The Tucson Police Department’s photo-radar van will be in the following areas on Wednesday, Sept. 5
- 7 to 9 a.m.: Elementary on Rita Road at Rankin Loop
- 9:30 to 1:30 p.m.: On Camino Seco near Escalante Road
- 2 to 4 p.m.: Booth/Ficket Elementary on Kolb Road near Timrod Street
- 4:30-8 p.m.: On Kolb Road near 22nd Street
This article appears in Aug 30 – Sep 5, 2007.
Over 100 people die every day in vehicle crashes in the United States.
Sorry to interrupt folks, but:
Breaking news: There was a stabbing at UA Two-person incident, at least one being a female, reports KVOA’s Quinn Schuler. Both transported to hospital. The incident happened at 6 a.m. at the Graham-Greenlee Residence Hall, a co-ed underclassmen dorm.
(please delete if inappropriate for the blog – I just find this to be big news)
Actually, probably that should be deleted. But considering it happened inside a dorm – I mean, wow.
This week in Arizona. 25-year-old R.L. Myers was speeding when he ran a red light and killed an entire family of five. The family included children 4, 9, and 11 years old. Myers was traveling 65 MPH on a zone with a marked 40 MPH speed limit.
This will not make national headlines because the killer was not an illegal Mexican. Just a regular American in a big fucking hurry.
But he would have hit that family’s vehicle no matter what speed he had been going because he ran the red light. In this particulat case, if he had not run the red light, the argument (and accident) fizzles out.
I understand Tortillas, but the next comment, HUH?
If you’re talking about my post about the UA stabbing, it was entirely reactionary and I felt word needed to get out there, but there were no blog posts about the stabbing on the TW blog and still in reactionary mode I inappropriately hijacked a thread. That’s I shortly afterward wrote something to communicate, “probably that should be deleted – this isn’t the forum for this”.
__
As for responding about red light running–
I read Tortillas’ last comment as saying that speeding caused the accident. I am saying that the accident happened because Myers ran the red light.
I’m certain the damage caused was augmented by the amount of speed Myers was doing — that’s basic physics — but if he had stopped at that intersection instead of running the red light, the accident would not have happened to begin with.
Red light running is one of the worst habits among drivers, because there’s always that other person who thinks it’s clear to make a left turn assuming the other person is stopping for the red light, or the guy who races immediately into the intersection once that green light hits.
Don’t know what it’s like in bastion of liberalism, but here, crimes committed by Mexican illegas get twice the press. Rather than “A man kills 3…” it’s “Another illegal alien kills…”
Maybe it’s just fox news.
One of the most common reasons for running lights is that when a car is traveling 65 MPH rather than 40, the driver decides rather than hard-stop when he/she sees the yellow, to punch it. Have you ever done this? Will you tell grandma you killed her grandchildren and her children, but it wasn’t the speed.
It wasn’t the speed? Had the killer been driving 5 milers per hour slower, he may have missed the family of 5.
I heard a hundred arguments of how it’s not the speed. It’s the other driver! He ran the red! His tire blew out, that why he crashed! A dog ran across!
OMG! I’m so sorry about all that gloom-n-doom. I did a huge water-pipe hit, had half a left-over pastrami sandwich washed down with some Orangina, and now I’m totally cool with speeding. Sorry about that.
How about that HoCo Festival? Any of you cats get some BBQ? Somebody told me they spotted famous Weekly writer James Nintzel in an embrace with entertainer Chic Cashman. Not that you should read anything into that.
MW, I was referring to your response to Tortillas. Your second response has me even more baffled.
It wasn’t the speed? Had the killer been driving 5 milers per hour slower, he may have missed the family of 5.
True, but if we’re playing the “what if he was in the intersection at a different point in time” game, if Myers had been driving 5 miles per hour faster, a collision may have been avoided too. Less logical, but still holds merit.
Then again in either what-if case he could have hit something, or someone, else and done just the same damage because it was running a red light.
I do agree with your statement that people who are more aggressive on the road are willing to run red lights. Overall, though, I think we may need to agree to disagree on some elements of this particular issue. It’s a slippery slope to say that most speeders automatically run red lights. Even people going the speed limit sometimes will punch it when that yellow comes.
(I don’t know what the following other two posts were all about)
To break it down, I’m differentiating running a red light with speeding. Myers could have sped all he wanted, but it was because he ran the red light is why that accident in the intersection occurred. It does not mean either action is good. Tortillas made a good point that running red lights and speeding has a strong correlation, but to connect both behaviors as automatic (or inseparable — i.e. saying “all speeders also run red lights”) doesn’t work.
Myers ran the red light, which is why he hit that family’s car. He could have stopped at the intersection from whatever (or any) speed he was going, and it would not have happened*.
* – assuming he could get his car stopped well enough before entering the intersection.
Absolutely true MW, all very good points.
I vilify the act of “willful speeding”, the act of disregarding traffic LAWS and social consideration to others. And these same drivers that have expectations that others will behave in a lawful manner in other areas of social interaction.
I was shooting my gun in the air this past weekend. An angry dude came out of his house and said “Hey! What the fuck! You’re gonna kill one of them kids playing over there!!
I says, “Dude! It ain’t guns that kills peoples, it’s freakin’ gravity!”
Then I shot I couple plugs at the little children’s feet to scatter ’em. After all, they won’t be killed by my bullet if they ain’t in my bullet’s way. Peace!
Maybe this Blog needs an area for general posts so that people are not limited to only commenting on individual blog posts.
Also it would be cool if each Tucson Weekly story had a comments section where people could react to that article. That would require a lot of moderation though.
Yeah. Sweet Tomatoes on the Moon. And Oil-Pulling. Stuff like that.
Sam: All of this is being considered for our upcoming Web/blog redesign.
Great ideas! When’s that redesign? I wanna post more imagery. All these words, yuk!
Oh God, let a comment-on-each-article experiment not dissolve into the cesspool that is the Daily Star’s forum.
We don’t need the Free Republic here in Tucson; we have the ADS site.