Spelling it out: What am I posting about when I’m mentioning protocols

I was checking my blog stats again when I noticed a particular string being repeated looking for the hit-from-behind protocol on my blog. I never actually made that searchable because I never used the word “protocol” when I was describing the protocol. So now that I have used the word protocol several times to make this post findable by search engines:

Hit-from-behind:
1. Mirror(s), have ‘em, use ‘em
2. Split attention front and rear. Watch where you’re going, but keep aware of what is behind you, use ears as well as eyes.
3. Have an escape route to use when someone tries to hit you from behind or just wanders into your lane from behind you.
4. Be willing to use the escape route or to abandon your bike and let the bike take the hit and inflict as much damage to the car as possible.

Intersections:
1. Threats may come from any street and from any direction on those streets, so head up and locked.
2. Since you are dealing with multiple threats you need to keep that head on a swivel, and using mirrors to look both ways at the same time.
3. As with hit-from-behind you need to have an escape route for each potential threat. The escape route for right hooks and left crosses is the same, turn right to minimize angle of impact and reduce levels of impact energy transmitted to your body.

I hope this helps keep a few more cyclists alive.

Billed @$.02, Opus

A sparse Feed and not much to it

Now why couldn’t I get a Feed like this yesterday, when I needed it? There was an entire report this time out of the 4 I normally get that had nothing but wreck reports from motorcycle races. Sorry for your pain guys but there are other places for that than here. Also instead of my normal 4 reports I had only 2, when I should have had 3 this morning. I had one report that came in late last night that went onto the post I made just before 1AM local time, normally that would have been in today’s post, which still leaves me one short. And that one Feed report had mostly bicycle wrecks from outside North America, so people reading this on BikeJournal.com won’t have much to read. And if you want to find out why I posted to my blog at 1AM and didn’t make a post in the wrecks thread, well you will have to go to my blog and read the most recent 2 posts.

Up first for no particular reason except something has to be first is a report on a wreck in OR where they caught the guy after he ran. Arrest made in hit-and-run that injured cyclist The charges read more like a laundry list:
* Felony Failure to Perform the Duties of a Driver
* Assault in the Second Degree
* Reckless Driving
* Initiating a False Report
* Tampering with Physical Evidence
* Driving While Suspended (Misdemeanor)
* Speed Racing
One thing I don’t get is how they can charge with racing when they only suspect there might have been a second car, was he racing with himself? I have done time trial events back when I still drove a car, but they required timing equipment that the perp didn’t have…

Still in OR is the kind of wreck that drives me crazy. Cyclist injured seriously Tuesday on Ninth Street OR has a law that requires drivers to stop when there is someone in the crosswalk, so why wouldn’t you at least slow down a bunch when you see another vehicle stopped at a crosswalk? Are drivers really that self-centered? And why wasn’t the driver in this case cited for failure to yield to a crosswalk? Too many questions?

And another left cross wreck blamed on the cyclist rather than the driver that cut him off. Police report: Cyclist injured after rear ending car Another case of car-head bias on the part of the LEO.

Our first story from the UK, with typical levels of detail and things of interest. Cyclist, 12, injured in road crash Leg and head injuries, but the expect the little guy to fully recover. Get well soon, dude.

And from Scotland, where nothing is cr-r-r-rap (according to my daughter who is now living there) a wreck courtesy of the Beeb. Cyclist seriously hurt in crash I’m sorry but this is cr-r-r-rap!

And another case of worrying about the wrong thing… Target pavement cyclists, say MPs Yeah, I’m going to file this under “over-reacting” and just send the parties involved a case of camomile tea. Drivers kill more people on the sidewalks (pavements) in a week than cyclists do in a year, and the proportion of injuries is about the same, a little higher for cyclists than deaths because of the difference in mass and speed making bicycles just that much less fatal.

And that’s all I have for today, more non-cycling stuff later in the day.

