A man killed this month when he was struck while in a crosswalk in midtown Tucson had helped implement the safe baby and amber alert programs in Pima County.
Daniel Benavidez, 49, was injured March 26 when he was hit on East Pima Street at North Rook Avenue. He was taken to Banner-University Medical Center, where he died eight days later.
Benavidez was the Pima County Attorney’s Office communications director from January 1999 to May 2005. County Attorney Barbara LaWall said when he left that job for a position in the private sector she was very disappointed.
“Dan was extremely sharp, energetic, hard-working and highly creative,” she said. “He was an out-of-the-box thinker, a delight to work with and definitely an asset to our office.”
During his time in the County Attorney’s Office, his innovation led to the creation of the Pima County Amber Alert System that later became state law. He also spearheaded the Safe Baby Program, which allows pregnant women to give an unwanted baby to a health-care professional without fear of prosecution.
LaWall noted that Benavidez was a community activist who regularly volunteered in community activities. She says he served on the Tucson Safe Baby Coalition, Tucson Aids Foundation Board of Directors, the mayor’s task forces on youth violence and domestic violence, and the Tucson Environmental Council.
“His death is utterly tragic and heartbreaking and he will be deeply missed by me and by those who knew him and worked with him,” she said.
When Benavidez was hit, he was walking southbound in a marked crosswalk around 10 p.m., according to Arizona Daily Star archives. The vehicle that struck him was traveling east in the curb lane.
Police determined the driver of the 2018 Hyundai Sonata that hit Benavidez was not impaired. Officer Ray Smith, a Tucson Police Department spokesman, said the driver has not been charged or cited, but that investigators were still determining whether speed was a factor.
Smith said although pedestrians have the right-of-way in a crosswalk, they still need to use caution when walking out into the street.
Pedestrians often assume if they’re in a crosswalk, drivers will stop, but driver compliance at painted crosswalks with no light or stop sign is only 34 percent, according to the national report Improving Pedestrian Safety at Unsignalized Crossings. For this reason, as Tucson continues repaving roads, its transportation department is cutting back or eliminating some marked crosswalks in the name of pedestrian safety.
Michael Graham, a spokesman for Tucson’s Transportation Department, said the crosswalk where Benavidez was hit is considered an illuminated crosswalk because of the continuous street lighting on Pima Street at that location. Graham said the best treatment for that crosswalk would be a HAWK signal — crossings where pedestrians can activate a light that turns solid red before blinking red, signaling for cars to stop — and the location is already on a HAWK request list.
Benavidez’s brother John Benavidez said his family is coping with the situation. There were seven siblings in his family, but one of the Benavidezes’ sisters was killed in a car crash in 2000.
Daniel Benavidez leaves behind a 14-year-old daughter, who lives with her mother.
The family held services Tuesday evening at the Vistoso Funeral Home.
Benavidez was a caring, giving person who was the first person on many friend’s speed dial, John Benavidez said. He said Daniel Benavidez had a passion for community.
“He was someone who had Tucson in his heart and was always trying to make Tucson a better place,” John Benavidez said.
