Driver fatigue likely led to Arizona crash that killed 2 bicyclists and injured 14, NTSB says

GOODYEAR, Ariz. (AP) — Fatigue likely led to a pickup truck driver’s crash last year that killed two bicyclists and injured 14 other riders on a bridge in a Phoenix suburb, authorities said Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board released its final report about the February 2023 crash on the Cotton Lane Bridge in Goodyear, 19 miles (30 kilometers) west of Phoenix. It said a major factor in the collision was the driver’s “diminished state of alertness, likely due to fatigue.”

Contributing to the severity of the bicyclists’ injuries was the driver’s speed and lack of response once the crash sequence began, according to the NTSB report.

Pedro Quintana-Lujan, 27, was originally booked into a Phoenix jail on suspicion of manslaughter, aggravated assault, endangerment and causing serious injury or death by a moving violation.

A charging document initially released by Goodyear police said Quintana-Lujan told officers the day of the crash that he was driving in the left of two northbound lanes of the bridge when his steering locked and he drifted into the vacant right lane, then into the adjacent bike lane where he heard “a sound similar to metal.”

But a preliminary NTSB report said two investigators separately checked his truck and found no issues.

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