Living Streets Alliance Website) and here (TucsonVelo.com story).
In case you are curious about what sustainable development looks like in the eyes of Mr. Wong, here's a satellite view of one of the properties he developed:
According to the internet (ahem), Mr. Wong is Director of Development for Red Point Development, Inc.. Here's what their Website says: "Red Point envisions, and succeeds, in creating sustainable and timeless communities and projects that are in balance socially, economically and environmentally. Our mission is to combine all of the resources, experience and knowledge available to us, and through our associates, to develop high-quality projects that create value for our partners as well as the surrounding community."
It's pretty to think so, isn't it?
--Erik Ryberg
Get’chyer bell on
–EBR
Over a year on a Workcycles Transport Bike
For Christmas in 2009 I bought myself an Azor/Workcycles Transport bike from Dutchbikeseattle.com. Now that I have had it for a year and ridden it nearly every day, I thought I should write up a review.
First of all, this bike gets an awful lot of attention. I get complimented on it just about wherever I go. I have had strangers yell at me from across the street that they love my bike! It is not at all unusual for me to notice people stopping to admire it when it is locked outside a store. Last summer I was buying pads for a swamp cooler and the salesman started telling me about this beautiful bike he had seen parked at Time Market. After a few moments it became obvious he was describing my bike. So, it clearly has style.
It was also expensive. $1750.00 worth of expensive. That part was pretty hard for me to swallow.
As for the mechanics, I have gotten one flat tire, the second day I had the bike. It’s outfitted with Schwalbe Marathon tires that are supposed to be practically invincible. I hope so, because taking the wheels off of this bike, especially the rear wheel, is an ordeal. I’ve never done it and don’t ever want to. I should mention that my commute involves a short stretch of dirt in a place where the local kids go to break bottles. I daily ride over the glass fearlessly, so the Schwalbe’s have lived up to their reputation.
Other than that one flat tire, my kickstand came a little bit loose once and the small mudflap fell off the front fender. I had to adjust the shifter cable tension once with the thumb-screw thing. And I had to tighten the nut that holds the front light in position after it came a little loose. Other than that I have had no mechanical issues at all.
The bike employs the famous Dutch-bike upright riding style, which I like a lot. It makes the rider about as aerodynamic as a two-story barn, but the general riding experience is way more relaxed. When I get on my road bike I immediately start wondering why I am bent over in such a horrible position.
The basket is mounted directly to the frame, so it does not turn with the wheel. Anyone who has ridden with a handlebar-mounted basked will quickly understand why frame-mounting is an enormous improvement. I’ve carried a basket full of river rock in that front basket, and hardly noticed a thing.
It has eight speeds, internally geared. I use three of them. The lowest appears to be about 1:1.
You can lock the rear wheel with a clever lock that is mounted to the frame.
It has drum brakes, and a front generator hub powers front and rear lights. The rear stays on for a few minutes when you stop. The rear rack has some very clever bungee-cords that, unlike most bungee cords, do not threaten to snap and blind you. I also have a waterproof set of panniers that strap directly to the rack.
I don’t know how much this bike weighs but I will say that you would not want to carry it up a flight of stairs every day. Honestly, I don’t much notice the weight except when I am going up a hill (read: the 4th Avenue Tunnel) or starting from a dead stop. Once I get moving all I notice is how much I like riding this bike. I should say though that I have noticed that when I think I may have to ride all the way across town — say to River Road from downtown — I find myself riding the road bike to work. However, I’ve also ridden the Transport twelve miles at a stretch, and it takes longer but I don’t arrive any worse for the wear — in fact probably better, because I’ve been more comfortable along the way.
The convenience of having lights, a basket, and a lock all mounted to the bike is huge for me. I don’t really have to think about, or look for, anything when I get on the bike. And the full chaincase cover means I can be wearing whatever, including a suit, and not have to worry about getting grease marks on my clothes.
Finally, the components on this bike seem to be quite good. How long does it take to wear out a Brooks B-19 saddle? The thing is built like a tank, but it rolls like a Mercedes. I couldn’t be more pleased. It was worth the money.