Where am I going and why am I in this handbasket? and the Feed

I have been looking for repair parts for my coffeemaker, and coming up short. The weak link in coffeemakers appears to be the heating unit or the controls for the heating unit, but none of that stuff appears to be available online. I see listings for the part for commercial units where that one part alone is several times the cost of a home coffeemaker, but when there is a listing for the heating unit for a home coffeemaker the part is not available any longer. How are we supposed to fix them if we can’t get parts? At this point I wouldn’t even complain about repair parts that were a significant percentage of the retail cost of the coffeemaker if it would keep the damn things out of landfills. But at this point unless you have the skills and the data to manufacture a replacement unit on your own that coffeemaker is destined to become landfill. And that annoys me.

A GA cyclist is hit by a stop sign-running driver. Teen cyclist hit by car on Athens street Driver ignoring anything smaller than a Mini again, no cars, so no need to stop. Intersection protocols to avoid or at least avoid injury, and infrastructure to prevent. I’m not 100% certain on the infrastructure as the driver did ignore the as-built infrastructure that told her to wait for other vehicles to proceed before proceeding herself.

Infrastructure article from NM. Bike rider sues Santa Fe after railroad accident Ruts and grooves that parallel direction of travel or intersect at very low angles are dangerous to single-track vehicle travel, becoming more dangerous as the tire width decreases or rut/groove width increases. I have crashed from hitting a rut at the wrong angle and having the front wheel unable to change direction.

And that’s it, all the Feed that I didn’t put up yesterday.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Happy Memorial Day, Art Contest ends Saturday, and another sparse Feed

It’s a major holiday here in the States, remembering our war dead. It’s derived from Decoration Day, a Southern tradition when they decorated the graves of Confederate soldiers that died during the War of Secession, to use the old Southern term for the Civil War. After WWI the practice was extended nationwide to all soldiers killed during wartime, and during the Cold War it was extended to all military veterans regardless of how they died.

Just a reminder the art contest is coming to an end this Saturday at midnight CDT and I will announce the winner this Sunday. There are two memes emerging in the contest that look interesting, one that assumes the ink will run in the scar and depends on that for artistic effect, the other ignores the actual scar and works with it as negative space inside whatever design the artist is rendering.

The Big Story today is a cyclist in far West Canuckistan being knocked from an MUP in front of a bus with fatal results. Bike To Work Week organizer hopes for caution, not discouragement after cyclist’s death and Cyclist killed in crash with bus on Stanley Park Causeway more Cyclist struck and killed by bus Not done yet Cyclist dies after fatal collision with West Vancouver transit bus more Police looking for answers in death of cyclist on Stanley Park causeway also Transit bus that struck cyclist was full, police say still more Make causeway safer, cycling advocates urge Last link to this story Passenger describes ‘horror’ of B.C. bus collision with cyclist Links that aren’t there any more (the URL is still active but the original story is gone) hypothesized the cyclist may have been pushed into traffic by pedestrians. Just about every report mentioned the interaction with the pedestrians just prior to the wreck. I’m going to go with the “MUP is too narrow for bikes and pedestrians to share” crowd and place the majority of the blame on the inadequate infrastructure with partial blame on the cyclist. Amazing as it may sound I’m not going to blame the bus driver in this wreck, he or she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when a cyclist ended up in the road in front of the bus making for an “accident” for the bus driver. Infrastructure would be the only way to prevent a wreck like this.

A young CA cyclist is killed. 12-year-old boy on bike dies in collision with Fresh & Easy truck The truck was pulling from a parking lot when it hit the cyclist, probably because the driver was not looking for cyclists. Not confirmed was speculation that the cyclist was riding salmon on the sidewalk. Intersection protocols to avoid with better driving training to prevent.

Another hit-and-run in AZ. Phoenix police look for suspect, pickup truck after bicyclist hit and killed A salmon cyclist does not imply permission to execute the cyclist, nor to leave the scene of the crime. I can’t begin to enumerate all the wrong in this wreck. Cyclist wrong, driver wrong, infrastructure wrong, there is plenty of wrong to go around.

