A woman riding a mobility scooter suffered life-threatening injuries Monday afternoon after a driver struck her while she crossed Northern Avenue near 21st Avenue in Phoenix, according to police. Officers and fire crews responded to the crash around 3:30 p.m., and the woman was rushed to a hospital with critical injuries.
Phoenix police said the car did not see the woman before the collision, according to ABC15 Arizona. The driver stayed at the scene and cooperated with the investigation, and no impairment has been determined at this time.
What Arizona Law Says About Scooter Riders and Signals
Under Arizona law, people operating motorized wheelchairs or electric mobility devices are legally classified as pedestrians, meaning they carry the same rights and responsibilities as anyone on foot in a crosswalk, per Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-101. Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-645 prohibits pedestrians from entering a roadway against a red signal and generally grants right-of-way to drivers facing a green light, provided those drivers yield to anyone already lawfully in the crosswalk.
That statute does not end the legal analysis, however. Arizona Revised Statutes § 28-794 imposes an independent duty on drivers to exercise “due care” to avoid hitting a pedestrian, including sounding the horn when necessary and taking extra precautions around anyone who appears incapacitated or vulnerable. And under Arizona's pure comparative fault framework, outlined in Arizona Revised Statutes § 12-2505, civil liability can still be divided between a driver and a pedestrian based on each party's share of negligence, according to Saguaro Injury Law. In other words, crossing against a signal does not automatically clear a driver of responsibility.
A Corridor Already on the City's Radar
A project snapshot lists Northern Avenue among corridors proposed for study, according to the City of Phoenix. The stretch has drawn repeated concern after severe pedestrian incidents, including a hit-and-run crash near 27th Avenue last month and a fatal pedestrian collision at that same intersection in October 2025, as previously reported by earlier Hoodline coverage.
Statewide, Arizona recorded 263 pedestrian fatalities and 123,535 total motor vehicle collisions in 2024, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation's 2024 Motor Vehicle Crash Facts report. Maricopa County logged 88,094 traffic collisions in 2024, per data compiled by Kent Law.
More recent numbers offer a somewhat brighter picture. ADOT's latest figures showed a third consecutive annual drop in statewide traffic fatalities in 2025, including decreases in both pedestrian and bicyclist deaths compared to 2024, as reported by KTAR News. Even so, transportation officials have noted that overall fatality numbers remain elevated, and corridors like Northern Avenue continue to see high-severity crashes.
Investigation Ongoing as Officers Urge Caution
The investigation into Monday's crash remains ongoing, and officers have asked the public to avoid the area near 21st Avenue and Northern Avenue.
