Today is a bit strange for me. I’m not Trans*, I’m not even bi, or gay. But I do have 6 Trans* friends including the couple that is living in my house now. And I read several web comics that are either written and/or drawn by a Trans* person/s, or are about Trans* people, or both. One of them subscribes to this blog (Hi!). So it’s not like this is an invisible world for me, it’s one I interact with several times a month on a personal basis. I’m not Trans*, but I’m part of their world, hopefully one of the better parts. And the statistics on violence against Trans* people, particularly M2F trans people, is just overwhelming. I’m not going to bring up the statistics here in a bike blog, but if you think you have it rough because you ride a bicycle, you don’t know how rough it can get. Sure there are people trying to kill us for existing, just like LGBT people, but they are relatively few in comparison. People are much more likely to kill one of us by “accident” where any hatred is unstated and unknown. People who (that?) kill people for being Trans* will come right out and say so while they try, so you know why you are getting killed, and they will frequently kill in the slowest and most painful method available to them. This is the truth of living in the LGBT world.
Well after that the rest of the post will be just a freaking ray of sunshine up your butts, innit? I hope so, as I go to Filter the Feed now.
Up first a slightly alcohol-impaired person on a bicycle is refused service at a fast-food place not because he was drunk, but because he was riding a bicycle. Bicyclist arrested after trying to order Taco Bell in drive-through The cyclist “resisted arrest” when he refused to allow an officer to grab a tool hung from his belt.
More on Bono’s NYC wreck. Bono’s “High Energy” Bike Accident Caused Severe Injuries Turns out it was a bit more than was first released, the most visible of which was a compound fracture of the arm. Whatever he ran into was hit with a high relative velocity to get those kinds of injuries. Either he was going really fast for a guy his age, or what he ran into was going the opposite direction at a moderate speed. The initial report said Bono was trying to avoid another cyclist at the time of the wreck, is it possible he ran into a salmon?
Another stupid driver ignores the weapon that allows someone to kill with impunity in favor of the one that gets cops to try to kill you if they find you… UPDATE: Arrest made in drive-by shooting of cyclist I’m sure Gigi will love this one for her “Stoopid” fix, because this one is really “Stoopid”.
Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Bono hurt worse than we thought, biking to cancer care, and WeHo kinda talks bike safety
A link that was also in the previous link about the debate over facilities and vehicular cycling envisioned as a rap battle. Epic Rap Battle: Vehicular cycling guru John Forester vs. @Copenhagenize kingpin Colville-Andersen. I drew this.
Speaking of vehicular cycling and street safety, some stats I used to quote have been updated from their 20th Century status quo to the 21st Century, in this graphic.
I’m really hoping this was not the result of bias against cyclists in Oz. Injured cyclist’s painful ambo wait The cyclist was hurt bad enough that she was taken with lights and siren to the nearest trauma center after waiting 45 minutes for the ambulance to get there and stabilized as much as possible during the trip. That sounds like broken bones or head trauma to me…
A photo spread of what bad infrastructure means for cyclists. Photo journal: Another cyclist dies
Is “Bad UK bicycle infrastructure” internally redundant? Jane Greaves: Calls for safety improvements after cyclist dies at Trefnant ‘accident blackspot’ I write that because I have yet to see any good UK bicycle infrastructure, all of it has been varying degrees of bad from “ugh!” to “What homicidal maniac designed this piece of crap?” And that includes the badly over-hyped “Cycling Superhighways” painted bike lanes in London, which cover the entire spectrum of the above list.
LAB has not been setting the bar too high on being “Bike Friendly”. National Award for New Britain as ‘Bike-Friendly’
Yet another article on making a bicycle easier to see when drivers “not seeing” bicycles has nothing to do with how visible they are. New products shine light on bicycle safety
Park your car and ride up to 9 miles each way on this scooter. MINI exhibits foldable electric scooter Citysurfer at Los Angeles Auto Show
And an explanation of why the Daily Ted hasn’t been daily as of late. Today’s post, in which I talk pain and what the hell is wrong with me I’m really sorry to find out Ted has joined the Chronic Pain Club, that is a club that should have no members…
And those are all the links for today.
Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet
Witch on a Bicycle 