After 2 teens die walking near schools, police call for drivers to stay focused
Nov. 15 was a deadly day for students in the West Valley.
A 14-year-old boy was fatally struck by a minivan on 83rd Avenue between Cactus Road and Grand Avenue in Peoria hours before a school bus struck and killed 13-year-old Peyton Munger at the intersection of 144th Avenue and Indian School Road in Goodyear.
The 14-year-old boy, who has not been identified, attended Peoria High School while Munger was an eighthgrader at Western Sky Middle School.
Both were struck and killed near their schools, police in each city said.
Officer Brandon Sheffert, a spokesman for the Peoria Police Department, recommended pedestrians pay more attention to traffic than their smartphones.
And to drivers, Sheffert said, “Focus 100% of your attention on your driving. ... Don’t let anything distract you. And same with pedestrians crossing a crosswalk: Make sure you’re paying attention and not just turning into traffic.”
Sheffert reiterated that the cause of the fatal collision in Peoria remained under investigation and that his suggestions were not necessarily related to how the boy’s death occurred.
Lisa Berry, a spokeswoman for the Goodyear Police Department, echoed Sheffert.
“You see people with their earbuds in or they’re texting and walking or on the phone and walking and they’re just not paying attention,” Berry said. “And certainly that goes for drivers — to remind them that their one and only job when they’re behind the wheel is to pay 100% attention to that road in front of them.”
Arizona banned handheld cellphone use in April, after Salt River tribal police Officer Clayton Townsend was struck and killed by a distracted driver in January.
Berry also suggested drivers and pedestrians make eye contact with each other and try to anticipate each other’s actions when crossing the street. She added that while general speed limits are “reasonable and prudent,” school zone speed limits are absolute.
“That 15 miles per hour is the absolute posted limit,” Berry said. “There’s also no passing in school zones.”
Staying safe as a pedestrian
Pedestrian deaths have been an ongoing issue in Arizona, which has ranked among top states for such crashes nationally in recent years. A state report released this summer showed traffic crashes involving pedestrians continued to rise in 2018 across the state, with most occurring in the Phoenix area.
Detective Greg Bacon, a spokesman for the Tempe Police Department, said pedestrians can best protect themselves by ensuring the driver approaching them isn’t distracted before crossing the street.
“(Be) 100% sure that if there’s a car coming and you decided to cross that you’ve made eye contact with that driver and it’s safe to cross,” Bacon said. “Because if the driver’s looking down, they haven’t seen you.”
He added that the existence of a crossing guard with a stop sign and a waving hand isn’t a guarantee an approaching driver has seen them either.
Bacon said he noticed high school students often jaywalk and advised drivers to remain vigilant because pedestrian activity doesn’t always follow what the law demands.
“Granted, they’ll be in violation of crossing the street improperly, but we would still like to, obviously, avoid a collision so that nobody is injured,” Bacon said.
If someone witnesses a collision and a person is injured, Bacon recommended calling 911 immediately and to offer medical assistance if properly trained.