Someone needs to make these in a wicking T-shirt

I love Yehuda Moon, and someone needs to make these shirts in a wicking T so I can wear them on my bike. Free Range Vehicle

PSA Opus

Another day with a weak Feed

Today was another day of a weak Feed, but not because of a lack of interest by the media. Yes we actually have had a lull in bike wrecks. This is only temporary and won’t last long, but I’m going to revel in it while I can. After Sand Springs and Ocean City, a few days of reduced numbers of deceased cyclists is welcome.

To lend perspective on the vulnerability of cyclists we have this cautionary tale (tail?) from Austin. Beware the bunny Fortunately no permanent injuries to either the bunny or the cyclist, but still a stark reminder of how vulnerable and exposed we are on bicycles, and other 2 wheeled conveyances. But once you get past that this is funnnneeee. (No bunnies were harmed in the making of this post.)

I still have no suggestions for avoiding drunks driving on the shoulder or in the bike lane. Bicyclist Killed in Collision With Car The only thing that will prevent something like this is stepped up enforcement with enhanced penalties, like forfeiture of vehicle on second arrest or conviction. We already have such penalties for drug possession, which is much less harmful to society than drunken driving, without conviction. Why not extend them to something which has been proven harmful to both the individual and to society at large? If we can take the assets of suspected drug dealers without having to actually convict them, and not just what they have when and where they are arrested but anything and everything they might have financed with drug money, why can’t we confiscate and destroy the car a drunk driver is arrested in?

A MI teenager thought traffic had stopped and it would be safe to cross a road. Bicyclist injured crossing U.S. 31 This is actually a fairly common mode of wreck, where one lane of a multi-lane street or highway has come to a stop, sometimes as a courtesy to the crossing cyclist or pedestrian, and other lanes of traffic just keep on going. When this is worst is when there is a signal or stop sign that one lane of traffic has stopped for that blocks the view of inside lanes of both the signal and oncoming traffic. This is something I don’t know how to fix, because if you have eye-level signage it will be blocked by tall vehicles in the outside lane, and if you raise it high enough to be seen over the roofs of vehicles then you run the risk of it becoming invisible to lower vehicles in the outside lane by being too high to see through the windshield or side windows.

US 31 in MI has attracted a lot of cyclists, and so it also attracts a lot of cyclist wrecks like this one and the one above. 2 cyclists hit on U.S. 31 north of Holland The assailant in the double assault is in custody.

A HS coach and AD gets hit riding his bike. Indian Creek athletic director dies in Brown County bicycle accident Nothing on the mechanism of the wreck, and interestingly enough no comments either…

Another wreck where the oncoming driver’s view was obstructed. Arundel Digest The bike article is the second one down. In this wreck both the oncoming driver’s view of the cyclist and the cyclist’s view of the driver that hit him were obstructed by a guy waving the oncoming driver through the intersection. Nobody saw the cyclist until he was hit. This is why when coming to an intersection with a stopped vehicle in either lane you should also stop to at least see why the other vehicle has stopped, no matter what kind of vehicle you are controlling.

In what appears to be a rare case of a fatal clipless pedal wreck in WI. River Valley rider killed in crash The rider fell over into the lane of traffic from the shoulder and was hit by a truck. I’m glad I ride platforms on my bike. I run Looks on my trikes to prevent leg suck, but I can get almost 270 degrees of pedaling power down with my platforms without pegs or toe clips or Power Straps, just crepe soles and ankling skills on rat trap pedals.

A TV weatherman has a mechanical during a time trial and breaks a vertebra. WVEC meteorologist Lawson hurt in bicycle accident That was one violent mechanical malfunction.

A Canadian cyclist is hit in London ON. Cyclist seriously injured when struck by RV No word yet on how this happened, other than the cyclist was headed west when he entered the intersection. Nothing on what direction the RV was going or either of the operators’ names.

Another UK cyclist gets hit. Cyclist injured in Louth The 78 YO cyclist was hit by a 81 YO driver. That must have been some scene, the cyclist cussing the “old fogey” behind the wheel and the driver cussing the “whippersnapper” on the bike.

