Loaded with swag after doing the bike to work station, and the Feed

I got up early to visit the Bike to Work Commuter Energizer Station for a bite and a bit of conversation. Because it was a trifle foggy out I decided to run with my headlights on, and I was glad I did because they both died from discharged batteries during the ride. Since I have to go somewhere tonight I have three battery chargers going at the moment, one for the 4 AA NiMH batteries in the primary headlight, one for the 2 AAA NiMH batteries in my secondary headlight that is aimed to spot street signs, and a third to keep the Chromebook running. And I mentioned swag in the headline, let me recount the swag: 3 water bottles and it would have been 4 if I hadn’t shooed the nice lady away from my bike when she started loading the buckets, a clip-on blinky light, a T-shirt, and tons of literature from DART on taking my bike on the bus including a map to bike racks, coffee, Clif bars, and a banana. And Bike Friendly Garland sticker which was what I actually came for.

Up first an update on a fatal hit-and-run in GA in a town I used to live in (in case you haven’t noticed I have lived in lots of towns). Police say hit-and-run suspect tried to repaint truck I think additional charges of obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence should be tacked on to the hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter charges. If you are new to my blog you probably don’t know what is about to be posted next, for those of you who have read more than 2 weeks this will be old hat: Chain the guy to the steering wheel and recycle his truck into bicycle parts, the process of melting the truck down will allow the contaminants to be skimmed off the top.

A MO wreck that appears to be a sidewalk cyclist getting cut off at a stop sign. Bike rider hurt in collision with pickup From the picture of the damage on the bike and the position of the debris, assuming medical responders didn’t move anything, the truck and the cyclist were both moving at a fair clip, given the damages to the bike and the place where the cyclist’s shoes ended up. Since the bike had flat pedals with toe clips and not clipless pedals I don’t see any reason for medical personnel to remove the cyclist’s shoes and then leave them at the scene so they must have come off in the wreck. Also the physical evidence shows the cyclist was riding salmon which meant the driver was looking away from him when he pulled out into the street. Lots of blame to go around in this wreck between the salmon cyclist and a driver not looking where he was going. Intersection protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

More on the IL cyclist killed at an intersection scheduled for a bike overpass in just under a month. Husband mourns Busse Woods bicyclist killed crossing Higgins Road Everything I read about this wreck blames the intersection and drivers that don’t look for cyclists when they turn their vehicles across bike lanes. I don’t know what a cyclist could do in the face of that kind of failure in both drivers and infrastructure. Intersection protocols seem so inadequate when confronted with drivers that face so little in the way of consequences compared to cyclists and who can blame the infrastructure when they can’t blame the cyclists.

More on the bicycle-hating drunk that killed a cyclist driving the wrong direction in a bike lane. Driver in crash that killed cyclist in Lyons expressed growing frustration with bicyclists The driver is still in jail over the wreck. I would hide in jail if I were him, too. More Patrick Ward made anti-bicycling statements before crash that killed cyclist

Another report on the cyclist killed by a man fleeing a shooting that he is alleged to have also committed. Bicyclist Killed By Suspect Fleeing From Shooting I’m getting backchannel reports the weapon vehicle was airborne when it hit the cyclist. As I posted yesterday the cyclist had no chance of avoiding this wreck as he was already in the intersection when the driver ran the stop sign at a high rate of speed.

A RI cyclist is killed. North Providence student killed in bike-car crash At this point all I know is it was an intersection wreck so maybe intersection protocols would have reduced the amount of damage to non-fatal levels. I’m not sure infrastructure would have helped either as the Street View of the site shows a dense residential neighborhood, that would be a shared space with limited motor vehicle access and an 18 MPH speed limit under the Dutch model.

More Ride of Silence links. Locals honor fallen cyclists in silent ride and Memorial Ride Honors Bike Victims also Silent Ride: Remembering Victims of Bicycle Accidents and this Ride of Silence honors cyclist hit and killed on Route 434 don’t forget this link Fort Collins cyclists remember riders hurt or killed with silent ride or this one ‘Ride of Silence’ honors cyclist killed in Davidson County not done yet Cyclists Raise Awareness for Safety on the Roads

Emerging Artist Killed in 2011 Bicycle Crash Gets Posthumous New York Solo Show

Last link 3000 cyclists are expected to descend on the Scottish Parliament to protest lax sentencing for drivers that kill cyclists. Family of Audrey Fyfe to lead 3,000-strong ‘Pedal on Parliament’ I think we might get 30 or 40 cyclists to “descend” on the TX legislature if they had to ride in on bikes.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Weather is here wish you were beautiful, and the Feed

