Yesterday morning, an incident occurred near the ASU Tempe campus when a driver in a small SUV collided with a group of bicyclists. According to FOX 10 Phoenix, the crash took place around 7:45 a.m. near College Avenue and 15th Street. The impact left five cyclists injured with varying degrees of severity, though all are expected to recover.
Of those injured, three individuals were taken to the hospital with serious conditions reported by AZ Family. Although their injuries were significant, it does not appear that their lives are threatened. As the investigation continued, the area around the scene was temporarily closed, with drivers being asked to seek alternate routes. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, with alcohol not considered a factor, the police say.
In the aftermath of the collision, two local cyclists, Nathaniel Davis and Narissa Sandecki, who were having taken a different path, arrived at the scene to render aid. Davis, having been the victim of a similar accident himself, spoke about the distress of seeing friends harmed and the ongoing risks faced by the biking community every time they venture out onto the roads. "It's nothing that anybody that rides a bike wants to go into and see your friends being hauled off in ambulances," Davis told FOX 10 Phoenix. He continued, remembering his own ordeal, "I have a titanium rod in my leg. I was hit in 2011 by someone running a red light, and since then, I've just been really hard on people that don't care about what's around them."
A witness described the SUV's behavior as aggressive prior to the accident, an alarming detail that is sure to be a significant part of the ongoing investigation. “She said that he was right behind them for a good amount of time and sort of was yo-yo-ing and just plowed through them. She said, verbatim, she said, ‘They flew up like bowling pins,’” recounted Davis, sharing what he had been told by the witness, in a statement obtained by FOX 10 Phoenix. Concerned for the safety of all road users, Sandecki highlighted the need for more awareness and consideration from drivers. "Look up your bike laws. It’s not in the driving test, but it should be in the driving test. That’s probably the one thing that I would love to have changed, is that you are legally supposed to give us three feet. Just give us the space," she said.
