I've been staring at those myself for a couple of hours. My best guess is the crosswalk was moved, but the paths were left. There's a lake nearby and tons of parking under the overpasses, with trails and picnic areas.

Also, the woman was right under a working street lamp. And as was stated in an earlier article the car continued on at 38 mph after the accident. The bike ended up 50 yards down the street.

EDIT: "That spot is east of the second, western-side Mill Avenue bridge that is restricted to southbound traffic, and east of the Marquee Theatre and a parking lot for the Tempe Town Lake. It can be a popular area for pedestrians, especially concertgoers, joggers, and lake visitors. Mid-street crossing is common there, and a walkway in the median between the two one-way roads across the two bridges probably encourages the practice."

"Pedestrians can cross a street without using a crosswalk in many instances without risking a jaywalking ticket, but Arizona law requires pedestrians not using a crosswalk to yield to traffic in the road."

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/cops-uber-self-driving-c...

There's a saying "a sign is not a wall." You can make dangerous things illegal all you want (such as "not overdriving your headlights," hint hint), but it won't stop people doing that. "But that person was not supposed to be there" is a rather weak excuse for manslaughter.

Lots of parks around and trails that do go across the road, it is an odd area.

If you zoom out on google maps you will see some of the trails. Note the sidewalk/pathway, it is no pedestrian but has paths for them so it sends mixed signals.