First off let me apologize for not posting the pictures from the RoS I went to last night. The ride concluded just as a rain shower came through and the traditional post-ride socializing instead was a mad scramble to get to shelter and I had only a chance to share a few words of greeting and goodbye with the guy that started it all, Chris Phelan. That shower was an outer band shower of a severe weather system that brought at least 10 tornadoes to the area, one of which went south of here without causing much if any damage. We got very lucky this year as this was the first severe storm we have had so far and we are 2 weeks past the end of our usual storm season. With any additional luck that was it for this year. Well the reason why no pictures is we stayed glued to the tube watching the weather radar and later reports from the stricken areas, which kinda precluded downloading pictures to the desktop computer, and manipulating them to fit this blog. There was some loss of life to the south of WoaB World HQ, but nothing worse than some flash flooding in the immediate area.

Up first a report that came from the WP “just posted” folder on the dashboard, a driver shoots at his girlfriend in another car, then runs over a bicyclist as he runs a stop sign escaping the scene of the shooting. Bicyclist killed by driver fleeing shooting in Florence, police say The driver was charged with assault with a deadly weapon in the shooting, nothing so far in the cyclist’s death. The wreck was an intersection wreck but so far outside the normal bounds of intersection protocols as to make any attempt to use them ludicrous, I place this wreck in the category of unavoidable by human cyclists without precognition, and equally unable to prevent by infrastructure. The link to the LA Times story came from BikingInLA in this post: More bad news for Bike to Work Day: Bike rider killed by driver fleeing a shooting

I’m going to bite my (metaphorical) tongue on this report. Man riding bicycle hit by firetruck in Canton Again I’m going to point out that many lights do not register the presence of a cyclist and don’t change, effectively training cyclists to run red lights regularly. Also pointing out the cyclist was wearing “regular” clothes, not “dark” clothing. And that I appear to have metaphorically chewed my metaphoric tongue to metaphoric ribbons. Anyway, when a traffic signal doesn’t register your presence and change for your direction there is a procedure to follow: Wait 2 minutes to make sure it isn’t just a delay in changing built into the logic of the controller, the treat the malfunctioning control as a stop sign and waiting until cross traffic is clear before proceeding. Then call Streets for that area to report a malfunctioning signal.

Update on a Chicago-area cyclist that was killed earlier this week. Cyclist Killed Tuesday Identified As Elk Grove Village Woman Nothing on the wreck itself, but the article seems to indicate that it was an intersection wreck and highly infrastructure related, in that they are already completing plans to build grade separated crossings for pedestrians and cyclists there. You can’t get much more explicit that bad infrastructure was involved than to have a shovel-ready project to upgrade the infrastructure, and a project that will be underway in less than a month pretty much defines “shovel-ready”.

Another IL cyclist is killed in a hit-from-behind wreck near or in Chicago. 83-year-old bicyclist hit by car, killed on Northwest Side Another case of using the wrong preposition in the headline he was hit “with” a car not “by” a car. Comments and article point to excessive speed on the part of the driver, leaving mere human cyclists little chance of avoiding by employing the hit-from-behind protocols. I would say that some kind of traffic calming would improve matters immensely for that street judging from the comments viewable at the time this was posted.

More on the wreck in CO where a drunk driver in the bike lane going the wrong way hit a cyclist head on. Boulder cyclist killed in SUV crash remembered as positive, patient and Driver arrested in cyclist’s death had complained bicyclists ‘don’t belong’ in Lyons Those public comments are going to come back to haunt him, possibly getting the homicide charge bumped to a murder charge. Driving the wrong way in a bike lane, well anytime you drive in a bike lane you’re driving “the wrong way” as in a way that is inappropriate for motor vehicles to operate, but in this case the driver was driving against the flow of traffic. That makes it look like he saw the cyclist and took deadly action because his judgment had been impaired as a result of his being drunk. Any guesses as to who gets the “Waste of Human Skin” tag for today’s post?

And another hit-and-run from yet another town I used to live in. Bicyclist struck and killed by vehicle in hit-and-run accident in Augusta Hit-from-behind, from the area they mentioned I don’t think that the protocols would have been any help for mere human cyclists, and the infrastructure from when I was there was terrible. Get the infrastructure right and make hit-and-run a major felony like DUI homicide to prevent.

Don’t drink and ride. Man trying to help drunk cyclist ends up getting him arrested I think this is a re-hash from an earlier story (the swinging of the broken bike seat is familiar), but still, don’t drink and ride.

Good results from the UK as a cyclist uses evidence from the criminal trial against the driver that hit her to prove a total lack of negligence on her part for the civil trial. Cyclist who lost her leg in crash with lorry scores legal win against insurer The only problem I see in this case is that many injury cases never get to criminal charges, much less trials with publicly available records.