And Consumer Reports tests bike helmets far beyond the federal standard, they went to 18 MPH. Best Bike Helmets They only went about 5 1/2 MPH higher than the Federal test but that is almost twice the energy to absorb in the impact. And when was the last time you saw a speed limit below 18 MPH? In TX that’s not even as fast as a school zone.

And that’s all I have today.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Yes I know I’m Old School

But I would rather be Old School than No Class.

Where is all this leading, well my bike gloves finally fell to pieces right before Father’s Day so I was given a small amount of cash to purchase new ones. all I could find were these spandex backed things that while they are comfortable and all just lack the, wait I’ll remember, je ne se quois, of crochet back bike gloves. And I’m losing my checkerboard tan lines with these things. And truth be told that’s half the reason I wear bike gloves, the other half being I like keeping the skin on my palms if the front tire washes out and I go pavement surfing. I ride recumbent, I don’t need fancy padded bike gloves to keep my hands from hurting.

My favorites, the ones that just fell to pieces, were a set of Planet Bike gloves with a Kevlar reinforced palm that really did the job keeping the skin intact the one time I went pavement surfing with them. I got up and my hands were fine and you could hardly even tell I had been sliding on my palms. They make a cosmetically similar glove, but it lacks the Kevlar palm of my favorites. Generally a pair of gloves will last 2 years, but I think these lasted 3 because of the limited amount of riding I did when the Stratus blew up in 2007. That is another blog post entirely.

So, Planet Bike or any bike glove manufacturer, I still need a pair of Old School crochet back gloves with a heavy leather (or Kevlar reinforced) palm and minimal padding. Color is of minimal concern, just no World Champion stripes, I haven’t earned them and around here they can be misinterpreted and get a guy beaten up. There are already enough homophobes that think I’m gay just because I ride a “funny” bike, I don’t need rainbow stripes to confirm it in their eyes.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Something ate the Feed

I opened up the Feed reports this morning and found only 4 articles that were actually about bicycles, out of only 6 articles in the Feed. That is about normal for the signal-to-noise ratio of the Feed, but with such a small Feed to begin with…

A SoCal rider gets hurt really bad after being hit with a car. North County bicyclist hit by car, seriously injured It’s too early in the reporting cycle to know how the wreck happened, I expect more in the Feed tomorrow.

An update on the rider hit in Madison WI. Police: Witness Says Bicyclist Didn’t Stop In Fatal Crash Rolled a stop sign into oncoming traffic. You have to get a good look to make sure you are not going to get hit before you roll a stop sign. There are actually a few stop signs that were installed correctly as devices to force you to take a look to see if it is safe to cross the intersection. Most are not like that, they are used to prevent drivers from speeding through congested areas by forcing frequent stops (traffic calming). Those ruin the usefulness of stop signs when and where they are actually called for.

The annual bike race in Sand Springs is dedicated to the riders killed by the drunken waste of skin that walks like a woman. Sand Springs Bicycling Race Honors Fallen Cyclists The race has been in existence for 3 years now, this edition will be dedicated to the memory of the fallen cyclists. The founder of the race was the guy that lived through the wreck.

What was a group ice cream ride last year is a charity ride this year. Scoops 4 Stephanie bicycle tour I love ice cream rides. They’re one of the “treats” of being a cyclist, well that and eating everything in sight and still losing weight.

And that’s the whole shebang.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Back from my break, the weekend Feed

Well I’m back from SolstiCelebration at WRL, and finally re-hydrated and electrolytes balanced. I had fun, drank several pounds of water, lost several pounds of water and electrolytes in sweat, danced (poorly, but with much enthusiasm), networked, and represented my bike club by wearing my club jersey (yay RBENT!) because I knew it was going to be hot and I needed a wicking garment to help keep me cool. My Safety Shirts t-shirts were both in the wash from previous rides that weekend, so the RBENT jersey was the choice, since it was in the best shape other than my Team Anaerobia jersey which would just confuse people…( The Republic of Anaerobia is a mythical Southeastern European Communist country with a legendarily awesome cycling team, and the mythical (fictional) part is what I expected to confuse people).

Well as you can imagine there were a lot of reports after waiting a whole 2 days to read the Feeds, with some overlap, but because the Weekend Feed is usually smaller than the rest of the week this will not be as large a post as what there would be had I taken a day off in the middle of the week. Just the usual “stuff” of any weekday Feed.

