Last month, a community hung under the pale of the unknown after a Peoria Unified student sustained critical injuries from a pedestrian vehicle accident at 98th Avenue and Deer Valley Road.
Sunset Heights Elementary School student River Jaice Argame remained in the hospital after the collision on March 9, but died from his injuries about two weeks later.
The loss hit home with many students and parents because Argame walked to Liberty High School from Sunset Heights in the mornings for a first-hour class, and was hit by the vehicle in the crosswalk.
Police say impairment does not appear to be a factor, but many Sunset Heights students grief stricken after the incident felt something needed to be done.
At a recent PUSD governing board meeting, eighth-grader Isabella Mahl spoke publicly about the tragedy and said Argame’s death should be memorialized.
She said she and her classmates collected signatures from all eighth-graders and the majority of the seventh graders to support making that area safer.
“We believe precautions should be put in place (at the intersection),” Mahl said. “We want the school board and city council to discuss how to make the road safer.”
The city government, who has control over public road improvements in Peoria, is responding.
Peoria spokesman Tim Eiden said in response to feedback from the community, students, the mayor and council, and the school district, as well as after evaluating complex variables, Peoria engineers will be taking a number of measures to enhance safety along the Deer Valley Road Liberty High School corridor, from 98th to 95th avenues.
Officials said immediate changes, which are underway, include converting the existing crosswalks at 98th and 95th avenues to high-visibility crosswalks. This includes adding ladder-style striping between the two parallel lines of the crosswalk.
“The additional stripes add more reflective, bright-white paint to the area, increasing the visibility of the crosswalk,” Eiden said.
In an effort to enhance the visibility of the traffic signal indications, the city also will install yellow retroreflective tape around the traffic signal heads. This work should be completed in the next few months, he said.
Lastly, the city will conduct a pilot program to create a speed reduction zone on Deer Valley Road while school is in session. This will include reducing the speed limit to 30 mph.
Design for this work is beginning, and the actual timing for implementation will depend on materials and equipment procurement, he said.
“The speed reduction zone on Deer Valley Road will be studied for its effectiveness and considered for future expansion to all Peoria schools that are adjacent to an arterial road,” Eiden said.
PUSD spokeswoman Danielle Airey said the tragic accident deeply impacted the Sunset Heights and Liberty communities.
“We commend the students for turning their grief into civic engagement,” she said. “We work closely with the city regarding traffic safety to and from school and they have been a tremendous support as we collaborate to make the routes to school as safe as possible for our students.”
Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Meet Philip Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.
Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater.
Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.
Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.
Peoria Unified School District,
student,
injuries,
fatality,
pedestrian vehicle accident,
car accident,
Deer Valley Road,
police,
public safety,
first responders,
traffic
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