A friend and I rode out to the scene of Sunday’s fatal crash to get a sense of what the area looked like.
This particular stretch of Escalante has a fairly wide paved shoulder and the road in each direction is separated by a large dirt median. One thing we noticed while standing there is that drivers were certainly going faster than the posted 35 miles per hour limit.
The debris from the crash stretches for several hundred feet. 
We started a makeshift memorial for Albert Brack.
I recall news media reporting that he was in a “bike lane.” The photo looks more like a stripe and a shoulder. It’s not a bike lane.
I recall news media reporting that he was in a “bike lane.” The photo looks more like a stripe and a shoulder. It’s not a bike lane.
Although I don’t have the facts of the case, I’d be willing to venture that the driver was under the influence of something.
Reason: This is a clear, unobstructed stretch of road. And the incident happened at a time when vehicular traffic was light.
The bike lane ( and helmet thing) presented by Arizona Daily Star sources from the TPD media release:
http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/files/police/media-releases/fatal_collision_-_escalantecalexico.pdf
Mindless regurgitation is the best the sad Arizona Daily Star can afford to do…
The bike lane ( and helmet thing) presented by Arizona Daily Star sources from the TPD media release:
http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/files/police/media-releases/fatal_collision_-_escalantecalexico.pdf
Mindless regurgitation is the best the sad Arizona Daily Star can afford to do…
I called it a bike lane too, which was “regurgitated” from the press release too. I was schooled by Ed Beighe at http://azbikelaw.org/ that it wasn’t a bike lane.
I’m thinking a story that is in plain English describing what a bike lane is and isn’t will be helpful.
Although I do think most people would not look a shoulder and a bike lane and call them different things. The distinction is important legally, though.
Lastly, I hope I made up for the regurgitation by tracking down the court records of the driver, speaking with the victims family and visiting the scene!
You’re doing a great job at micro journalism…it’s really interesting to watch all this.
After reading TPD’s “Media Release” I learned that what I earlier called a “stripe” is more accurately described as a “fog line.”
Yeah, that kind of jumped out at Red Star: what the heck is a “fog line?”
Explanation please, Matt Ronstadt, TPD…
In any case, the guy was just out riding his bike on public roadway.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s technically a bike lane or not. The deceased had the right to be pedaling there, and the driver was legally bound to drive with due care with respect to the cyclist, including passing him with a minimum distance of 3ft separating the two.
Worrying about whether it was a bike lane or not only plays into the hands of those motorists that want to marginalize cyclists or even prevent cyclist from having access to the roads. Way too many motorists believe we shouldn’t be allowed to ride on the roads, except those roads that have specifically marked bike lanes. If we don’t expressly argue that is wrong and vigilantly promote our rights to the road, we take another step backward, further from gaining equality on the roads.
The TDOT map of Escalante shows the section at Calexico as a bike route and the speed limit as 40 mph. If you overlay the street signs it would appear that the signs on either end of this section are 40 mph.
I’m not sure that anyone has actually worried about whether or not this road has a bike lane. It clearly doesn’t matter. This section of road would absent an impaired driver be an extremely safe place to ride on a Sunday during daylight hours.
Reading some of the stories in the links section of the past several days I ran across a story that talked about automobile speeds in relationship to bicyclist deaths. In northern European city cores with mixed bicycle automobile traffic the average speeds of cars are about 20 mph. At 20 mph automobile bicycle collisions are not usually fatal in fact they are usually minor. Move the speed up to 30mph and injuries increase for the bicyclist but they usually survive at 40 mph however the odds are that the cyclist is more likely to die than survive.
The TDOT map of Escalante shows the section at Calexico as a bike route and the speed limit as 40 mph. If you overlay the street signs it would appear that the signs on either end of this section are 40 mph.
I’m not sure that anyone has actually worried about whether or not this road has a bike lane. It clearly doesn’t matter. This section of road would absent an impaired driver be an extremely safe place to ride on a Sunday during daylight hours.
Reading some of the stories in the links section of the past several days I ran across a story that talked about automobile speeds in relationship to bicyclist deaths. In northern European city cores with mixed bicycle automobile traffic the average speeds of cars are about 20 mph. At 20 mph automobile bicycle collisions are not usually fatal in fact they are usually minor. Move the speed up to 30mph and injuries increase for the bicyclist but they usually survive at 40 mph however the odds are that the cyclist is more likely to die than survive.
Unfortunately, the speed differential between cyclists and autos in Tucson isn’t likely to decrease. It’s pretty obvious driving around the city that a great number of drivers exceed the speed limit by more than a small margin and do so aggressively (exercise control and due caution when changing lanes? pffft). There appears to be little speed limit enforcement (granted, TPD and surrounding depts are greatly understaffed). Road rage is way too common here. Most worrisome is that Tucsonans as a whole just don’t seem to care. No matter how many cyclists or pedestrians get killed, the population doesn’t have the will to take steps to prevent such tragedies.
@PsiSquared:disqus : Absolutely agree that in this instance it makes no difference if this is a designated bike lane or not; the cyclist chose to use the shoulder and that was a perfectly valid and legal choice.However.
I disagree generally with the second part of your comment. It seems to me that the widespread belief that there are bike lanes everywhere (which is both wrong and seems to be the case) is absolutely catastrophic in terms of cyclists’ right to use the road.
The stripe is variously called a shoulder stripe, fog line. The MUTCD calls it an “edge line” which is probably the most correct term, I am not a big fan of edge lines in urban (i.e. not rural) settings. Here is a reference to the section of MUTCD:
http://azbikelaw.org/blog/is-this-a-bike-lane/
I agree with your comment re: the widespread belief that there are bike lanes everywhere. I wasn’t commenting specifically on that road stripe, “fog line”, on Escalante. My point was bike lane or not (in this case, not), the motorist failed in his legal obligations. Conflating cyclists’ rights on the road and the legal obligations of cyclists and motorists on the road with bike lane issues is wrong. One is a legal matter, and the other is a way that can potentially make travel for cyclists safer (as well as easier, more convenient, and etc).
The confusion and mistaken belief(s) about what is and isn’t a bike lane is just another sign of failure in education, enforcement, and due respect and regard. Unfortunately, in this case it may well turn out that no matter any of those factors, the real cause was patent disregard for fellow humans (a requirement for driving while under the influence) and the failure of the legal system to appropriately punish DUI offenders.
@PsiSquared:disqus ” failure of the legal system to appropriately punish DUI offenders.”The penalties for simple DUI (i.e. “just” dui, not involving any collision) have been recently watered-down. It seems to me this is a rather dramatic turn-about, and i haven’t heard much about it:
http://azbikelaw.org/blog/az-legislature-tweaks-dui-laws/
On the other hand, dui involving a death are routinely charged and convicted of manslaughter and draws a sentence of 10 years in prison… IMO, no slap on the wrist. I wonder what would help??? This is such a loss all the way around.
@PsiSquared:disqus ” failure of the legal system to appropriately punish DUI offenders.”The penalties for simple DUI (i.e. “just” dui, not involving any collision) have been recently watered-down. It seems to me this is a rather dramatic turn-about, and i haven’t heard much about it:
http://azbikelaw.org/blog/az-legislature-tweaks-dui-laws/
On the other hand, dui involving a death are routinely charged and convicted of manslaughter and draws a sentence of 10 years in prison… IMO, no slap on the wrist. I wonder what would help??? This is such a loss all the way around.