I'm not sure about AZ laws, but it's starting to seem a lot like even Texas, where I live, has laws that favor the pedestrian more than Arizona does. I may be misinformed, but that is pretty damning if true, considering Texas' population distribution and the necessity of driving. As a permanent pedestrian, though, my day-to-day concern is more on whether or not people actually follow the local driving laws (they don't, a significant amount of the time) rather than the laws themselves.

I think you're right. As someone who doesn't own a car at all, I don't think the issue for accident avoidance is preventative effect of these types of laws, because even in states with pro-pedestrian laws, it's still very rare for drivers to be charged. What actually makes a difference is proper design of crosswalks, speed limits -- things like that.