RoS coverage from places that didn’t go under a tornado warning. Ride of Silence bicycle event in Flint encourages awareness for cyclist safety also Cyclists ride in silence to remember those injured, killed From just down the road from where I used to live Murfreesboro remembrance bike ride is one of many globally and from the founder of the Mother Ride QUIET FOR 10 YEARS: The Ride Of Silence

Other lifestyle events. Cousin plans bike ride in man’s memory

And to close out this video of a FWD rear-steer delta trike: Monsterbike

And those are all the links that gave me fits today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

The Ride of Silence is today here, and the Feed

Today is the day. I’m going to take the train to White Rock Station, and the White Rock Trail to the rally point for the ride, and probably an allergy pill so I don’t sneeze like a steam engine during the post-ride prayer. I might remember to bring my camera and take some pictures to post in tomorrow’s blog post. We can hope so anyway.

The Really Big Story today is the NTSB “suggestion” that states lower their legal limit for BAC% from .08 to .05%. NTSB recommends lowering DUI threshold to .05 I’m not including the other 27 links because they are all the same article from the AP printed in other newspapers. My research on this suggests that initial testing done included too many alcoholics in the sample size, possibly because the testing advertising placed too much emphasis on “free drinks”. Also the legal limit was set high to make sure the driver was drunk drunk and not “a little tipsy”, as the legislators did not understand that “a little tipsy” was in fact too impaired to drive safely. In my lifetime the legal BAC% went from as high as .15% to .08%, with the drop to .10% coming fairly quickly as state troopers used legislators as test subjects and film or video tape to record behavior and driving ability at various levels of BAC% with even the semi-alcoholic legislators seeing that even at .10% when they felt sober enough to drive they were seriously impaired. Further testing with a wider pool of test subjects (and offering money for the test beyond just free alcohol) showed even to conservative legislators that driving was significantly impaired at the .08% level that they felt just fine at. I think also part of the reason for the lower BAC% is that people are drinking less, being less acclimated to the effects of alcohol, and showing impairment at lower concentrations than before, but that is just my hypothesis, I have no way of testing it to raise it to the point of a theory.

Speaking of drunk drivers… $25,000 bond set for Patrick Ward, suspect accused of driving an SUV that hit and killed a cyclist This was the driver that was driving in the bike lane against the flow of traffic so he could make a left turn…

More on the NY cyclist that died from hitting a deer. Medical examiner: Blunt force trauma killed N. Salem bicyclist who hit deer Even though this cyclist was wearing a helmet, and did not hit an unyielding motor vehicle but instead hit a somewhat softer deer, he still got fatal massive blunt force trauma to his pelvis.

A salmon NH cyclist is hit. Girl hurt after plowing into side of car while riding her bicycle As has been said many times by many people, when you ride salmon drivers don’t look for you and just pull right out in front of you (or into you). This cyclist was lucky. Ride with traffic to avoid (and use intersection protocols) and get the infrastructure right so that a 12YO girl can use it.

Two NC cyclists (or one cyclist and a passenger) get hit. Two children riding bicycle struck by car, injured The children had just left their driveway when they were hit. intersection protocols to avoid, and slow down motor vehicles in residential areas to prevent. This makes 3 kids hit outside their or their friends’ homes while riding bikes in the last 7 days. That’s 3 kids too many.

A VT cyclist is Jerry Browned and injured. Rehoboth teen, 14, struck by van while riding his bicycle The cyclist was struck and injured, the bike was untouched. Hit-from-behind protocol to avoid, and a 3-foot law that is rigorously enforced to prevent if they don’t want to spend the money to build bicycle infrastructure.

An IL cyclist is killed. Bicyclist killed in collision with car in Schaumburg At this point LEO do not know who had right of way in this wreck (and I can’t get google maps to open up to check for a traffic control device) so I can’t tell you how to void this wreck beyond advising using intersection protocols. The fact that the cyclist had to cross a high-speed intersection without separation in time and space is an indictment against the infrastructure, which correcting would have prevented this wreck. The Dutch way would have had a grade separated crossing for this intersection.

A serious wreck in CA. Cyclists injured in Harris Grade Road crash While the article doesn’t say the pictures show bikes that have obviously been hit from behind by a vehicle moving at a high rate of speed. I mean you can see a shoe still clipped into the pedal and still tied which means the foot that had been in that shoe was removed violently. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A NY police Explorer and cyclist does the right thing, and people are stunned. Greenburgh Police Explorer Keenan Assisted Injured Cyclist I don’t know what the big deal is, he just followed his training and used human compassion. Have we become that jaded that someone doing the right thing becomes big news?

