12 News reported that a bicyclist died after a crash along Scottsdale Road in Tempe. According to that report, Scottsdale Road was closed at Hancock Avenue while Tempe police investigated. No findings about how the collision happened have been released, and no one has been charged with or convicted of anything.
When a bicyclist is killed in a collision with a motor vehicle in Arizona, two separate claims can arise from the same event. A wrongful death action under A.R.S. § 12-611 through A.R.S. § 12-613 belongs to the surviving spouse, children, or parents, or to the estate if none of those exist, and it compensates the family for their own losses: lost financial support, lost companionship, and grief. A survival action under A.R.S. § 14-3110 belongs to the estate and covers what the rider lost between injury and death, including medical expenses and pain endured before dying. Both are generally subject to the two-year deadline in A.R.S. § 12-542, and if a city, county, or state employee or vehicle is involved, a written notice of claim must reach that public entity within 180 days under A.R.S. § 12-821.01. Fault is divided by percentage under A.R.S. § 12-2505, so a family recovers even if the rider is assigned part of the blame.
What Arizona Law Requires of Drivers Around Bicyclists
A bicyclist on an Arizona roadway has the rights and duties of a vehicle operator, and drivers owe riders specific obligations. A driver overtaking a bicycle must leave at least three feet of space while passing under A.R.S. § 28-735; a violation that results in serious physical injury or death carries enhanced penalties. Any driver involved in a crash causing injury or death must stop at the scene and remain there under A.R.S. § 28-661, and leaving is a felony. If investigators report that impairment is suspected, that is examined under A.R.S. § 28-1381.
None of these statutes decide a civil case by themselves. A police investigation looks at whether a criminal law was broken. A civil claim asks a separate question: whose conduct, by a preponderance of the evidence, caused the harm. A family can pursue the civil claim whether or not charges are ever filed, and an acquittal does not end it.
Evidence That Disappears First
Bicycle cases turn on physical proof, and the most useful proof has the shortest life. The bicycle itself should not be repaired, discarded, or returned to anyone; frame damage, wheel deformation, and component failures are read by reconstruction engineers to establish speed and point of impact. The same goes for the helmet and the clothing the rider was wearing. Do not let a tow yard or a body shop release the involved vehicle without inspection being requested in writing.
Video is the other priority. Businesses along a commercial corridor often run cameras that overwrite in days, and intersection and transit cameras are kept on retention schedules that are measured in weeks. A written preservation letter sent early is what stops that clock. Also write down the names and contact information of anyone who stopped at the scene, and get a copy of the police report once it is released; the responding agency's narrative and diagram become the baseline that every insurer works from.
Practical Steps for the Family
Open a probate estate and have a personal representative appointed, because a survival action under A.R.S. § 14-3110 can only be brought by the estate. Identify every available policy, not just the driver's liability coverage: uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on any vehicle the rider or a household resident owned can apply to a bicyclist struck by a car, and that coverage is frequently larger than the at-fault policy. If a commercial, government, or delivery vehicle was involved, the 180-day notice requirement in A.R.S. § 12-821.01 may apply, so that deadline needs to be checked immediately rather than later.
Give no recorded statement to any insurer, including your own, before you understand what coverage exists and what the investigation shows. Keep medical bills, funeral expenses, and records of the rider's income in one place. Decline any early settlement offer made before the police report is complete; those offers are made precisely because the evidence is not yet in.
If you lost a family member riding in the area, our Scottsdale bicycle accident attorneys can explain what the investigation means for a civil claim.