We will start out today with more reports on that hit-and-run in Ocean City MD. One Bicyclist Killed, Another Injured in Crash on O.C. Bridge and 1 Bicyclist Killed, 1 Injured In Hit-and-run Crash also 1 bicyclist killed, another injured near Ocean City A drunk driver in a confined environment makes for a wreck, and the cyclists happened to be in the way of it.

Another cyclist is hit-and-run in CA. Bicyclist killed near Dublin and Dublin bicyclist killed in collision with car This wreck was unusual because the driver was injured, but only because she went into oncoming traffic after hitting the cyclist, with the cyclist’s body trapped under her vehicle, and hit an oncoming SUV.

There’s a reason why FL leads the nation in dead cyclists since 2006. Cyclist says driver hit him and laughed Who’s laughing now funny boy? You’re in jail, and the cyclist you hit is spending your money in the hospital, and your car is getting stripped by thieves in impound. They didn’t describe the wreck in the article so I’m just going to taunt the driver over the Internet. Too bad about that stereo system buddy, I have an old cassette head unit I could sell you.

A cyclist gets killed by a hit-and-run driver in MT. BREAKING NEWS: 18-year-old bicyclist hit and killed on Highway 83 north of Seeley Lake How can anyone drive off after they know they hit someone, heck something, and not stop to see what they hit? Heck I drove over a cat that got up and ran off and I still stopped to make sure it was OK.

More from SoCal. Cyclist killed in Malibu And another hit-and-run from behind. The driver abandoned his car and tried to escape on foot, but intrepid police work found the perp and arrested it.

A teen cyclist is hit-and-run in DE. Teen bicyclist injured in Dover hit-and-run Beige, it was beige. And I got hit by a white truck, according to the stoners watching the cars go by at 1AM. Having been hit-and-run myself I understand not knowing anything about the vehicle that hit you or how you got hit.

Mutiple reports on this wreck starting with Bicyclist injured in crash near U.S. 31 and Quincy Street in Holland Township and the update Two Holland bicyclists critically injured when hit by driver police say was intoxicated The update link actually appeared in the first article after I filtered the Feed. So, a drunk driver does a hit-and-run on 2 cyclists and tries to drive off with a smashed windshield. I’ll run the backhoe and cement mixer if somebody else will get the wolverines and rabid badgers.

Nothing about the wreck except that the bicyclist died. UPDATE: Bicyclist Killed on Madison’s East Side Comments blame the cyclist, but that’s normal.

A Brooklyn cyclist runs a red light and pays the price. Brooklyn bicyclist killed after crash with van You have to at least treat red lights as stop signs, not just ride right through.

The bicycle rider killed was an afterthought in this article. Thrown from car, Golden Valley teen dies You have to get over to page 2 of this article to find out there was a cyclist killed also.” a Rochester bicyclist, James S. Groby, 58, was hit and killed by a truck Friday.”

My examiner.com colleague from Twin Falls ID reports another ID cyclist killed on the heels of 3 in Boise. Twin Falls bicycle death Nothing on the actual mechanism of the wreck, but a lot of commentary (reminds you of a certain witch?).

A NJ youth won’t ride any more after getting hit with a car. PITTSGROVE: 16-year-old killed riding bike “Witnesses told police the vehicle had the right of way through the intersection at the time of the accident.” Which vehicle, the car or the bicycle? Apparently the cyclist ran a red light and got hit.

Another report on the death of a World Champion cyclist Ex-world champion cyclist killed in training crash Some crashes are just beyond the ability of human reflexes to avoid. Like a truck crossing the centerline to hit you head on. The only bright spot in this wreck was the driver did not escape injury. I know that sounds petty, and maybe I am petty after getting hit myself and the driver getting away with assault with a deadly weapon.

Another cyclist gets killed in the UK, actual information maybe in 6 to 8 months if it makes the news. Cyclist killed in road crash Aside from the make and model of the car involved that article is typical UK.