A rigorous study in Canada shows little difference in head injuries between mandatory helmet provinces and those without helmet laws. Cycle Helmet Safety Laws Not Necessarily Reducing Head Injuries, Study Finds There are many factors that reduce head injury in people who voluntarily wear bicycle helmets compared to another group that does not. including riding style, condition of the bike, and other things I can’t think of off the top of my head.

UK cyclists are still livid over a serial cyclist killer getting only 300 hours of community service and a 5 year ban after his second victim. CTC and families of cyclists killed by same driver 25 years apart call for appeal against driver’s community service sentence and Tougher sentence demanded for driver who killed two cyclists also Cyclist Audrey Fyfe’s widower lodges complaint against driver’s sentence

From Oz more on the second driver convicted in a hit-and-run against a cyclist. Second man jailed over cyclist hit-and-run When I went back to get the headline the page had vanished and an “under construction” page was up in its place. So at this point I have no idea if you will be able to read this article when I post this.

Also from Oz a cyclist is rammed into a parked car. Rider, 50, injured at New Lambton And at this point that is all I know from this wreck, that the driver hit the cyclist from behind and rammed the cyclist into a parked car. I would say hit-from-behind protocols but the escape route was obstructed by storage of private property on the public right-of-way. That only leaves putting cyclists on the other side of the parked cars in a parking-protected cycle track.

Still in Oz, doctors reveal a steady stream of injured cyclists hit by cars through their ER doors. Cyclists hurt every week in Cairns say doctors The carnage of the road seems to mostly impact people not in cars…

South Africa is having a spate of hit-and-run lately. Avid cyclist killed in hit-and-run This is he second cyclist hit from behind while riding on the shoulder in a week. I have seen what “roads” are like in Africa and you don’t want to try to run off the pavement on a 23mm wide tire road bike unless you like pain and fixing broken wheels.

Lots of links for tonight’s RoS… Cyclists to participate in Ride of Silence to honor those injured, killed while riding and Cyclists to participate in Ride of Silence to honor those injured, killed while riding Same media outlet, same headline, two different stories? Also Murfreesboro bike ride will be in remembrance of MTSU student killed in February Another one Ride of Silence honors cyclists injured or killed on the road

And those are all the links that were still alive after I filtered the Feed, and gave me fits.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Well at least it’s nice out, and the Feed

This time of year is one of the most frustrating for me while I’m here in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. The pollen makes me want to stay inside where the air is at least partially filtered free of pollen, but the temperatures make me want to be out JRA because it’s neither gaspingly hot nor heavy coat cold and for a few days you can actually ride considerable distances without becoming drenched in sweat and still be able to wear open finger gloves. For me that is the perfect riding temperature, and I have to miss it because plants are having sex… It makes me want to scream when I think about it so I try not to think about it. Take away the pollen and this is what it’s like to live in San Diego all year long, practically.

The End of Times must be coming, as another Texan is arrested for hitting a cyclist. Man arrested in hit-and-run that injured cyclist The wreck was a hit-from-behind, use the protocols to avoid, get the infrastructure right to prevent. I must say, this is a pleasant change to have LEO at all levels suddenly decide that cyclists are equally worthy of the protections of the law as they are the punishments. Now if they could just convince NYPD of this.

One state over a cyclist is hit by a blind driver. Arkansas State Police: Bicyclist dies after collision with pickup in Yell County Once again the driver of the weapon vehicle used the Universal “Get Out of Jail Free” card to escape liability and punishment. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent. One bit of legal infrastructure that would help immediately would be changing the law so that any hit-from-behind wreck is automatically the fault of the driver unless proven otherwise, with “I didn’t see him” as an admission of guilt instead of an excuse.

A completely unavoidable wreck turns fatal. Somers Cyclist Hit By Deer Dies Of Injuries Local wildlife is the joker in the road safety deck. The best that you can hope for is to not be there when they are in the roads. I haven’t been able to find out if this was mutually fatal or if the deer was unhurt.

Update on the child cyclist killed in AL. Funeral held for child killed in bike accident in Cullman They are staying with the story that the kid pulled out in front of the driver and not that the driver was going too fast in a residential area.

More on the cyclist killed by a drunk driver driving on the wrong side of the road in CO. Boulder cyclist killed in crash with car identified Take one intersection with 5 different streets and highways converging in one spot, add bike lanes to one of those streets and a drunk driver that has lived in that town all his life and knows those roads like the back of his hand, and you get someone driving in the wrong lane and hitting a cyclist head on. Intersection protocols don’t apply in this chaos, getting the infrastructure right is the only thing that can prevent wrecks like this one. That and draconian speed limit enforcement. More links Driver facing vehicular homicide charge after cyclist killed in Lyons crash also Bicyclist Hit, Killed By Vehicle In Lyons

From the UK the first step in appealing the incredibly lax sentence for killing a cyclist has been taken. Family of dead cyclist lodge complaint against driver’s sentence Seriously, 300 hours of community service and only a 5 year driving ban for his second criminal fatality is ludicrous.

