A pedestrian is fighting for his life after being struck by a vehicle on Halloween night at the intersection of Park Avenue and Bilby Road on Tucson's south side. The man, whose identity has not been released, suffered life-threatening injuries in the crash and was rushed to a hospital. He had been walking on the shoulder of the road when a vehicle hit him around 8 p.m. Saturday.
According to KOLD, the Tucson Police Department confirmed the man was walking on the shoulder when he was hit, and that he remained unidentified as of the report. The driver who struck him stayed at the scene and cooperated with investigators, police said, and was not impaired at the time of the crash.
A Familiar Intersection With a Troubled History
This is not the first time the stretch near Bilby and Park has made headlines for a pedestrian being struck. In an earlier incident reported by KVOA, a pedestrian was hit near the same intersection in a hit-and-run, with the driver fleeing the scene. That pedestrian, also a man, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, a notably different outcome than the one investigators are now grappling with following Saturday's crash.
Police have not released further details about this weekend's crash, including the driver's identity or whether any citations have been issued. The investigation remains active, and no additional updates on the injured man's condition have been made public.
Pedestrian Deaths Remain a Persistent Problem Countywide
Saturday's crash lands amid a broader pattern of pedestrian deaths across the region. Pima County recorded 48 pedestrian deaths in 2023, down from 72 the year before, according to data reported by The Arizona Republic. Within Tucson itself, 39 pedestrians were killed that same year, and officials who ran toxicology screens on 30 of those victims found that 73% tested positive for drugs or alcohol.
The outlet's reporting also found that nearly half of all Tucson crashes between 2014 and 2018 happened on arterial roadways, even though those streets make up just 3% of the city's road network. The city's own Pedestrian Safety Action Plan notes that speed is often the deciding factor in survival: a pedestrian struck by a vehicle going 20 mph faces a 10% risk of death, but that risk jumps to 80% at 40 mph, per the same report.
No information has been released about the speed involved in Saturday's crash, and investigators have not said whether any charges are being considered against the driver, who police say remained cooperative throughout the response. For now, the man injured at Park and Bilby remains in life-threatening condition, with his identity and prognosis still unknown.