More from the UK, this time another report on the kid hit by the Renault Clio. Boy cyclist injured by car

Two reports on this wreck. Cyclist killed in car crash and from the Beeb, so it has to be true and factual Cyclist killed in crash with car

And our final UK report before the “lifestyle” stories. Cyclist killed in car collision It’s also from the Beeb.

An article on bicycle helmets. No brainer I’ll repeat my stand on bike helmets: they’re next to useless, helmet laws suck, and everyone should wear a helmet because it’s the only piece of protective gear we have. I don’t know if the distinction is getting through on this, but I’ll try. Bike helmets are only fully protective in a fall from a bike, and are not the panacea from head injury that helmet advocates make them out to be (like in this article). In a collision with a motor vehicle if the helmet protects you from getting killed it is a fluke because the vehicle didn’t hit your head or at least not very hard, no harder than you would have hit had you just fallen from your bike. I was wearing a helmet when I was hit and I suffered brain damage that ended up costing me my ability to find work, even though the helmet reduce the severity of the impact enough that I survived. There are worse things in life than dieing. Quality of life needs to enter into the equation as well.

Lawyers in CT give the bike laws and the usual interpretation of them, useful things to know if you live or plan on traveling by bike through CT. Riding Your Bicycle: How to Protect Yourself In order to protect yourself legally and exert your rights to compensation after a wreck, you have to know and obey the laws regarding what to do on the roads.

A pedicab company starting up near Atlanta is trying to do the right thing but is worried that the outlaw pedicabs may poison the waters before they can begin legal operations. Pedicabs find niche in Decatur, but going is slow elsewhere in area

Native Americans retrace “The Removal” or what we Anglos call the Trail of Tears. Cherokee pedal their way on Trail of Tears The Cherokee don’t refer to it as the Trail of Tears. It still makes for a heck of a bike ride, I can’t imagine having to walk it in the dead of winter with limited supplies.

A Catholic cyclist rides to remember his wife. Bicyclist keeps cause for wife in high gear His wife died of cancer, and his rides go to help fighting the disease.

And that’s all I have today, it was a bit of a chore but I covered it all for you.

Billed @$.02, Opus

From an office with AC it’s the Feed

Yes the office is now comfortably air-conditioned, and with all the little AC units going the inside air is bone dry. After I finished installing the big window unit the roommate decided that she needed AC in her bedroom like my son has, so she nagged and bribed me to install hers today. It was way cheaper to buy 3 window units to cool the house in sections than it was to replace the inside part of the central heat and air unit, by about half. we use the air handler part of the central unit to make sure the rest of the house gets cooled as well…

Things have been busy out there while I was installing AC window units. You guys in MD must think you’re in FL from the number of cyclists that were killed this week. There’s more unrest in Boise, and final sentence was pronounced on the deputy that hit 3 cyclists head on last year and killed 2 of them. Plus a bunch of other stuff.

Going with the etory that has the most links first is a hit-and-run involving 2 cyclists and a drunk driver in Ocean City MD, the same city that killed a cyclist the first part of the week. One bicyclist killed, another injured in hit, run near Ocean City and 1 bicyclist killed, 1 injured in hit-and-run crash also Bicyclist Killed On Ocean City Bridge The riders were out on a night ride and from all reports were properly lighted, and then the drunk decided they didn’t belong on the bridge and hit them, and left. Good Samaritan followed the drunk’s truck and told LEO where he was going, the LEO found the drunk still drunk, drunk is in jail. As for how you can avoid a similar wreck, it looks like the bridge was not a good choice for cycling as there was no escape route should a driver lose control of either the vehicle or his mind, guard rails basically started at the curbs and the lanes were very narrow. It may have been the only reasonable route, but it was still very poor for cycling.

A cyclist gets killed in TX. Auto vs. bicyclist, county’s second fatal MVA in under 48 hours Another hit from behind, from the looks of the picture the back of the bike was pretty much torn off. According to witnesses had the cyclist been any further off the road he would have been riding in the grass. He was already in his escape route and got hit anyway.

Things are still “heated” in Boise over the recent spate of wrecks that killed 3 cyclists in 3 weeks. Boise Police Start Bike Safety Drive and Why have no charges been filed in recent cyclists’ deaths in Boise? Apparently BPD is taking advantage of the controversy to target cyclists for enforcement in spite of none of the deceased cyclists being at fault in their wrecks, and many in the cycling community are wondering why it is taking so long to file charges against the offending (and sometimes offensive) drivers.