Billed @$.02, Opus

It has been a long day, and the Feed

Yes I have been on the road for a long time today, from 11 AM until 8 PM with no lunch, which meant that as soon as I got home I spent the next 2 hours or so stuffing my face to replenish the calories I lost from the miles on the road and the hypothermia of wandering around TX soaking wet with temperatures in the low to mid 60s F. After eating everything that wasn’t nailed down (I think we might be short a cat ) I filtered the Feed and now here we are, exhausted and frustrated, still drying out and getting warmed back up after riding 26 miles through what felt like a monsoon riding over to NCTCOG HQ to find out about new signs and meanings for signs that had been added to the MUTCD, and to find out about the things going on in the rest of the Metroplex as far as bike projects are concerned (Richardson has almost 6 miles of bike lanes now!). Anyway, there was a Feed and there were cyclists killed and/or injured, plus infrastructure articles, the post about the NCTCOG will have to wait until I get up tomorrow.

Up first because it’s the thing that makes me the most angry (angriest?) is a report on the trial of the thing that walks like a man with a medical degree. Defense attorney cross-examines cyclists in LA road rage case The defense tried to insinuate that bicycles were unstable, but they’re no more unstable than your average lawyer, right Eric?

A woman is killed riding her bicycle in Chicago. CFD: Cyclist killed in Lakeview crash Amazingly enough one of the commenters actually used as reason the cyclist was at fault was that she was not wearing a helmet. From what was given in the article I can’t figure out what went wrong as 2 cyclists went past a bus stopped to pick up passengers and one of them was hit by a truck. I know nothing of where the truck came from or which way it was going, why only one cyclist was hit, or anything else except that the woman was hit and she died at the scene. The comments section is useless in this situation because the people claiming to witness the wreck are making contradictory statements.

VeloNews provided several links today about bike wrecks, and infrastructure articles. The Explainer – We just wanna ride and The Mailbag – Radios, road rage and horse pucky Just read the articles.

A woman in Montreal is injured unnecessarily. Injured cyclist failed to stop at red light: Montreal police All you have to do is stop at red lights. If you want to run the red light then you have to look before you go to make sure there’s nothing to run into you.

The Canadian version of the thing that walks like a man, with a law degree, wants to get the mess over with so he can go on with his life. Michael Bryant wants a quick trial, lawyer says I still don’t see why he got out of jail after being caught on camera assaulting a man with a deadly weapon, not once but twice, and killing him in the second assault. And that miserable attempt to smear the deceased’s reputation to make it seem like it was an act of charity to kill him? I could smell the Astroturf half a continent away it must have really reeked in Ontario.

Still in Canadia comes an article on sharing the road with bicycles. Road sharing Gee, people who drive killing machines that weigh in excess of a ton and that can go in excess of 60 miles in an hour have to be careful when they do so as not to cause injury to innocent bystanders? Whodathunkit?

Also from the Great White North comes this. Cyclist’s death highlights auto hazards Do these guys know each other?

In the UK a man gets away with hit-and-run, almost. Driver avoids jail after leaving injured cyclist Of course now this guy has to be very careful around cyclists when he finally gets to drive again because he has this hit-and-run on his record.

A story that’s getting a lot of time in the Australian media. Cyclist killed in truck collision and Three die on Victorian roads in 24 hours also Cyclist dies after being hit by truck Apparently the truck driver was not trying to hit the cyclist as he was hospitalized for shock after he killed the cyclist. near as I can tell this was a hit-from-behind wreck of the hardest kind to prevent, the one where a driver thinks they have left enough room and isn’t trying to buzz you, just mis-judges how big the vehicle is by a large amount. Standard hit-from-behind protocol applies, plus just be careful both behind the wheel and turning the pedals.

Drivers get mad that cyclists exist in Houston. The Wheel World

Substituting endorphins for illegal pharmaceuticals. Win a red ribbon Personally, I don’t care if you do drugs in the privacy of your own abode, I just care if you get stoned and get on the roads, any mode but especially in a car.

Substituting a religious addiction for other addictions. Ride a testament to mental, physical strength If that is what works for you and your problems, do what you gotta do.

And proving that making something illegal won’t make it go away… Despite Ban, Electric Bikes Gain Favor on City Streets One of the things I do when I’m not typing this blog or going for bike rides is build assist bikes from my own designs. I prefer through the gears assist for better use of less electricity, but I acknowledge you can’t beat a hub motor conversion for simplicity.

And that’s it for tonight (this morning?).

Billed @$.02, Opus