Last link what kind of a country would we be if we stopped people from wearing thong shorts and a cape while riding their scooters? Police: ‘Thong Cape Scooter Man’ not breaking law Such attire is not entirely out of the ordinary in Austin TX, but it’s probably a bit chillier in WI.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today. Remember the art contest ends Saturday!

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Got rained on again last night, and the Feed

It’s a good thing I’m a grumpy OLD bike blogger and not a sweet young thing like Mrs. the Poet, because I would have melted in the rain last night. I went to drumming with the forecast calling or the line of T-storms to remain well to the west coming no further east than the western suburbs of Ft. Worth about 40 miles away. We had showers on and off most of the night. I asked someone with a smart phone and access to weather radar to help me plot a departure time, and I left with a small shower that was just south of Seagoville and wending slowly north. That shower was still working it’s way through Mesquite when a T-storm popped up over Garland caused by the instability disturbed by the shower. Anyway short story is that on my 3.6 mile return trip I was hit by heavy rains starting about a mile or so from the house, and I got home drenched. It’s a good thing I’m (mostly) waterproof.

Up first because it was the first link in the Feed, a cyclist was hit by a school bus in CA. Bicyclist Injured In Crash With School Bus In San Jose OK it was only technically a bus because it was being used to transport school children otherwise it would be called a Maxi-Van. Still hurts to get hit by one, and LEO are sitting on the details of this story. Later links School Bus Strikes, Injures Elderly Cyclist and School Bus Seriously Injures Elderly Bicyclist in Saratoga

Another wreck in a GA town I used to live in. Bicyclist killed on Peach Orchard Road early Friday Hit from behind so the protocols apply including lights and reflectors to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Update on the child cyclist killed in AR. Truck hits, kills child riding bike The driver was medically impaired by diabetes and should not have been driving, and has been charged because of that. I’m not happy that he killed, I am happy that he’s not going to get away with it without prosecution.

A cyclist is killed in NC and LEO are sitting on the details. Elderly bicyclist struck and killed in Leland Nothing about the mode or exact location. Just a wreck near an intersection, with the operator of the weapon vehicle not injured.

Update on a wreck in IN (I love that pun). Police arrest driver in crash that killed Lafayette cyclist Nothing new about the wreck, but the slime that killed the cyclist will be staying as a “guest of the state” for a while. Now this is new Death of bicyclist after being struck by SUV highlights concerns about courtesy, safety

An update on the wreck that killed Darcy Allen Sheppard. Father of Cyclist Killed in Confrontation with Michael Bryant Calls for Review For those with short memories, Darcy was struck from behind at a stop light and knocked down which understandably caused him to be “annoyed” and he went to the driver’s side of the car to “discuss” the incident (translation: Darcy was royally pissed off and went to rip the driver a new one), whereupon the driver (Michael Bryant) proceeded to wipe him off the side of the car with street furniture including the mailbox that killed Sheppard. The failure to prosecute Bryant has been a scandal in some circles.

Closure and a rare custodial sentence in the UK for a cyclist’s killer. Driver who killed cyclist jailed for four years The fact that his driving ban starts while he’s in prison means the public is not as protected from him as we could be (not that I have anything to worry about from him here in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell). More Driver jailed over hit and run that killed teenage cyclist

A bit of educational infrastructure in the UK. Driving schools announce ‘cyclist awareness’ plans Drivers that actually know what the laws really are for cycling instead of making up laws in their heads that cyclists then “break” because they are not the real actual laws but are sometimes the opposite of the real laws, that would be good.

Last link, how to buy e-assist for your bike (or a complete e-assist bike) for under $1K US. Cheap Electric Bikes Guide (~$1,000 and Less) A good quality older bike can be converted to e-assist and then used as a car substitute for about US$1K with premium components that will last for a long time and have good warranty coverage if something goes wrong.

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

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Drumming night, and the Feed

Tonight is the regularly-scheduled night of the month to drum and dance around the fire at my church, something I look forward to with great anticipation. I have been involved with percussion in one form or another since childhood, getting my first set of bongo drums at 11, playing the bass drum in marching band and snare in orchestra. I have also been a (poor) dancer almost as long, having my first dance class as a senior in HS, and belly dance for men in my 30s and 50s. I am a creature of rhythm even if I can’t spell it on the first try, ever. (I keep trying to put the voiced short “i” in the written word.) I can’t explain it so I just revel in it…

Up first on a happy note, semi-famous bike blogger Bikeyface has a new bike that she gushes about here LEFT BANK BIKE I’m sure Gigi is as happy for her about this as I am, wherever Gigi is now.

