A dangerous cycle path: Arizona’s growth is killing bicyclists

Goodyear is known for its vibrant biking community and rolling bike paths.

“People from Scottsdale, Ahwatukee and the outlying regions drive all the way out for our rides because it tends to be the safest,” said David Herzog, founder of West Valley Cycle. “Even though we just had that tragedy.”

In February, a pickup driver plowed through one of Herzog’s cycling groups on a rural bridge in Goodyear. In a white pickup truck, the driver killed two and injured 19. 

“He hit everyone, but the very last rider who happened to just miss,” Herzog said. “He didn't stop for 579 feet. There were two people that were stuck in the grill. At some point, when you hit something, you hit the brake.

Last year, a pickup driver struck 13-year-old Dylan Buensuceso in Goodyear, killing him. Richard Carlos Romo, fled the scene in a white truck. He was arrested in his Goodyear home two days later, less than half a mile away from the Buensuceso’s home.

These Goodyear tragedies are only a snapshot of Arizona and America's systemic problem – biking deaths are rising after the pandemic, and it’s only worsening.

Nationally, bicycle injuries and fatalities increased by 16% during the first year of the pandemic. In Arizona, cyclist fatalities soared by 40% the year following. Additionally, Census and National Transportation Safety Board data indicate Phoenix, Tucson and their counties experience heightened risks for cyclists due to more unsheltered individuals, more state-to-state immigration, large vehicle culture and a lack of road safety controls.

More Bicycles, More SUVs, More Fatalities

After Covid-19 shut down the country, many gyms across Arizona temporarily closed. Exercise enthusiasts quickly looked for a safe way to maintain their fitness while in lockdown.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, individuals turned to the bicycle as a natural way to exercise and mitigate the risk of virus spread since “exercising alone was a better way to reduce risk.” The hobby also afforded individuals a reasonable means of transportation in the uncertain future of the pandemic.

As a result, bicycle sales skyrocketed. According to inflation-adjusted figures published by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Americans spent $7 billion on bicycles and accessories in 2020, the first year of the pandemic — almost $1 billion, up from $6.1 billion in 2019. The trend continued in 2021 when consumers spent $8 billion.

The influx of bikes and bike use in Arizona inevitably may have led to a rise in fatalities and injuries. 

In 2021, Arizonans saw a 40% increase in biking fatalities during the previous year, according to Arizona's Department of Transportation's factsheet database. In total, 1012 nonfatal and fatal bike accidents occurred, a 21% increase over the last year’s 830.

Preliminary data also suggests fatalities will rise in 2022 to around 8% once the data analysis is finalized, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The rise in bike sales met an increase in state-to-state immigration in Arizona. After the pandemic, Maricopa County gained the most people in the nation in the two years following 2020, according to 2023 and 2022 U.S. Census Bureau reports.

Along with the rise of domestic immigration came an increase in homelessness in the state.

According to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the Phoenix area has increased by 21% since 2020. 

“The unsheltered use their bicycles in combination with public transportation to get to resources,” said Megan Kepler, a community advocate and member of Feed Phoenix. “There are far more folks around the Valley than inside the zone, but they have to use bicycles and public transportation to get assistance at different shelters, resource centers and food kitchens. I would say a pretty significant portion depend on bicycles.”

Even without bikes, unsheltered and urban communities are disproportionately impacted. 

According to Smart Growth America, a nonprofit dedicated to improving communities, Arizona ranked fourth in pedestrian deaths in the years leading up to the pandemic (2016-20) at 2.8 deaths per 100,000. 

Russ Rader, a representative from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, suggests America’s growing obsession with trucks and SUVs, compounded by more bicycle use, may have contributed to increased cyclist deaths. 

“The cyclist deaths were consistently decreasing in the early 2000s,” he said. “That reversed about when SUVs started to become increasingly popular with consumers.”

In 2022, Rader’s institute reported SUVs and trucks were more likely to hit pedestrians than traditional-sized cars. They found that when trucks or SUVs turn, the blindspots, like the a-pillars in the diagonal sections of the vehicle, may block drivers' sight of pedestrians or cyclists on the road.

Additionally, a forthcoming report from the institute, to be released later this month, indicates that larger vehicles' height and size play a fatal role along with the visibility issue.