From Oz comes a story of a coverup of a cyclist’s death. Man jailed for assisting in hit-run It should have been obstructing justice and conspiracy, and the sentence should have been much longer (years instead of months) and as the victim’s father said he should have lost his driver’s license for life. But still for Oz getting 20 months for killing a cyclist still counts as a good result.

Another Ride of Silence link as we all get ready for the Ride tomorrow (Northern hemisphere) or Saturday (Southern hemisphere and rain date for the rest of us). ‘Ride of Silence’ to remember Endicott cyclist killed in October

And those are all the links that gave me fits today, Be sure to go to rideofsilence.org to find where your local RoS will be held and plot your route so you can get there in time. I will be attending the Mother Ride again this year.

Billed $€0.02, Opus

I hade Sprig, and the Feed

Yes, it’s that time of year again, the peak of allergy season when I get to either suffer a completely stopped up head, watery eyes, constant sneezing, and occasional disgusting digestive issues, or be unconscious from the allergy meds that don’t interfere with my BP meds. Hell of a choice innit?

Up first the driver that killed a cyclist in Austin has been released from jail. Elderly man indicted in cyclist’s death released It’s a pity that this will probably be all the time this killer spends in custody for illegally driving on the shoulder to pass a traffic jam and killing another human being. I’m just totally impressed the DA was able to convince a grand jury to indict the lowlife. BTW this link gets the “Signs of the Apocalypse” tag because the end must be near if a DA can convince a grand jury in Texas to indict a driver for killing a cyclist.

Update on the wreck in CO as the driver has been charged with vehicular homicide after hitting a cyclist head on while driving on the wrong side of the street. Man arrested for vehicular homicide after bike rider killed in Lyons The speed in which these charges were filed stuns me. Usually when a drunk driver kills someone there is a wait for the toxicology screens to come back from the lab, in this case they went with a field sobriety test and a breathalyzer to file serious felony charges in less than 24 hours. Earlier links Driver arrested after bicyclist killed by SUV in Lyons and Boulder County Sheriff’s Office: Cyclist killed in Lyons car versus bike crash

A VA hit-and-run wreck as a semi driver tried to pass when there wasn’t room to pass. Police search for tractor trailer driver that hit two cyclists The semi driver moved to pass a group of cyclists then cut over before completing the pass, hitting two of the cyclists. This is not the kind of wreck a human cyclist can avoid, but getting the infrastructure right would go a long way towards preventing another one. I am trying to think of what could be done with the built environment to prevent this but since the semi driver ran the oncoming vehicle off the road as well as hitting the cyclists the only thing I can think of is removing the incentives for truck drivers to act this way by removing the per-mile pay schedules. Almost all a driver’s expenses are per time except fuel and some preventative maintenance, and driving at a slower speed reduces the per-mile costs for those.

Update on the NE wreck that looks like will cost the rider her foot. Woman injured in car-bike crash improving All the reports on this one place the blame on the cyclist for violating the right of way of the faster car, and none mentions the passing lane to the left of the wreck. I’m going to go with the cyclist not allowing enough time for the driver to move over, or that there may have been other traffic in the inside lane that prevented the driver of the weapon vehicle from moving over.

More on the death of a NY cyclist. Troopers: Teen cyclist killed by drunken driver in Cohocton Mode of wreck is still not given but since an intersection has not been described as being next to or very near the wreck I’m going to have to assume hit-from-behind, so use those protocols to avoid if possible, and get the infrastructure right so that drunk drivers can’t get near cyclists and cyclists can still get where they need to go and from town to town.

A wreck in Oz with almost no information. Cyclist, teenager die in separate crashes No mode given, just that the other vehicle was an Australian pickup truck (ute).

Another RoS link as the date approaches. Ride of Silence to remember those killed in bicycle accidents

Lifestyle in CA as a cyclist is remembered. Hundreds take part in memorial ride to remember local cyclist killed in crash

And those are all the links that gave me fits today, minus a few that expired over the weekend.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

When you don’t have an actual job you never get a day off, and the Feed

You would think that not having what my elder daughter called a “jobby job” I wouldn’t be busy, but truth be told I don’t think I have ever been busier since I started doing this blog instead of actual working. I will be voting this morning, then going to meet with the people of Occupy Dallas about establishing a bike co-op this afternoon, doing Mother’s Day a day early with the kids still living on this side of the pond during early evening, then if I’m lucky I’ll be able to catch the end of RPG day as my warlock(6) goes undercover as a courier to thwart gangs that have been stealing the information from their message bags without breaking their (non-magical) seals. For a guy that hasn’t had a daily job since 2006 that’s a lot of running around.