Big story, what is being described by some as a right hook and by others as the cyclist failing to use brakes, with lots of links. Cyclist dies in SF garbage-truck crash and Bicyclist dies after striking garbage truck in the Mission also Cyclist killed in San Francisco garbage truck crash More Clayton Cyclist Hit and Killed By Garbage Truck in San Francisco and Bicyclist killed in collision with San Francisco garbage truck was 21-year-old from Clayton not done yet Cyclist in fatal S.F. crash identified nearly there Bicyclist killed in Mission District identified as Clayton resident Last link Dylan Mitchell Identified as Cyclist Killed by Recology Truck Earlier reports that have since been deleted had the cyclist impacting the truck just in front of the rear wheels on the right side and being trapped in the rear wheels and dragged for almost a block. Now they are just saying “back” of the truck and not explaining how hitting the back of a garbage truck results in massive blunt trauma and crushing injuries, or how a cyclist can be dragged almost a block after hitting the back of the truck. Anyway, right hook, intersection protocols to avoid and infrastructure corrected to prevent. The truck was signalling a right turn but there is some question if the cyclist was in a position to see that signal.

Another story with more than one link is a hit-and-run in AZ. Suspect arrested in Tucson hit-and-run death and UPDATED II: CYCLIST KILLED IN HIT-AND-RUN CRASH; SUSPECT IN CUSTODY last link Sun Tran driver killed while cycling to work Intersection wreck, but at this point it does not appear that intersection protocols would have helped avoid the wreck in any way as the drunk driver appears to have ignored a traffic control when he hit the cyclist. This also strongly implies that any at-grade infrastructure that relied on traffic controls to maintain separation would have been equally unlikely to prevent this wreck and the only thing that could have would be grade separated with a barrier infrastructure which would have been unlikely in this location. I mean there aren’t even any sidewalks for the nearby residences, bike infrastructure would be secondary after pedestrian infrastructure.

An AR cyclist is hit. 7-year-old girl struck and killed while riding her bike Nothing about the mode of the wreck except listing the location as “near” an intersection, so going with intersection protocols to avoid, and getting the infrastructure right to prevent. As the wreck was in a residential area “getting the infrastructure right” would consist of making sure cars were moving at a safe speed and that intersections had good sight lines so that children on bikes could be seen.

A cyclist’s death leads to charges in the Great White North. Vernon cyclist death results in charges The cyclist was struck from behind by a person driving a vehicle in the bike lane at 70 km/hr (44MPH). Given the lack of space to maneuver and the curb to the right hit-from-behind protocols would have been not-very-useful, and the wreck was in bicycle infrastructure the driver was ignoring, so no chance of preventing either except for inventing some way of keeping drunk drivers from being able to start the vehicle…

And those are all the links that gave me fits today… and one that didn’t.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Trying to figure it out, and the Feed

The Feed is still wonky in that what few actual bicycle reports I get are mostly from the UK, and the rest are not actually about bicycles but almost everything else, including a link to an article about women’s monthly cycles. I was getting too little a few months ago, now I’m getting too much, but I’m still not getting bicycles. Well, that’s why I put a human being in the loop to filter out the non-pertinent items.

Up first is a CA wreck that authorities are calling a single vehicle wreck. Cyclist Injured in Ralston Ave. Crash Given the evidence if there is a second vehicle involved it would be a Jerry Brown wreck, a car passing so close that it causes a cyclist to lose control without actually touching the cyclist. If the second vehicle managed to get that close without the cyclist knowing it was there (electric car or cyclist not exercising good situational awareness) then the startle reaction can cause a wreck all on its own. The other reasonable explanation is something on the road knocked the front tire out from under the cyclist, another good reason to exercise good situational awareness.

Also from CA a BMW makes a U-turn and cuts off a cyclist. Bicyclist injured after crashing into car Of course the person writing the article doesn’t subscribe to that hypothesis. Any way, about the only way to avoid a wreck like this is to use heightened situational awareness so that you are aware of the idiot turning in front of you and have time to react. Infrastructure that prevents idiots making U-turns from interfering with cyclists would be the only way to prevent this.