“One of the main findings is that the higher front ends of SUVs add to the risk for cyclists when struck,” Rader said. “If an SUV strikes a cyclist compared with a car, the head injuries sustained by cyclists in are twice as severe.”

The data on head injuries in the upcoming report is from a database from the International Center for Automotive Medicine.

According to Rader, when a cyclist is struck by a taller vehicle above the cyclist's center of gravity, they're more likely to be thrust forward and hit the ground. As a result, they’re run over by the striking SUV or truck. For traditional vehicles, a bicyclist may hit a car's roof and roll off.

A bridge too far

Before the pandemic, Maricopa County was one of the worst large counties, according to NHTSA data. From 2011 to 2020, Maricopa County experienced 3.5 cycling fatalities per 100,000 people. Ranking fourth worse only behind Pima County (4.1) in southern Arizona and Suffolk County, New York (4.1), and Broward County, Florida (6.2).

As a state, Arizona ranks third in deaths per 100,000 at 3.2. Florida and Louisiana rank second and first at 3.3 and 3.4, respectively.

In Goodyear, according to the preliminary National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the February wreck, the bridge had a posted speed limit of 45 mph. The pickup driver recklessly flew into a concrete bridge railing. Following the impact with the railing, the pickup truck veered back to the left, striking the bicyclists he was approaching from behind, according to the NTSB report.

“Reckless driving has been increasing,” Rader said. “This new report will be the first part of our effort to look at what changes could be made to SUV (and truck) design to reduce the risk for cyclists. It also points to the need to reduce traffic speeds to help protect cyclists and pedestrians.”

The National Association of City Transportation recommends a protected route for roads that have bike lanes where vehicles pass faster than 35 miles per hour.

Instead of protection in lanes, six states have adopted speed reduction in legislation for passing cyclists; Arizona is not one of them. 

“With the Vision Zero programs around the country, a lot more communities are looking at lowering speed limits, especially in urban areas,” Rader said. “We also need to enforce the speed limits we already have. The United States doesn't utilize speed safety cameras to enforce speed limits as much as other countries do.”

The Vision Zero program seeks to increase meaningful collaboration among local traffic planners, engineers, policymakers, and public health professionals by implementing best practices in roadway design, speeds, behaviors, technology, and policies. The stated goal of Vision Zero is to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries while increasing safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for all.

Tempe and 44 other cities in America have made Vision Zero pledges.

Because of its meteoric growth, the city of Goodyear progressively plans for bicycle safety in its 2025 expansion plan.

“Outside of the recreational characteristic of Goodyear’s bicycle and pedestrian network, connectivity to amenities and resources such as schools and commercial centers provide opportunities to use active transportation for nonrecreational trips,” said Goodyear’s transportation planning manager Chris Bridges. “By using the guidance of the city’s general plan and transportation master plan, we will be able to identify gaps and needs for the bicycle network so we may better plan to include safety-related improvements through better connectivity, adequate spacing, dedicated roadway crossing locations, and shared use pathways that are detached from the roadway.”

Bridges said the city is continually striving to make improvements whenever possible.

Protecting yourself, doing the right thing

In March, the driver in the Goodyear accident, Pedro Quintana-Lujan, was sued by one of the victims for restitution on top of the criminal charges. He's facing two counts of manslaughter, three counts of aggravated assault, 18 counts of endangerment and two counts of causing serious injury or death by a moving violation.

Quintana-Lujan was a laborer on his way to a worksite when he struck the cyclists.

It’s unknown if he has significant money to reimburse the victims for out-of-pocket costs and loss of liberty and work. But experts close to the matter believe it’s unlikely.

Personal injury attorney Sam Saks of Guidant Law in Tempe recommends upping your auto insurance to prepare for the worse.

“So if you're a pedestrian hit by a car, your uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage can apply,” he said. “Your own auto insurance, if you have the proper coverage, can actually cover you if a vehicle causes you injury, even if they flee the scene if you have UM, which is uninsured. Underinsured is similar, except the person has insurance. They have the minimum limits, in this incident, they hit multiple people. They are probably not going to have enough insurance to cover everybody.”

Saks also encourages drivers to do the right thing if a driver accidentally strikes a cyclist.

“It's a civil matter, resolved with insurance or not, it is what it is,” he said. “If you leave a scene now, you've turned it into a criminal matter and a civil matter. So that's a problem.”

Michael McDaniel can be reached at mmcdaniel@iniusa.org. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.