Someone shot a cyclist. Police investigating cyclist shooting Total waste of time, shooting a cyclist in a drive by shooting, just hit him with the car. Much deadlier, and the worst you can get would be a couple months house arrest.

Speaking of getting house arrest for murder. Judge: No jail time for deputy who killed two cyclists and Ex-deputy apologizes for killing cyclists Yes he killed 2 out of 3 cyclists when he hit them head on. Yes he admitted being asleep at the wheel. And he got 4 months of house arrest, with probation, and a demotion. You watch they will keep him on as a tech until this all blows over in about a year, then they will make him a deputy again. Unless he dies from “sleeping” at the wheel again.

A cyclist killer that was driving drunk is sentenced in CA. Drunk Driver Who Killed Bicyclist Gets 11 Years in Prison Well at least one judge in CA is not presiding from the bench with a recto-cranial impaction. I wonder at the other judges that kept letting this waste of skin go until he killed someone.

More on the taxi that mowed down 4 people yesterday. Four injured after taxi veers onto Phila. sidewalk I’m with one of the commenters on this story, how fast was the taxi going to create this amount of havoc?

They finally IDed the woman killed at the beginning of the week in Ocean City MD same place I was posting about earlier in the post about the hit-and-run. Summer worker ID’d as cyclist who died Only thing i can say about this one is to watch where you’re going, and don’t cover your ears with headphones.

And they’re still talking about the wreck in IL that killed the guy riding his bike in protest from CA to DC. Man charged in fatal bicycle accident in Clinton County, Ill. and another from CA Man accused in wreck that killed cyclist Hey, just loan me a backhoe and a cement mixer, I’ll take care of him for free. Wolverines not included.

From Canuckistan comes a tale of a cyclist that wrecked so far off the beaten path it took rescuers all night and part of the next day to get him back to medical treatment. Crews rescue injured cyclist If you are going to ride that far out in the boonies you really need to ride in a party that can get you back out if needed, instead of having to call in a chopper to pluck you from whatever cliff you landed on.

An obvious left cross is blamed on the cyclist. Cyclist struck and killed in Vaughan The truck was turning left and the cyclist ran into him? since the cyclist didn’t enter on the red that sounds very “fishy” to me.

A 7 YO gets hit by a car in Jolly Olde. Young cyclist seriously injured in crash I don’t know about these Renault Clios, they seem to hit a lot of cyclists when LEO identify the vehicle…

Another hit from behind in the UK. Cyclist injured in hit and run is named You have to assume that when the car and bicycle are traveling in the same direction the car hit the cyclist from behind.

And even a world champion cyclist is no match for a car. Former world champion Stagurskaya killed by car

UF goes off their rockers for helmets. UF now requires employees riding bike, scooter or motorcycle to wear helmet I find it interesting that when they wish to impose draconian regulations it’s because they are responsible for safety, but when someone gets hurt it’s their own fault…

And Streetsblog and my counterpart for examiner.com in DC have noticed a proliferation of signs that direct cyclists to dismount and walk. Everywhere a Sign

That’s all for tonight. There may not be a post tomorrow, more religious stuff with the Dallas SoltiCelebration at the Bath House Cultural Center at White Rock Lake. It runs from noon to 10 PM so I probably won’t have the time to read the Feed and compose a post before I have to leave. Actually I also plan on sleeping in tomorrow so I know there won’t be time to make a post.

