I have been thinking about subscribing to Patreon so that my income is more linear and more predictable and less “manna from heaven” between long bouts of poverty. I’m still checking with Automattic (the company that hosts my blog) about putting a Patreon button in one of the sidebars, or if I will have to put a link in every blog post to remind people about it. Having Patreon in the blog is totally kosher as far as they are concerned because it is just another link off-site like all my news links. The “other” problem is incentives for supporters. How should I reward supporters without spending everything I get on incentives? Put names in the headlines? Autographed pictures? One free ride on Francis/es? I have been thinking about making T-Shirts as a promotional item and to sell, so maybe a t-shirt at one level, with an autograph at a higher level? I made good some money last year amounting to just under $3K, but doing the blog keeps me from doing other things that I could be doing to make money that while not as much fun would be a steadier stream of income. I await comments and will continue to ponder.
Up first the Really Big Story is the driver that killed one of the three cyclists she hit on an arrow-straight flat road at 0130 is suing the trio (including the dead cyclist) for “ruining her enjoyment of life”. >retch< Woman sues parents of cyclist she killed with her SUV, complaining “her enjoyment of life has been be lessened” and Driver of SUV that hit cyclists suing dead teen’s family more Driver that fatally hit cyclist sues family and this Canadian Female Motorist Who Killed Teen Bike Rider Suing His Estate not done yet Woman who killed teen on bike sues teen’s family for $1.3 million for ‘emotional distress’ not done yet Driver sues dead teenage cyclist she knocked over and killed for HER “emotional trauma” still more Driver suing teenage cyclist she killed Can I just say that even the thought of suing the parents of a dead child for the psychological harm you suffered in killing that child is abhorrent to me, but doubly so in this case. The wreck was on an arrow-straight road that had an unobstructed view for miles, the 2 bicycles closest to or in the road had reflectors, all the riders had reflective raincoats on because of the drizzle, and the combination of clothing and reflectors should have given the driver a minimum of 30 seconds to see, identify, and avoid the cyclists by moving to the other lane that was free of traffic. Only one of the cyclists (the deceased one) was completely in the road, one was on the line between the shoulder and the travel lane and the third was completely in the shoulder at the time all three were hit… Maybe riding side-by-side was not as safe as all 3 riding single file in the shoulder, but the driver had more than enough time to move to the empty lane and make a safe pass had she been, you know, looking out the front of the car.
Moving a little closer to home, I have ridden this very train. A-train strikes cyclist I don’t know the crossing but local knowledge reports state that there is very obstructed visibility and no crossing gate where the cyclist was hit. Unfortunately I can’t get a recent Street View of the scene so I can’t say one way or the other.
Speaking of cyclists getting hit by trains, we have more on the one hit in NM last week. A preventable, tragic death: Some lessons Based on what was known last week and this new information SFPD garners new details from video of fatal train/bicycle crash Video always helps, especially good clear video. And now this becomes super puzzling, because people that know the victim and rode with her had commented on how careful and law-abiding she rode with them, and this report states she was crossing the street against the light and then turned directly in front of the train, going the opposite direction from the original reports. So Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot?
Still on the cyclists hit by trains theme, on in IL. Cyclist struck and killed by freight train after falling on tracks in downtown Elgin Nothing solid except the cyclist would not have been hit had he managed to stay upright. Still in all these cases the standard mantra of avoiding getting hit by trains applies. Trains are only found on train tracks and you can avoid getting hit by never being on the track at the same time as a train. That said all of the reports today are just confusing as to how the cyclists ended up getting hit.
A PA wreck with low information when I was filtering links. Coroner IDs cyclist killed in Silver Spring Township The bicycle in the picture appears to have been hit from behind, but I can’t see if the cyclist went under the wheels or if he was just clobbered and knocked to the side. Also can’t tell if the cyclist had lights or reflectors as that part of the bike was mangled. Also I can’t see what the clear visibility was but what little I can see of the scene suggests that it was straight up to the point of impact and had the cyclist been visible he would have been visible for some time prior to the impact. Late night and 74 YO cyclist could mean either the cyclist or the driver could have been drowsy. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent.