From NJ a sidewalk cyclist narrowly escapes serious injury or death. Bicycle rider escapes injury in Red Bank after brush with truck Truck driver is backing out blind over the sidewalk, sidewalk rider can’t see the truck. Truck driver leaves scene without leaving contact information. Every driveway is an intersection, use intersection protocols to avoid. Since this appears to be in a residential area the only infrastructure change to make would be making hitting a cyclist or pedestrian a crime, but hit-and-run is already a crime so I don’t know what making hitting a cyclist a crime would have done to prevent this wreck.

From West Canuckistan comes their annual warning that people will soon be changing from cars and buses to bicycles. Warming weather means more cyclists and a renewed focus on safety The sad part is people don’t notice that there are fewer cars on the roads, just more bicycles and they hate bicycles.

More about the idiot in the UK who hit a cyclist and then bragged about it on Twitter. Emma Way Arrested For Hit-And-Run After She Brags About It On Twitter Yep, stupidity can be painful, usually when stupid people are in cars around cyclists it’s painful for the cyclist, but this time the pain was shared. And with any luck the sharing can be more painful for the driver.

Also from the UK is a story about a wreck caused by the infrastructure. Injured cyclist’s warning over road pothole danger As I posted in the first paragraph road defects can cause wrecks which heightens the need to be totally aware of your surroundings.

A South African hit-and-run is solved. Hit-and-run driver held for cyclist’s death The cyclists were hit in an area of the road that cars were not supposed to be on, then the car left the scene. Not something a cyclist can prepare for except or that old standby situational awareness and hit-from-behind protocols.

A late RoS link. Local Cyclists Silently Commemorate A LIfe Lost on Rockland Roads

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

Billed @€0.02, Opus

A very late severe weather season, and what happened to my Feed?

I can not recall a severe weather season that got as late a stat as this one. Here it is almost June and we are just now getting those severe thunderstorms and tornadoes that would be almost finished by now if not long gone. Weather patterns for this state have been bolluxed for several years and people are just now starting to notice by going over the recent records that we have been breaking year after year. We had hottest year, earliest recorded 100°F day, most 100°F days in a year and in a row, latest frost, latest low below 40°F, all in the last 3 years. I’m not going to fall into the fallacy of weather vs climate, but something is wrong. You don’t get so many records broken in so short a time without something being wrong. And that’s all I have to say about the subject.

On the subject of my Feed, well it’s full of motorcycles and motorcycle wrecks. Either there aren’t that many bicycle wrecks or the keywords I used to craft the search are being used differently by the people writing the news now, and terms that were once exclusively used for bicycle wrecks are getting used for any kind of wreck not involving a car or pedestrian. I mean seriously what do ATV wrecks have to do with bicycles? But I get at least one a week, sometimes more than one a day, right in my Feed.

First up is another link about the stupid driver that committed hit-and-run and then bragged about it on Twitter. Girl Brags About A Hit And Run On Twitter, Justice Is Swiftly Delivered Can I say that this is the link that REALLY earns the “Stupid drivers” tag for my blog? Because, stupid driver. Seriously stupid driver, as in “How do you remember to breathe?” stupid driver. And did I mention this driver was stupid? because she is. More “I knocked a cyclist off his bike. I have right of way, he doesn’t even pay road tax”

A single bike wreck in CT. Bicyclist Injured In New Canaan Accident I don’t actually “like” single bike wrecks, but as they are almost always non-fatal I like them a heckuva lot more than wrecks involving motor vehicles.

An ID cyclist looks to get some justice in a hit-and-run. Caldwell man charged in suspected hit-and-run The location of the wreck indicates that intersection protocols may have helped avoid the wreck, infrastructure may have prevented it, but some way to keep unlicensed driver from the controls of a rolling WMD would have definitely prevented the wreck.

A cyclist wreck in the Great White North has been solved. SIU clears Windsor police in case of injured cyclist Whodathunkit that hitting car mirrors with your hand until they break could cause hand and shoulder injury. Or that you could get hurt falling from your bike in a drunken heap…

A wreck in South Africa results in a criminal investigation. Police open case after cyclist killed by bus Hit-from-behind wreck, protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent. In this case the infrastructure includes criminal charges against the driver for failing to pass safely.

