South Phoenix Man, 38, Dies Days After Mid-Block Crash on Baseline Road

A 38-year-old South Phoenix man has died nearly a week after he was struck by a car while crossing Baseline Road outside a marked crosswalk. Peter Griffin was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after the collision near 7th Avenue and Baseline Road on August 12, and he died at the hospital on Tuesday.

Phoenix police officers were called to the scene around 8 p.m. that evening to respond to a crash involving a vehicle and a pedestrian, according to KTAR News 92.3 FM. Officers arrived to find Griffin with life-threatening injuries, and the Phoenix Fire Department transported him to a nearby hospital. The driver remained at the scene, and authorities have said impairment was not believed to be a factor in the crash. Detectives from the Phoenix Police Department's Vehicular Crimes Unit took over the investigation after responding to multiple 911 calls about the collision, as reported by the Phoenix Independent. Griffin survived for six days in critical condition before succumbing to his injuries on August 18, per 12 News.

What Arizona Law Says About Mid-Block Crossings

Police say Griffin was crossing Baseline Road mid-block, outside of a crosswalk, when he was hit. Under Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-793, pedestrians crossing a roadway anywhere other than a marked crosswalk or unmarked intersection crosswalk are legally required to yield the right-of-way to vehicles, according to the Arizona State Legislature.

That does not automatically clear a driver of responsibility. Arizona's driver duty statute, A.R.S. § 28-794, still requires drivers to exercise due care to avoid hitting pedestrians, and under the state's pure comparative fault law, A.R.S. § 12-2505, fault in mid-block crashes can be shared if factors like speed or distraction are present, according to a legal analysis published by AZ Law Now. Insurance adjusters often point to a mid-block crossing to limit liability, but courts weigh a driver's overall awareness and speed as well, the analysis notes.

A Dangerous Stretch of Baseline Road

The stretch where Griffin was hit isn't just any street corner. The intersection of 7th Avenue and Baseline Road ranked #47 on the Maricopa Association of Governments' Top 100 Intersections by Crash Risk, with 119 traffic collisions recorded there over a five-year tracking period, according to data cited by Paul Ticen Law. Baseline Road is a wide, multi-lane arterial in South Phoenix with long distances between marked pedestrian crossings, a design that pushes some pedestrians toward mid-block crossings in the first place.

Darkness may have also played a role. The crash happened around 8 p.m., after nightfall, and 2024 Arizona Department of Transportation crash statistics analyzed by Ramos Law found that 76% of all pedestrian fatalities statewide occurred in dark conditions, accounting for 200 of the 261 pedestrian deaths recorded that year.

Arizona's Pedestrian Safety Crisis

Griffin's death adds to a grim statewide pattern. Arizona's pedestrian fatality rate reached 3.6 per 100,000 residents in 2024, the second-highest rate in the nation behind New Mexico and nearly double the national average, according to Governors Highway Safety Association data reported by KJZZ.

Maricopa County bears the brunt of that toll. State transportation data shows the county accounted for 73% of all pedestrian crashes across Arizona in 2024, recording 1,516 pedestrian collisions and 158 pedestrian deaths out of 263 total statewide fatalities, per the same analysis from AZ Law Now. Pedestrian collisions statewide carry a fatality rate of 12.55%, compared to just 0.92% for overall traffic crashes, making them more than 13 times more likely to prove deadly, according to the Ramos Law analysis.

The City of Phoenix has folded Vision Zero goals into its municipal Road Safety Action Plan since 2022, using a High Injury Network updated in 2024 to map high-risk arterial corridors like Baseline Road and direct infrastructure funding toward eliminating severe crashes, according to the City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department. Whether that effort reaches the stretch where Griffin died remains to be seen, but his death underscores just how dangerous the wide arterials crisscrossing South Phoenix remain for anyone on foot after dark.