Another wreck that LEO are sitting on all the information about. Name of victim in bike/SUV accident released by investigators The location and even the facts of was he hit or not are all being kept way to close to their vests for my liking.. I smell a cover-up.
A CA wreck has more questions than answers. Santa Cruz Bicyclist Killed in Friday Night Hit-N-Run So they have a hubcap that might have been from the weapon vehicle, and a dead cyclist. LEO are claiming the cyclist was riding salmon in the bike lane but at the same time stated he fell from his bike and was laying in the travel lane when he was hit, so how are they sure which way he was going before he fell? At any rate the direction of travel is immaterial to this wreck if the cyclist fell over and was in the travel lane when hit.
Our Daily Ted link. Morning Links: Successful Finish the Ride, state hit-and-run bills advance, and an Agenda 21 conspiracy fail
And this unfortunate news from Ted. Today’s post, in which I win the genetic lottery, or why you haven’t seen me on my bike — or anywhere else — lately I don’t like the symptoms Ted is reporting, low energy and high blood sugar are tripping my alarms about other metabolic disorders, not diabetes.
A hit-from-behind wreck in Oz. Cyclist death leaves community mourning Protocols and infrastructure…
Hit-and-run in Oz. Driver flees scene after cyclist dies at Inglewood, west of Warwick Hit from behind, protocols and infrastructure including confiscating and destroying all vehicles used in hit and run. With the driver in them if they killed someone. 😡 More Police ask for help to find hit-and-run driver who killed cyclist Dr Martin Pearson at Inglewood
Lifestyle from CA. Cyclist who lost part of leg highlights hit-and-runs with bike ride This was the guy who got hit by a driver driving on the wrong side of the street to try to get around a long line of traffic that then turned on to an onramp for I-5 and dragged the cyclist almost a quarter of a mile. More Cyclist struck in hit-and-run looks to ‘Finish the Ride’
Sorta kinda lifestyle in IN. Man killed in collision with bus loved to ride his bike The thing that gets my goat on this one is there is no ambiguity in the laws about this wreck, the driver of the school bus was 100% at fault for hitting the cyclist while the bus was turning left.
More lifestyle from PA (I think). Bicycle event shows injured veterans are capable of anything
Infrastructure! news from south TX. Prioritize making S.A. friendly to pedestrians, cyclists Whodathunkit, a Texas politician actually espousing entering the 21st century as far as infrastructure is concerned. And all it took was one constituent a month getting killed in her district. >:P
We should be so lucky as to have this problem. Netherlands reports rise in bike-on-bike cycle path injuries There are so many people riding bicycles (as opposed to “cyclists”) that the bicycle paths are getting congested and people are having wrecks. But on the bright side, many fewer cyclists are getting hit by cars because the infrastructure there is the best in the world. Even the best in the world needs improvement, though.
More legal infrastructure problems in Jolly Olde. Campaigners say justice system is ‘failing to protect cyclists’ Yep, a prosecution rate of just over 10% is never going to win any friends except in the group doing the killing, who are literally getting away with murder. More Cyclists slam low number of car smash court cases The amount of money sounds huge until you stop and think that is the cost for rebuilding one freeway interchange. Then think of how many thousands of interchanges there are, how many dozens have to be rebuilt each year, how many miles of roads are being built between those interchanges and then you realize that the money is just a drop in the bucket compared to motor vehicle infrastructure spending. And the facts that even when a driver breaks the law they have a 9 in 10 chance of walking away without even a ticket.
And bad infrastructure continues to kill even after being alerted to replace it. Coroner demands safety action from council at Holborn junction where cyclist was killed Couldn’t there be a charge the next time someone was killed or injured trying to negotiate this intersection by bicycle? Like a criminal charge against the people dragging their heels about getting this fixed?
Last link, if this breakthrough can transfer over to rechargeable batteries it could spell wonders for all forms of EV including e-assist bikes. ‘Revolutionary’ advanced battery leaps theoretical maximum boundary Right now this research is only applicable to primary (disposable) batteries, and could mean less frequent battery change surgery for implanted devices, but there is hope that there will be secondary cells that can benefit from the research if not the actual discovery.
And those were all the links that gave me fits and giggles today. Sadly way too many fits and not enough giggles.
Billed @€0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 