Last link is to an article about why has the word “bicycle” become a dirty word for conservatives? 7 Reasons Conservatives Should Embrace Bikes I’m still trying to figure out why “bicycle” became a political word.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today, from only one posting to my Feed.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Narrowly avoiding being drenched, and the Feed

I’m running late today because I’m back to the gig visiting the widow woman and letting her cry on my shoulder and fix me breakfast. I was out of that gig for a while because they were adjusting her anti-anxiety meds to control side effects and they went too low and she got all “I hate the world and everybody in it!” for a month and stopped seeing me. Now her meds have been adjusted back up and she’s back to liking the world again and needing to talk to someone about how she feels and all, so I’m back to getting a weird breakfast once a week. Anyway, the avoiding being drenched part of the headline alludes to the bands of thunderstorms we had pass through the area just as I got home. When I got the mail it was just spitting rain, but by the time I got in the house it was pouring buckets. No tornadoes, just some hurricane level gusts and elsewhere they had some hail but no chunky style precipitation here. The temperature dropped about 10 degrees when the storm blew through because of the cold upper altitude air pulled down by the rain and the sudden rise in the humidity chilling things down also. And I just got a news item that says Senators from the east coast are getting ready to vote against disaster aid to OK because both of OK Senators voting against disaster aid for the people ruined by Sandy. I think OK just got run over by a Karma Ghia.

A NM cyclist’s death appears to have been in vain. Woman who killed cyclist in court again She drove off the road and killed a cyclist on an adjacent bike path and got the maximum sentence of… 90 days. Now she’s caught driving drunk again. Lifetime ban from driving (and I don’t understand why this didn’t happen for the fatal wreck) added to her sentence for repeat DUI. More Woman who killed cyclist now in court for DWI

More on the cyclist killed in MA over the weekend. Cyclist Killed Sunday Was MIT Scientist Nothing about the wreck. Lots about the victim. RIP. Another link Visiting MIT scientist killed while riding bike

Still in MA a child riding a bicycle is run over by a dump truck. Police: Child riding bicycle with mother dies in Westfield accident This link had nothing on the mode. 7-year-old boy killed in Mass. road accident also Memorial grows for boy killed on bike and Westfield child killed in accident with dump truck identified as Michael Ryan, 7 even Westfield boy killed in traffic accident identified OK a day later and LEO are still not reporting how this kid got hit beyond “hit by the front of the truck” and ending up under the rear wheels.

A WI cyclist is killed with LEO also sitting on the report. Girl struck, killed on bicycle in New Berlin is identified Nothing about the mode or anything beyond identifying the victim and the age of the driver. You would think this was a UK media outlet…

A young CA cyclist is killed riding to school. Teenage bike rider killed in San Jose traffic accident I hate it when media uses the term “accident” instead of “wreck”. More San Jose: Silver Creek High sophomore killed in bicycle crash remembered as classroom leader At this point LEO are not saying anything, but the driver says he “thinks” he had the green when he hit the cyclist in a crosswalk.

A fatal wreck in DC. Cyclist Killed in U Street Collision With Car Last Thursday The report said the cyclist was making a turn and that the light was green for the driver at the time of the wreck, what the phase was when the cyclist entered the intersection is unknown. Intersection wreck implies that intersection protocols might have helped avoid the wreck. Infrastructure would have prevented the wreck had the bicycle been separated from the motor vehicle traffic in both time and space.

From the UK a stupid driver gets caught after bragging about her wreck. Woman Brags About Hitting Cyclist, Discovers Police Also Use Twitter The mode of wreck is highly unusual in that the driver was on the wrong side of the road. Not much that a human cyclist can do about drivers being on the wrong side of the road, but getting the infrastructure right would keep the driver away from the cyclists. More Driver ‘admits’ knocking down cyclist on Twitter and Twitter hit-and-run boast shows dangers of ‘road tax’ entitlement

Last link is a “Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot?” moment. Cyclist Killed Duckling

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

Billed @€0.02, Opus

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