A NE cyclist gets hit just after making a turn. Woman injured in car-bike crash Looking at the scene there were two lanes of travel in each direction, and the wreck was a distance away from the intersection. It looked like the cyclist expected the driver to make a lane change instead of panicking and locking the brakes and running her over. That is why you need to assume that every driver has the traffic savvy of a roadkill squirrel to avoid wrecks like this, basically a slight modification of the hit-from-behind protocol. Obviously getting the infrastructure right to prevent 40 MPH cars from mixing with bike traffic would prevent a similar wreck in the future.

An Upstate NY cyclist is killed by a drunk driver. Wayland teen killed riding his bike near his home Thursday found Friday; Man charged with DWI Have I mentioned lately how much I hate drunk drivers, and hit-and-run? And how much I especially hate drunk drivers that hit-and-run and leave dead cyclists in their wake? Recycle the car with the driver still in it and let then skim the scum off the top of the kiln.

Updates on the AL 6YO killed riding a bike in a residential area. Boy killed while riding bike and Cullman PD: 6-year-old hit and killed while riding his bike I “love” how the one report said it was a “perfect storm” because the kid couldn’t see the truck and the truck “couldn’t stop” (because he was driving too fast in a residential area). But because the driver was within the speed limit fatal mistakes are not “his fault” but the kid’s that died.

From the UK a semi driver admits he’s a git driving defective equipment when he hit a cyclist. A18 lorry driver admits causing cyclist’s death The crime he plead guilty to has a minimum sentence of 36 weeks in jail, but somehow I don’t see that ever happening. I predict a suspended sentence and some community service. What I would like to see is something like 1440 hours of community service if the sentence is suspended. I know, I’m a dreamer “but I’m not the only ooo-one” (John Lennon)

Less than a week out we have our second Ride of Silence link. Cyclists’ Ride of Silence on Wed From Nyack to Piermont

Infrastructure! news from the UK as a barrier is installed on an alleyway to let cyclists know that there is an actual road at the end instead of another alley. Trafford Centre installs safety barrier after young cyclist is killed

Legal infrastructure from the UK. Father of lorry crash victim Ellie Carey wants law on cab cameras The problem is the big trucks have blind spots you could hide the entire TdF peloton in making these vehicles killing machines on wheels. I have seen (staged?) video of a Mini getting run over in the blind spot of a semi, so finding a single cyclist back there would be impossible. Personally I say that no vehicle that has blind spots that large should be allowed on the roads, much less congested urban areas, and this father agrees.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today, actually last night when I did the pre-filter.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Cool but humid, and the Feed

We are having a lovely day here in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell today. It’s overcast but not dreary, a light shade rather than oppressive dark clouds, and as a result the temperature is still moderate as the time approaches 11 AM. Yesterday’s rains have left a lot of humidity in the air, but it just keeps things comfortable and helps suppress the pollen. All in all I rather like the weather today. Make note of that, it doesn’t happen very often.

A PA cyclist learns not to ride a stunt bike in traffic. City boy, 12, hurt when bicycle hits car Removing the brakes is a common modification for BMX half-pipe competition, because accidentally grabbing a brake lever at the wrong time could kill you, or just the brake lever on the handlebars could kill you, but riding the same bike on the roads is euphemistically termed “not bright”.

An AL cyclist is killed riding in a residential area. 6-year-old Cullman boy riding bike killed in wreck with car The question that should be asked is “Why was the driver going so fast in a residential area?”, not “why was the child playing in the street?” Since the mode of the wreck was not given I can’t say how to avoid it and because the wreck was in a residential area the built infrastructure is close to the Dutch model except for the speed limit. So again, too fast but within the law, then the law must be wrong.

The kind of bike wreck that no amount of traffic savvy or infrastructure can prevent. Man on bike killed in South Side drive-by and ‘Oh, Ricky’: Man shot dead while riding bicycle Y’see this is one of the things I use to point out how stupid real criminals are. They had one of the most deadly weapons against a cyclist that people can get, one that allows a person to claim almost anything that happened was the cyclist’s fault, and then they shot the guy. Hit the guy with the car and claim he “swerved” in front of you at the last second get off without even a ticket. Shoot the guy and you face life in prison.

A UK cyclist injured when the passenger of a moving car opened the door in front of him is suing for the maximum amount he can in that particular court. Cyclist injured by car door sues driver for £200,000 The cyclist was wearing a helmet and still had brain damage that has nearly crippled him, and has seriously affected his quality of life.