Billed @$.02, Opus

A hot and sweaty day of installing the Feed

Actually it was a hot and sweaty day of installing a window unit AC in the living room, which had to be done before I could do any blog posts, by dicta of She Who Must Be Obeyed Lest Ye Not Get Laid, plus by the time I got everything done with the AC it was almost time for dinner, and I have been trying to eat and post at the same time. That has not gone well…

This is today’s Feed and yesterday’s as I was called out on an emergency religious duty just as I got back from grocery shopping with Gigi, and my wife. Gigi carried most of the groceries home, especially the ones that would not survive a 2 hour bus ride home, and my wife carried the rest. I of course provided the legs to move Gigi. For those of you not in possession of the $3 program, Gigi is the one on the left at the header of this Blog. And I should also say that Gigi gets more fan mail than I do. I get comments, Gigi gets fan mail Getting back to yesterday I didn’t get back from the emergency until after 2230, and by the time I ate dinner and read the Feed it was after midnight and i had been going all day in the 90 plus degree Fahrenheit weather, it still being 91 at midnight. If you thought I was cranky in my regular postings, I would have been insufferable yesterday had I decided to compose a post after midnight. Sanity prevailed (an unusual situation in this blog I know) and the post was put off until today and a special post I put up earlier on why motor vehicles are WMDs.

One of the reasons I was so angry yesterday was the huge number of links on the Sand Springs OK cyclist killer, which all hit me in the first Feed report. The look on her face in her second booking photo was just so infuriating I had to make a special post about her well that and all the links about her re-arrest and her bond being raised on additional counts, and her making that bond and getting released the same day, she was out before the reports of her arrest were posted to the intertubes. Scan down to the special post on Sand Springs OK for the full story.

Up first isn’t a bicycle wreck but it could have been a bicycle or any other 2 wheel vehicle. Scooter rider injured in crash with truck The scooter had the right of way through a 2-way stop, and the vehicle at the stop sign just pulled out in front of him and Pow! Scooter yard sale. You have to be vigilant at intersections because threats come at you from all directions, and you are especially vulnerable from the sides. Your best bet in this situation is a fade off away from the vehicle with heavy braking that at least reduces your speed at impact.

Since we are in the area, do you know anyone that might be family to the cyclist killed this week in SLC by the driver in diabetic shock? Help locate family of cyclist who was killed If you can help, contact the number in the article.

Lawyer blathering about why it is so hard to win in a bicycle v car wreck case. Bicycle Versus Car what it boils down to is to win in VA you need to almost prove intent to injure before you can win in a suit where the motor vehicle operator was at fault. TANJ!

More reports on the guy killed on the protest ride from CA to DC while riding in IL. Calif. man riding bicycle across U.S. in protest is killed by Centralia driver and Chula Vista biker dies in Illinois crash After all these links there isn’t really any more to say, except did you see what the charges are now?

More reports on the girl killed in MD crossing the road with her bicycle. Bicyclist Killed Tuesday Afternoon Now they’re saying the girl never even started on the green just went straight through the intersection without stopping and against the red light. Teen bicyclist killed in OCMD accident and June 24-Bicyclist Killed On Coastal Highway

More on the kid killed in AZ. PD: SUV runs light, kills 13-year-old bicyclist in Glendale What you want to bet that all the driver gets is a ticket, if that much?

A kid on a bike is hit by a semi. Five-year-old cyclist hits tractor-trailer in East Earl Let’s count the mistakes on this one: riding against traffic, on a busy highway, and too young to have developed the judgment required to ride in such an environment. And the truck driver was not injured when the 5 YO went into the rear axles on his trailer, I wonder why not [/sarcasm]?

This is the kind of wreck where you just have to wonder why the driver isn’t in jail. Leland bicyclist struck by car on N.C. 133 “She stated that she saw the bicycle rider and took her attention off the road momentarily to speak to one of her children.” She saw the guy and then hit him anyway. Why is she still walking the planet freely?

What was apparently a right hook crash leads to citations for the driver? OCEANSIDE: Bicyclist injured in collision The driver cuts off the cyclist in front of multiple witnesses and the police do?

I think this wreck was in Albuquerque. Man jailed following fatal bicycle accident At least he’s in jail pending results of the toxicology tests to determine if he should be charged with DUI homicide or just driving while stupid.

A cyclist is injured in Canadia and apparently that’s all anyone knows at the time of the posting. Young cyclist injured in crash Nothing on the wreck or the injuries, just that it happened. Frustrating.

An older cyclist is injured in Oz, and everybody wants to talk about it. Elderly cyclist serious after crash and Cyclist critically injured in Mackay Everybody’s talking but nobody is saying anything. I hope he recovers.

A VA reader requests a bill similar to the one that Governor Goodhair just vetoed here in TX. Cyclists need legal protection And the anti-bike “people” come out in droves.

