Tri City Towing (Prescott, AZ) - Tow Truck Driver Almost Kills Me - Successful Outcome

September 12, 2022

Sheriff R.

Yavapai County Sheriff's Office

255 E. Gurley Street

Prescott, Arizona 86301

Sheriff R:

The purpose of this correspondence is to file a formal complaint and report the dangerous and potentially fatal operation of a Tri City Towing, Inc., tow truck.  I recorded this event and am enclosing a USB flash drive of the recording and relevant frame frieze jpg photos.  

I have uploaded a shortened video of this incident and it is available as a YouTube video: 

 

 

I was almost killed on Wednesday, September 7^th, 2022, at 2:15 PM, while riding a bicycle eastbound on the AZ 15 (Bagdad-Kirkland) road. 

It was a bright sunny afternoon with no weather-related problems.  There was no traffic coming from either direction.  Line of sight distance was no less than one mile, east and west.  The driver’s speed was approximately fifty-five (55) miles per hour.  

I was wearing bright, Hi-Viz, iridescent white and yellow cycling clothes.  I wore bright white and yellow socks as my legs went up and down on the pedals.  

The bicycle had three (3) bright, flashing white and red strobe lights rear-facing, and one bright white front-facing strobe light.  

I was traveling at approximately ten (10) miles per hour, to the right of the white / fog line.  

The driver of the Tri City Towing, Inc., truck veered toward me (even though I was on the shoulder, right of the white / fog line) and at the last second straightened out.  The driver of the truck passed me at approximately fifty-five (55) miles per hour within barely two (2) or three (3) inches of hitting me.  It is a certainty that if I had been hit, I would have been killed.  

This is the recumbent bicycle I was riding (I am the rider of the bicycle in the picture): 

 

Below are two (2) freeze-frame jpg pictures of the incident:

 

 

I am requesting that you investigate this incident.  It is my conclusion that the driver of this vehicle is responsible for an unlawful and potentially fatal act.  I will fully comply with any requests you make of me in this investigation.

 Sincerely,

 

Daniel Fallon

psychling@gmail.com

DrFallonAZ@gmail.com

  =========================================

The video and jpeg pics of the incident were provided to the County Sheriff's Office. They contacted the management of the tow truck company.

Quote from the Sheriff's Sergeant reporting back to me the status:

"He told me that his driver was identified and he received a written reprimand for the incident. He wanted me to pass on his apologies for the incident. I explained to him how serious this is and how much worse it could have been. He was very apologetic and admitted that his driver was at fault.

Based on the video that I watched, it is clear that driver is on his cell phone either texting. My question for you is are do you want me to continue forward with a citation or are you satisfied with his supervisor disciplining him?"

I informed the Sergeant that it was critically important that the driver receive a citation (ticket).  The heaviest weight in this matter has to do with how my  death would have affected my wife, children, grandchildren, relatives, friends and patients.

I take no pleasure in causing the driver the possibility of losing his job.  But a `written reprimand' and an `apology' are insignificant compared to the gravity of this issue.  

My Training `Shed'

View of the `cockpit' while training: Bacchetta Ti Aero and Wahoo Kickr

RAM Mount to hold my iPod

Had to `jitney' the RAM Mount to keep if from sagging

RAM Mount holding iPod

My Zwift avatar

 

MODIFIED SANDALS - SPD

 For several years I've wanted to post on my blog what I've done regarding cycling shoes.  

In 2010, at the last minute before I took off on the Race Across the West (RAW), I switched from my SIDI closed toe shoe to Shimano open toed sandals.  Switching anything before a competitive event is a risk.  But I anticipated that the closed SIDI shoes would certainly create painful `hotfoot.' The risk paid off.  And I've been using open toed sandals ever since: winter and summer.  

Over the years I've made many modifications to the shoes.  This blog post shows how the modifications compare to an original, non-modified Shimano sandal.

Left to right: original sandal, recently modified sandal, 12 yr old sandal.  

Above: Original sandal sole before cleat attached.

Above: Modified sandal after sole cut (front and rear) after cleat attached.                    

                    

Above: 12 y.o. sandal after sole cut (front and rear) after cleat attached.

Note that the rear cut on the modified and 12 y.o. sandal removes the inside (pedal crank side) sole.  This is to minimize sandal `heal strike' on the pedal.  

 

Above: Strap extension.  I want my foot to have the most `float' over the pedal.  I went to a shoe repair shop and had him add two inches to the strap.  This allows me to place the cleat under the sole of my foot or at the balls of my foot.  Moving my foot around, having this maximum amount of float, allows me to avoid even a hint of discomfort on long rides.  