Update, the cyclist hit by an RV in Oz was a SWSS. Cyclist airlifted following collision with camper van Typical SWSS narrative claiming the cyclist turned in front of the weapon vehicle while travelling the same direction. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent. The easiest thing to do to get the infrastructure right would be to make hitting a bicycle from behind a prima facie crime unless the driver had some way to prove the cyclist actually DID swerve in front of the motor vehicle. Combine that with a 3 foot passing law, or a 1 meter law in metric countries, and I think you will see far fewer hit-from-behind wrecks.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Another Mule Day, and another Feed

Mule day duties look to be light again today as we are still coasting along from that massive buy a few weeks ago and just replacing perishables now; milk, bread, eggs, produce, and yogurt. The weather is looking a bit “iffy” so I have my waterproof ALICE pack and one of the kitty litter buckets has the lid back on it. Stuff that won’t be affected by rain will go in the other bucket. So rain or not we’re cool on the weather.

On the pollen front the allergy meds I took last night eventually did their job and I was able to sleep comfortably sometime around 2 AM, which was a great improvement over the previous 4 AM. I also awoke with considerably less gunk in my eyes and as I could breathe through my nose I also didn’t wake up feeling like the 101^st Airborne had marched through my mouth with bare feet. That alone was a great improvement over the previous two nights.

A far West Canuckistan cyclist is right crossed and then blamed for the wreck. Cyclist hits truck on Gordon Drive, winds up in Kelowna General Hospital The cyclist was hit almost head on when the motor vehicle operator made a wide right turn while driving blind, but somehow it was the cyclist’s fault for running into the motor vehicle. This is a difficult wreck to avoid as standard intersection protocols are not designed for vehicles that are not in the correct lane for their direction of travel. Infrastructure might have prevented this if the infrastructure was barrier protected.

News from the UK that motor vehicle operators are most at fault in bike-vs-motor vehicle wrecks. Two thirds of cyclist injuries following collisions with motor vehicle due to driver, says City of Westminster I also liked the part where they point out the behavior that annoys pedestrians the most is one of the least likely reasons why pedestrians are hit, cyclists proceeding through a pedestrian crossing against the signal. What people don’t realize and that most cyclists have internalized is that when cyclists run into or are run into by motor vehicles, the cyclist will get hurt no matter who is at fault, when cyclists run into or are run into by pedestrians the cyclist will get hurt. Cyclists are for the most part actively looking to not get hurt in spite of what it appears to non-cyclists.

A possible hit-and-run in Oz. Cyclist found injured on Haydon Drive While the cyclist’s injuries could have come from either a bad get-off or a hit-and-run, there is the old saying that when one hears hoofbeats in the western US one should not immediately assume zebras. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Still in Oz, a cyclist is seriously injured by an RV. Cyclist hit by car near Huskisson At the time I posted this the mode of the wreck had not been released, so other than making the remark that a bicycle helmet is not much protection against having your chest crushed by an RV, I have nothing I can say.

LifeStyle in Seattle as a memorial ride makes the news. Riders honor cyclist killed in semi-truck accident

New legal infrastructure from Houston. New ordinance aims to protect bicyclists, pedestrians This ordinance (what I can read of it) seems to be a direct copy of the law that Gov. Goodhair vetoed in 2009, so it’s a good ordinance if somewhat lacking in teeth by being local rather than statewide and unable to place violators in confinement for longer that 1 year.

And if you think I’m having a bad day, take a look at this link. N.Y. tow company waits word on disposing 30 dead horses from Shippensburg You can imagine what that is starting to smell like.

Last link, a Summer project you can enjoy all winter. Build A Massive Snowmobile Tank Bike Massive is right, there are at least 3 bikes worth of steel in the machine plus trying to turn a single track when it has any kind of grip is going to be “fun”, but overall I see this as an interesting project if somewhat difficult to ride around on.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Stuff I can’t put in a headline, and the Feed

We have been under a pollen alert here at the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell since Monday, and yesterday and this morning were especially bad for yr fthfl scrb. As in I sneezed my way through most of the ritual planning session yesterday and woke to whiteout blindness after I managed to pry my eyelids apart (a two-handed pry job at that). We are in what one former church president called “tree bukkake” season as tree pollen is approaching toxic level for some people and several ambulance rides are requested for steroid shots and a couple cases of anaphylactic shock every day. Fun! I just personally call it “plants having sex in my sinuses”. Even more fun is that the only medication I can avail myself of puts me to sleep for almost as long as it relieves my symptoms, but at least I wake up able to open my eyes and see clearly. I try to remember to take an 8 hour dose right before I go to bed, but one of the other symptoms of an allergy attack for me is very fuzzy thinking. That combined with the memory loss I suffered via the brain injury makes taking meds that aren’t on my “habit” list to take every day hard to remember. The best I can do is to drink lots of fluids so that discharges are easily removed and not sight-obscuring. For me personally that means coffee, unsweetened ice tea, and sports drinks.