A Colorado cyclist wishes every day was bike to work day. Denver bike messenger: Every day should be bike-to-work day Typical mix of “Yay bikes are so much fun” and mostly “Get those toys off the roads where adults have to drive” in the comments.

And in Oregon where they get it, some safety tips. ODOT offers bike safety tips I like this quote: (T)he Oregon Department of Transportation wants to remind everyone that a bicycle is not a toy — it’s a vehicle. I told you they get it.

And that’s it for the last 2 days, maybe things will cool down a bit now that I have installed AC in the livingroom and the cool air goes all over the house, but I wouldn’t make any bets on it.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Why I call motor vehicles WMDs

This is a separate post from the bike wrecks to highlight why I keep referring to motor vehicles as WMDs. First a WMD is a device that can destroy buildings or kill or injure more than one person at a single use (actually the definition calls it a “shot” but motor vehicles aren’t shot, they’re semi-guided projectiles).

First up is a building destroyed by a single vehicle. Family looks for jobs, new home after Monday crash The house was destroyed by a pickup truck, not the much larger vehicle the truck was bounced off of. Imagine the destruction that would have ensued had the house been hit by the tanker truck. One hit from a single vehicle and a 150 YO house was destroyed, damaged beyond repair. This is one of the descriptors of a WMD, the ability to render a structure uninhabitable with only one projectile or usage (high explosives are a class of WMD).

Another instance why I call motor vehicles WMDs is this wreck. 4 injured by out of control taxi The wounded were in a large arc, not concentrated in any one area of the street. This is similar to the spray pattern of a machine gun, again with a single projectile. This is another descriptor of a WMD the ability to engage multiple targets with a single weapon.

The last reason I call motor vehicles WMDs is the Sand Springs OK incident that killed 2 out of 3 people in a single impact event, a third descriptor of WMD, massive lethality in a single engagement. I don’t know why the Iraqi were blowing up cars when they could have just driven them into the troops and done almost as much damage, maybe more if they hardened the vehicles up a bit. Hardening a vehicle is much easier than turning it into a bomb. Having done both the only thing that would have made adding explosives easier than hardening would be an inability to procure sheet steel in quantity. Well that and a lack of desire to live…

Billed @$.02, Opus

I had a special job to do, sorry the post is late

I was called out on a special job, so the post is very late today. I got the message when I came in from picking up groceries on Gigi, which gave me 2 choices, 1) shower and change, or 2) do the post about the spoiled brat that killed the 2 cyclists in Sand Springs OK then beat feet out the door and hope I caught the bus, which I did.

On second thought, screw it. It’s after midnight and still 86 degrees in my bedroom/office. I’m tired, and I have been going all day long. I’m going to take a cold shower, and make another stab at this in the morning.

Billed @$.02, Opus

The Sand Springs OK bicyclist killer

This case has gotten an unusual amount of attention, in part because the cyclists were not even on the roads when hit, in part because of the extreme amount of violence involved in the wreck (the deceased cyclists were knocked out of their helmets they were hit so hard), and in part because of the utter indifference and depravity at the situation on the part of the accused.

The wreck happened on a fairly high traffic road leading out of Tulsa
View Larger Map
OK 51 is readily visible on the Google Map view. This was where the wreck took place, on the shoulder of OK51. You can look back in my blog to get the full story.

Today’s links are about the perp (I refuse to mention her name, I do not want to give her not one second of fame or infamy) bonding out of jail for a second time after her bail was raised to $300,000. Hang onto your mice, it’s a bumpy ride Accused cyclist-killer back in jail and Tausha Borland’s Bond Increased and Woman Accused In Bicyclist Deaths Out On Bond also Woman charged in bicyclists’ deaths free on bond even Driver in cyclists’ fatalities free on bond and Local, State Briefs: Suspect in 2 bicyclists’ deaths released from jail and finally Tausha Borland Bonds Out For Second Time

The booking picture is of a spoiled brat that needed to be slapped down back in 2007 the first time she was arrested for DUI, but somebody had money and it was reduced to a misdemeanor and she was let go. She ain’t getting let go this time.

Billed @$.02, Opus