I've had to grind off some of the sole of the shoe to a) make it easier to clip in and out, b) save some weight. The sandals, surprisingly, aren't much heavier than the SIDIs.  

Most of the time I pedal from the mid-sole.  This means that the balls of my feet extend out past the end of the front of the sandal.  Looks sort'a weird but works really well.

Sometimes I want to / need to push from the balls of the feet.  Since the straps are loose it is easy to switch back and forth, mid-sole to balls of the feet.

I ride steeply reclined recumbents (PICS) That means my feet are out and up, unlike on a diamond frame bike, where the legs/feet are down, causing swelling of the feet.  

I could go on and on with this but I am hoping that, if you are interested, careful examination of the photos will answer your questions.  

DANGEROUS BLA TRUCKING INC INCIDENT

This event occurred on Monday, June 22nd, at 14:47:20. 

The driver of a 22-wheeled dump truck (BLA Trucking Inc., Dewey, AZ) crowded me to the side of a road with no shoulder and a solid rock face right of the fog line. The caused me to either be crushed by the truck or crash into the rock face. I managed to stay upright on the bike by barely balancing on the fog line. 

YOUTUBE VIDEO FROM THE REAR:

REAR VIDEO

YOUTUBE VIDEO FROM THE FRONT:

FRONT VIDEO

I was dressed in bright, hi-viz, iridescent yellow cycling clothes. I wore bright knee-length socks as my legs went up and down on the pedals. 

The bike had three (3) bright, flashing red and white strobe lights, rear-facing.  The bike had one (1) bright, flashing white strobe light, front-facing. There are several `Share The Road' signs with a bicycle logo on this road. 

Formal complaint filed with: 

•  U.S. Department of Transportation 
•  Yavapai County Sheriff's Office 
•  BLA Trucking Inc.

12 Hour - Ultracycling Event - Sebring, Florida - Feb 19, 2022

 Short report.

This was my fourth trip over the past ten years to Sebring, Florida, for one of the first ultra bicycling events of the year.  (Sebring 12 - 24 Hour).  It was a `stretch' given that I've been mostly restricted to indoor training (the "Shed") since my rotator cuff surgery in May of '21.

The course starts out (6:30AM) with three (3) laps on the 3.75 mile Sebring International Racetrack.  We then transition to a 50 mile out and 50 mile back (100 miles) road to Frostproof, Fl.  

Returning to Sebring we do a hilly (5.8% grade) 11 mile loop as often as possible until 5:40PM when all the racers are funneled back to the Racetrack.

The rest of the race takes place on the Racetrack.  At 6:30PM the 12 hour racers exit the Racetrack and the 24 hour racers continue through the night until the next morning at 6:30AM.

I had a few mishaps that had me stopped for almost two hours. 

I had a small mechanical on the track just before we left for the 100 mile route.  Just needed to tighten two bolts and I was on my way.  Five minutes off my race.

The Sebring race course is marked with iridescent markings/cues on the road. I don't really know how it happened but I missed a road cue and a turn at around mile 18.  I wandered on for another several miles without seeing any road cue so I stopped and called the race emergency number.  I told them the cross streets I was at and they directed me back to course.  This error consumed about 45 minutes off my race but it fortunately didn't happen again.

And then, at about mile 60 on the way back from Frostproof, I rode up to a woman who had just gotten off her bike and was wandering around in tears and grievous lamentations.  She clearly had bad leg cramps.  She was inconsolable.  But, with incredible pluck, and still crying, she just picked up her bike and started walking.  She raged at the grey sky and said she was just going to "walk the next damn 40 miles" back to the Racetrack!!  

Of course, I stopped to help her and called the sag number but ... no cell coverage.  A passing driver told me if I rode up about half a mile I'd get cell coverage.  I finally did contact the sag vehicle and it arrived in about 10 more minutes.  I got back on the bike and took off.  That took another 30 minutes off my race.

All in all I lost about 1 hour and 40 minutes.  Finished with just under 150 miles.  My goal was 194 miles.  Disappointed but not depressed.  

It was `odd' to encounter stop signs and stop lights during the race.  I train mostly in the desert.  Hills and sparse traffic.  As well, the desert roads are usually a straight out and back for me.  

When training in desert terrain cell phone coverage is iffy so I typically don't go more than 15 miles in one direction and then head back to my van.  I've had a few occasions when the bike was not operable and I had to stash it behind a bush in the desert and hitch hike back to my van.  It can get up to 118F out here, so ... 

I'm planning to return to a balance of indoor and outdoor training here in Arizona.  But not for a while.  It just snowed four inches in the last 12 hours.