But other than that things are just fine.

First up is the rather rare report of someone that killed a cyclist facing criminal charges in TX. Man indicted in Austin cyclist’s death The driver was passing cars on the shoulder (a major traffic violation in TX) when he killed the cyclist, and I’m amazed they even got an indictment. Getting charges filed when a vulnerable road user gets killed in TX first has to overcome the “why wasn’t he in a car?” prejudice. Also finding a bike-friendly route in any urban area in TX requires either riding miles out of your way to avoid congested high-speed routes, or limiting oneself to a very small riding territory.

This was the first link that popped up in the Feed today. Michigan Bike Accident Lawyers at Buckfire & Buckfire Celebrate Bicycle Helmet Safety Week Aaand another lawyer posts the “85%” lie without checking on the source.

More on the Seattle rider killed by a semi on his commute. Riders honor cyclist killed in semi-truck accident What I have been finding through back-channels is that the pavement in the bike lane there is so bad that a cyclist needs three sets of eyes to safely navigate the route. One set to watch the road, one set to watch for traffic, and a third set to watch the signals to keep from running a red light.

A cyclist is cut off in the Caymans. Cyclist hit by car The narrative in this wreck makes it quite clear the cyclist had the right of way and the driver cut him off. Intersection protocols to avoid, and fix the infrastructure to prevent.

Since the driver died prior to the trial, this is mostly to find out what happened to this UK cyclist. Crash death cyclist tried to wave down her killer, inquest hears and Cyclist killed by lorry ‘waved at driver to stop him crashing into her’

Still in the UK an appeal is planned for the paltry sentence levied against a killer driver. Appeal considered in Audrey Fyfe case, daughter says allowing motorist to drive again “beyond comprehension” Cyclists are the “New Negro” in the UK, and the US as well. The penalties for killing a cyclist on the roads is similar to the penalties for lynching a Negro during the ’50s and early ’60s in Mississippi. More Disgust at cyclist killer’s sentence

From Oz a rare bike-on-bike wreck with serious injury. Cyclist badly hurt in crash Head-on wreck leaves one cyclist critically injured while the other walks away. Someone had to have been too far over to the other side of the track, or just both riding in the middle of an unmarked path. The solution of course is for cyclists to ride to one side of a wide and well-marked bike path, but lacking the wide and well-marked parts when meeting another rider you should slow down and move over (right i most of the world, left in those places where they drive on the wrong side of the road) More. Cyclist seriously injured in head-on crash

Infrastructure! news from MA. After Cyclist’s Death, Wellesley Struggles with Bike Safety The problem is attitudes and space, and there ain’t no space so attitudes are going to have to change.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today, less the motorcycle wrecks. Those give me fits too, but they just don’t have a place in this blog.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Bike month getting off to a ripping start, and the Feed

Yea, that is a sarcastic headline up there, minus the HTML sarcasm tags because for some reason WP hasn’t seen fit to implement that particular tag, probably because it hasn’t been standardized yet. If anyone reading this knows what the final standard is going to be on the sarcasm tag, please leave me a comment with an example of the tag in use and a spaced-remarked example of it in use. Seriously, this tag needed to be implemented like a decade ago, or more (just think about the epic USENET flame wars that could have been prevented had this tag been available in the late ’90s, USENET might still be a usable medium of exchange today).

A WA hit-and-run driver gets his almost 2 years after the wreck that killed a cyclist. In brief: Driver who killed cyclist sentenced Not long enough, and no mention of losing his license after getting out of prison.

The big story so far is the cyclist left-crossed in Canada over the weekend didn’t make it. Cyclist injured in Friday collision, dies in hospital and Two men die in hospital days after traffic collisions Left cross, use intersection protocols to avoid, and stop looking for excuses to run over cyclists as part of the way to prevent. “Sun glare” my well-shaped behind.

Also from Canuckistan is this weekend wreck. Cyclist killed in weekend accident Way too much victim-blaming in this article and way too little information. The wreck was a SWSS that the cyclist “swerved” from the sidewalk to get hit.

A little legal infrastructure trying to get installed in the UK. Comment: Driver liability would protect cyclists I don’t think this will get enforced until there is a major cultural swing in the UK, but hey, you gotta start somewhere. And the justice system in the UK is severely broken in regards to cyclists, which was mentioned a few times in the article.

And those are all the bike links that gave me fits today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus