A near-empty Feed

Not much cooking in today’s Feed, but a lot going on with me. I had committee meetings out the wazoo today starting at 10 AM and not ending until after 5 PM at church, plus more in the coming week. Yuck! Being in an Organized Religion is a lot of work. Imagine all the work you have to do as a solitary and then double it as you have to either teach your rituals to someone else, or learn how to do their rituals. This ain’t like sitting in a Christian church and listening to the preacher spout, uh-unh. Not only are you responsible for your religious celebrations but you have to bring along the nubes and hold their hands until they get up to speed and can work without the training wheels. It’s called giving to the next generation and passing on what you have learned. And it’s my turn.

Up first because something had to be, is a family asking LEO to be more cognizant of dealing with human beings when they kill someone while on duty. Cyclist’s Family Wants Cops to Care Yeah, good luck with that one guys.

A compliment to the previous article is this one on s cyclist killed in the turn lane blamed for his death because he was riding a bicycle in the street. Death highlights bike safety The cyclist was more than visible enough under the street light while trying to make his turn to be seen and avoided, but to remain blameless you need to have a headlight and taillight on your bike. I strongly recommend such any time you are out after dark, so that you can be seen and also so you can see. It doesn’t do any good to be lit up like a Xmas tree for drivers to avoid hitting you if you can’t see where you’re going.

Infrastructure in CA, funded by a Girl Scout door-to-door fund raising drive. Girl Scouts go door-to-door to raise funds for speed bumps on 38th Avenue What gets me about this was not that the cyclist was hit, but the drivers honking their car horns at the people trying to help because they blocked the road, and then the people having to raise money to protect themselves from the city’s poor planning and failure to enforce the speed limits.

People helping other people while riding bicycles. Taking the chai road Raising money for a kids hospital and riding in Israel, what a deal.

And that’s all I have today. Just a reminder I will be out having a life tomorrow after church, so no blog post until Monday evening.

Billed @$.02, Opus

After last night I need a lighter day

Fortunately the Feed was smaller today, as after yesterday’s “Deep into the Night” marathon blog posting session I just don’t have the energy for filtering a large Feed.

I only have one new report of a bike wreck. Bicyclist killed in Woodstock collision The mode of this wreck was the cyclist riding on the sidewalk coming the “wrong way” was killed by a driver not paying attention to anything coming from his right as he crossed the sidewalk. Plenty of blame to go around, but I reserve the most blame for the driver that killed the cyclist while both were on the sidewalk. I just wonder if LEO are going to actually use the law that says cars must yield to traffic on a sidewalk when they cross one while getting to the road, or if they are going to blame the cyclist for being there to get hit.

And an update on a report linked here yesterday, they identified the 13 YO cyclist killed in DE. Cyclist, 13, killed in crash identified Interestingly enough now that we have more details on this wreck the physics don’t add up with the rest of the report. The victim was thrown into the back of another vehicle that was in front of the wreck, which indicates that the vehicle was close to the wreck and that the vehicle that struck the cyclist was moving at a greater rate of speed. Why would even a 13 YO go between vehicles that close together if the light wasn’t in his favor? Things just aren’t making sense in this wreck, something smells.

From Jolly Olde another hit-and-run. Man injured in hit and run Interestingly enough there wasn’t anything about the cyclist actually getting hit. “A car turned into Craddock Road in front of him, causing him to fall off his bike.” Now did the man fall off his bike because the bike or his person were grazed by the car or just because he had to stop suddenly and lost his balance?

First of our infrastructure articles is from SF CA. The Bad Motorist Column Never mentioned in the article was the number of drivers that exceed the speed limit even when that limit is too high for conditions, but then this is an Entertainment column, not a traffic safety column for this paper.

More on infrastructure, which dominated the Feed this morning. Queens Boulevard Bike Lane Not Happening, Despite Demand Interesting that in spite of the number of cyclists that use Queens Boulevard and the increasing number killed there, because it wasn’t placed on a document made years ago as a part of the master bike plan NYCDOT won’t even consider adding a bike lane there. Traffic has changed, but the traffic plan hasn’t and bureaucrats must stay with the plan no matter how much things have changed in the real world.

More on infrastructure and users of same from Newton KS. METZLER: Nice fall weather calls for outdoor safety Interesting how bike riders are admonished to be careful, but drivers who are the ones that can actually kill people that are just out to enjoy the nice weather are rightfully placed with the greatest amount of responsibility.

More infrastructure reports on the increasing toll wrought on pedestrians in spite of a falling share in trip mode in the worst areas for pedestrian fatalities. Report: American Cities Dangerous for Pedestrians and Cyclists This was predicted decades ago, design streets without considering pedestrians and pedestrians will get killed, because there is no way to prevent people from using their feet to get around when things get tight.

And another newspaper weighs in on TTTWLAMWAMD Cyclists and motorists on collision course You might remember the first time this article was posted in the LA Times, but as the paper proves by running it for their readers it still is applicable to current events.

And that’s all I have today.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Interesting search results, and some bicycle articles, The Feed

Well, if the search strings used to find articles are any indication, there will be a lot of witches using Cat Stevens in their full moon rits tonight Not a lot of bike related stuff in the Feed, mostly infrastructure articles.

More reports on the MN rider killed crossing a road, still nothing about traffic controls or what the cyclist was doing, which usually means the driver was at fault because the MSM loves to tell us when the cyclist is at fault. Bike rider killed in Blaine while crossing street and Bicyclist Killed In Blaine for the lawyer take on the wreck.

More on the trial of the thing that walks like a man with a medical degree. Cyclists have a lot riding on L.A. driver’s trial I don’t see what other cyclists do has any bearing on what the thing that walks like a man with a medical degree did to these particular cyclists. If cyclists in general are on trial here, why not all drivers as well?

And other places are trying to figure out what to do about finding a cyclist in front of you on a road. Bicycles, cars need to share the road The thing that is missing from all these articles is the fact that “Share the Road” doesn’t mean for bicycles to get the hell out of the way. It means that drivers should pass safely when they come up on a cyclist that is riding slower than they are driving.

And to wind up the post, a really cool, if not very useful, bicycle. Eco Bikes: Cadillac bicycle gets half the looks of a car and full bicycle functions I wonder if it comes in pink?

And as short as it was, that’s all I have for you today.

Billed @$.02, Opus

A sparse Feed and not much to it

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Billed @$.02, Opus

It has been a long day, and the Feed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Billed @$.02, Opus

Another dreary day in TX, and then there’s the Feed

I woke to another dark and rainy day in TX, and was working my second cup of coffee when I started to read the Feed. I needed 2 more cups of coffee to get through it. Not so much because of the large size of the Feed, but because it was as dreary as the day. You’ll see what I mean.

Up first for no particular reason is a NY report on a cyclist that was hit by a car running a stop sign. Greenport bicyclist injured Again, assault with a deadly weapon with no consequences. The driver wasn’t even given a ticket for running the stop sign, much less for almost killing a 61 YO cyclist that actually stopped at the stop sign. As for how to avoid, this is one you can’t avoid, you have to be able to depend on drivers to follow traffic controls in order to be safe. This one was all on the driver of the WMD, who didn’t comply with the law and hit the cyclist.

Another report on the cyclist in FL that hit a pole and crashed. Bicyclist Crashes Into Pole, Nearly Killed Now we know the cyclist was riding on the sidewalk, which was obstructed, when he hit the pole. Don’t ride on sidewalks.

“Doctor” Christopher Thompson is finally facing his day in court for the 2008 assault with a deadly weapon against 2 cyclists. California road-rage case heads for court I don’t see much hope for the “doctor” in this case, he admitted he assaulted the cyclists “to teach them a lesson” freely to a police officer, all that should be left is the sentencing. His only hope is that somehow the defense manages to exclude everyone from the jury that rides a bicycle on the road or has a relative that rides a bicycle on the road. The prosecution should also attempt to exclude everyone who drives a car if the defense tries this strategy.

From Wales in the UK comes this tribute to a keen cyclist killed at a dangerous intersection. Family’s tribute to teen cyclist killed in North Wales crash Still nothing about the wreck, not even for the family of the deceased.

And from Oz, a totally spaced driver. Motorist drunk, high when he hit cyclist – court Four times the legal limit for alcohol, plus LSD? And he killed one cyclist and almost killed a second? This guy is a candidate for the application of the LART about the head and shoulders until no longer stupid. (LART, Loser Attitude Re-adjustment Tool AKA big hammer)

What do you do when there’s a bear in the road, and she’s not happy about you being there? Terror on the trail: Bear attacks teen bike racer This isn’t the normal type of road hazard outside AK, but is common there. Locals recommend bear spray, a pepper spray that is actually too strong for police use against humans, as a deterrent. But they also say that as bad as bear spray is it won’t stop a truly angry bear from attacking you.

And another in a series of infrastructure articles from MD. Shared lane markings come to city streets Every little bit helps, but the markings in the illustration are wrong as they place the cyclist right in the middle of the door zone. They need to be about 4 feet to the left to be safe.

And that’s the whole Feed for today. I’m going to go for a rain ride as soon as I can get some fenders to keep the muck off my clothes.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Another weak Feed, and some observations

Another day with almost nothing in the Feed of any consequence for my readers, more bull riders, a motorcycle helmet law under debate in Guam, a guy that rides bike stunts killed in a car (some irony there, but nothing for the blog), and some stuff that I never did figure out why it was in the Feed.

Up first is a wreck in a Boise parking lot between a 11 YO and some kind of motor vehicle. 11-year-old child bicyclist injured in crash Initial reports indicate that the kid was weaving through stopped cars when they started moving and the kid was hit. Apparently neither one was paying attention but the guy with the deadly weapon should have been.

A NJ cyclist was killed crossing a major highway while pushing her bike. Ocean Township police say bicyclist killed on Route 35 crossed against traffic signal Looking at the Google Maps closeup there are 6 lanes of traffic to cross here with the half cloverleaf for making left turns off Rt 35 which indicates the period for the traffic signal isn’t very long, with the cyclist walking her bike across the intersection there probably wasn’t enough time to clear the intersection before traffic started moving again and if she got caught halfway with no median…

In Jolly Olde things are not so jolly, again. Cyclist injured in collision And now you know as much as I do about the wreck.

In Oz a cyclist training for the Ironman Triathlon World Championship isn’t going to make it this year. Triathlete Jessica Simpson injured in crash Dumped by Tony Romo and hit by a car all in the same year (and that was a joke BTW). This was a hit from behind crash the cyclist would have had no chance to avoid because of the sudden lane change by the driver.

I’m not sure exactly how to classify this report from the UK. Man injured after cyclist assault Since both of the participants were on foot with one pushing a bicycle on the footpath I can only assume that the “victim” said something derogatory about cyclists, or maybe the young woman that was also pushing a bicycle and the male cyclist took violent offense to what was said. That doesn’t excuse the assault, just makes it understandable.

And some new tech for cyclists to make navigating streets a little easier. A Heads-Up Map Display for iPhone-Using Bicyclists I don’t see this as actually being useful unless and until they can provide extra power to keep the GPS app going full time and can weather proof (and sweat proof) the iPhone in some way. But as a first try, I give them props.

And that’s all I have for you today. I know, it’s weak.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Cr@p from all over, and one the Feed missed

The Feed was not very “feedy” this morning. The content was 100% bicycle related but the articles were “ehh” as far as what they were worth. I did get a link to a local wreck back channel (and for all my back channel reporters, a hearty Hurrah! for your efforts, maybe some day I’ll be making enough money at this to send some your way), that was troubling.

Getting to the local story first, a man riding on a frontage road is hit and run and there is speculation that the wreck was intentional on the part of the driver. Driver ‘veered into’ cyclist on I-20 service road, DPS says Check that, the new headline doesn’t speculate at all. The comments section claimed the rider was in the center of the lane (a perfectly legal place for him to be BTW) but the DPS (TX State Troopers) report says he was hit on the shoulder of the road. The cyclist was an organ donor but aside from corneas I don’t think with that much blunt force trauma there will be anything worth harvesting. To have organs that can be used for transplant the donor has to be alive when he gets to the hospital, again except for corneas, and from what I understand McQuien died at the scene. As for how you can avoid ending up the same way, well the cyclist in this wreck used hit-from-behind avoidance protocol and still got fatally hit. The only way you could avoid the same situation would be by pure dumb luck. As for the driver who failed to control her WMD, I think manslaughter would be a fair charge. There is no indication at this time that the driver was trying to buzz the cyclist, so any kind of homicide charges would not be warranted. Now if the driver is found to have been buzzing the cyclist, then it becomes a homicide as the driver was intentionally placing the cyclist in jeopardy.

A report for ambulance chasers from a over-fed vulture. Pennsylvania Personal Injury Notice- bicyclist hit by pickup truck! For a left cross wreck like this one, a lawyer on the side of the cyclist is a good thing, but it should the the DA, not a personal injury lawyer. I think I mentioned this wreck on Friday or Saturday.

The rest of the Feed is, well “insipid” is a polite way to say it. There isn’t much substance in the rest of the articles, even the nice stories about good people. But they are bike stories and this blog strives to be the place on the internet of non-racing bike reporting, so here’s the rest of the Feed (holding nose).

More on the MI bike ride for a dead Marine’s efforts to make the world a better place than what he found it. Dead Marine honored with cross-state ride, scholarship The Witch on a Bicycle endorses this ride and its goals to make the world a better place through education. For all that that is worth.

My SF colleague from examiner.com has an article on PPE for cyclists using football as a metaphor. Vikings’ Brett Favre Schools San Francisco’s 49ers and Cyclists! I also tell my readers to wear helmets, because besides gloves they’re all the PPE we get, not because I think helmets are much good in a wreck. Mine saved my life, but in my wreck I didn’t hit my head on the truck that hit me, I went face first into the road from about 16 feet in the air after I bounced off the truck. The other 2 times I got hit, there was no such thing as bike helmets except for the leather hairnets that track cyclists sometimes wore. (Google “leather bicycle helmet”)

More on Joe Novotny and his wreck. Two months later, friends still mourn Minnesota-born cyclist killed by alleged drunk driver This just never ends, but it does get a little better after time.

Advice on how to not get hit by people throwing open their car doors. Biking near cars opens door to trouble Heed this advice, it might save your life.

“Advice” from the Emerald Isle on bike helmets. To wear or not to wear? To quote one of the “experts” in the article “I wear a helmet to protect myself against my own mistakes, but we know from international studies that helmets do not protect cyclists if they are hit by any vehicle going at any speed.” And there you have in a nutshell why I tell you my readers to wear helmets, because there is always the possibility that a hidden danger (wet leaves, loose sand or gravel, pavement seams) might cause a fall.

Final report is from Oz about a cyclist that even after a wreck did not stop cycle commuting. Nothing will stop this rider “I did fracture my elbow riding to work because I hit a gutter. I kept riding and sort of bleeding everywhere.” You have to admire a person that rides herself to the hospital with a broken arm.

And that’s it for today, I’m going for a bike ride.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Back to the grind, here are your dead cyclists and some that are still kicking

Well that was a short rest, we have a Feed full of dead and injured cyclists and jurisprudence related to that subject, and all of it in North America (my UK readers can take a break, Jolly Olde remains jolly tonight).

And the state that kills more cyclists, outright or per capita, than any other in the US has added to that record this week. Cyclist killed in Lake County accident If y’all from FL don’t like it when I post that statement about FL killing more than any other state, then do something about it! You might start by getting something done about drivers that go off the roads to hit cyclists from behind like this wreck. Give me, no give cyclists a brake. pay attention to where you’re going and quit driving so fast. This rider was all the way off the legal portion of the road and was not impeding traffic in any way shape or form, and still got hit from behind and killed. This is no longer acceptable, it has never been acceptable. When you drive off the roads and kill someone it is a crime. I don’t know what kind of a crime to call it but when you are controlling a deadly WMD and you can’t keep it between the lines where it is moderately safe to put it and you kill someone where you are not supposed to be either in a bike lane or off the road completely on the shoulder, it is a crime and you should go to prison and you should never be allowed to drive again for the rest of your life should you ever be released from prison.

Another left cross in GA this time. Bicyclist injured in crash with car At this time I can’t say if the cyclist had enough time to avoid this wreck in any way. If there is time to avoid your wreck the best course to take is brake hard and turn right for either the left cross or the right hook.

Two reports on a Yuma cyclist killed in a head on crash. Cyclist killed in car collision and from my examiner.com colleague Yuma, AZ cyclist killed in car collision The rider was hit head on by a car that was passing a tractor. You know the things that pull plows etc. on farms? that kind of tractor. This was not an avoidable wreck for this cyclist who was the second hit in a single file line of cyclists, the first one suffered shoulder injuries and is expected to ride again. Doug Flynn probably was dead before he fell from the front of the car that hit him as his heart showed no response when paramedics hooked him up to a monitoring device. Again this was a driver not watching where she was going, and I’m not blaming the driver because of her gender I’m blaming the driver because she wasn’t watching where she was going and hit a group of cyclists head on and killed one of them.

Salina KS is a dangerous place to ride a bike this time of year as 4 wrecks are reported in a half hour spread on a single morning. Drivers Urged to Be Extra Cautious at Dawn and Dusk The old “I couldn’t see him!” excuse. If you can’t see, then slow down. None of the cyclists in this report were at fault but 2 went to the hospital because a driver was in too big a hurry to slow down when his or her vision was impaired by glare.

Amherst MA is having a time explaining new laws to drivers and cyclists as many are in collision. Police push bike safety, rules in wake of death A number of these bike v car wrecks are because cyclists run stop signs but there were also a number of dooring incidents. OK guys I keep saying this but apparently there are a lot of people not reading this blog, you have to slow and LOOK when you get to a stop sign and STOP if there is crossing traffic. I’m not going the get all high and mighty and tell you to stop at every stop sign, cars don’t even stop at every stop sign. There is a major intersection within walking distance of my house that is a 4-way stop and NOBODY stops there, except the school bus that has the video tape going to monitor the driver and the kids.

It’s an epidemic in Ottawa! Three Cyclists Injured in Crashes and 3 cyclists involved in separate accidents Four in KS and 3 more in ON, is there some kind of bug going around?

They finally got around to prosecuting the shared-ride driver that went off the road to hit a cyclist in Boise. ValleyRide van driver charged in Eagle cyclist’s death “Michael Perkins is accused of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter after a May 19 collision that killed Jim L. Chu of Eagle.” heck of a response time on that one, more than 4 months between the assault and the charges, but there will be no arrest on this one. They expect the guy to come in on his own to be booked and then he gets to go home and wait for his court date to be set. TANJ! And he is still getting paid to sit on his butt and do nothing by the bus company. TRANJ! (there really ain’t no justice)

People really liked this guy. Memorial to be held for Boulder cyclist killed last weekend I hope there is a ride for me when I get hit again. I don’t want to get hit again but I probably will be.

Even Olympian cyclists like to go for the occasional charity ride. Thorburn along for the ride: Stanford doctor, a two-time Olympian, cruising 525 miles for charity I fully endorse this ride. like that means anything

Another article on helmet laws, with extra stupidity. The debate about helmet safety The author quotes a helmet manufacturer’s rep as saying that a helmet is pretty much useless in a car v bike wreck but then goes on to say that there should be helmet laws anyway. The Canadian standard is almost identical to the US test except with a cold weather test (I hope so anyway, most US bike helmets turn to either a solid hunk or crumble at temps routinely encountered in the Great White North during ice biking season.)

And that’s all I have today.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Out spending my birthday money so I’m late with the Feed

Sorry this is so late today but I had to do some shopping and bus service isn’t all that great out on this side of Dallas County TX on a weekend. As I was shopping with my wife, and she doesn’t ride a bike, we had to use public transit, which even when we caught it right as the bus/train was pulling into the stop/station still took longer to do than it would have had I been riding Gigi to do this. And because of the schedule I couldn’t do the blog post before I left as there just wasn’t the time. So, that’s why I’m late today, that annoying thing called “having a life” so interferes with doing the work

Up first for no particular reason is a report on a serious wreck between a cyclist and a minivan that ended up with the cyclist’s head stuck in the side of the minivan. Bicyclist seriously injured in accident in SW Portland OK not an avoidable wreck on the cyclist’s part from the initial report, and the driver seems to be taking total blame for this one (so far, wait until the morning for an updated report).

The first of our FL reports on a rail trail wreck. Around the Region – Sept. 19 Yeah, stop signs. You have to stop at stop signs and look to make sure your way is clear with stop signs on rail trails, because the sight lines at intersections are frequently very bad.

Another article from FL, the deadliest state in the US to ride a bike. EDITORIAL: End the driver-cyclist wars There was some lies of omission rather than commission, they mentioned the impede traffic law without mentioning the fact that when the lane is sub-standard in width the bicycle gets the lane.

Something someone sent me not in the Feed, about a DUI that hit 3 cyclists while drunk, was arrested and then was caught drunk again. Iraq War Veteran Denied Bail in DUI Bicycle Crash in Baldwin County, Alabama Finally a judge that gets it right. Why does it take so long for LEO and judges to get it?

Another cyclist is hit-and-run. Bicyclist Critically Injured In Hit-And-Run Crash And some people wonder why I have such a deep loathing against hit-and-run drivers. Well let me tell you that being a victim of hit-and-run has very little to do with it, because I hated hit-and-run long before I was a victim of one. Drivers that don’t stop to render aid are selfish, and cowardly, and of generally low intelligence. As for this wreck I’m not sure if it was a hit-from-behind or a buzz job that got too close, but the same protocol applies to either one: mirror(s), escape route, and be ready to use the escape or bail from the bike and let the bike take the hit. Or you can be a real hero and fill the seat tube with C4 and nails and use a contact detonator that requires a shock of getting hit from behind to set it off. If you’re going to die anyway you might as well get a couple licks in in retaliation.

When both the victim and the driver are over twice the BAC levels needed to convict for drunk driving, who’s at fault? The guy that fell down, or the guy that ra him over with a truck? Coroner’s jury rules Champaign jail death a suicide you have to get a ways into the article to find the bike wreck. Bottom line is neither one needed to be out that night, but the guy driving the motor vehicle was still drunk when he ran over and killed the drunk that fell off a bicycle. A sober person would have been able to avoid the cyclist laying in the road, it’s as simple as that. To avoid, don’t ride a bicycle after drinking to excess. The ironic thing is the drunk riding a bicycle would have eventually sobered up faster than the drunk driving the motor vehicle as exercise causes the body to oxidize alcohol faster than just sitting.

From the description of the wreck scene we have another hit-from-behind wreck in AZ just outside Phoenix. Police identify bicyclist hit and killed by car in Phoenix From the pictures and other descriptions of the wreck this proves my theory about the bike disabling the vehicle in a wreck, but the rider never got the chance to bail from the bike. Preliminarily I’m going to say this was not a wreck that the cyclist could have avoided, but I’m also going to say that this was a wreck the driver of the car could have avoided with less speed and more attention. I’m not sure if the driver stopped first and the bike disabled the vehicle before he stopped but not enough to make him stop just then, or if the bike disabled the vehicle enough to make him stop. But the driver did stop for whatever reason.

More on the cyclist hit by a bus in Ottawa. Ottawa Police Want to Speak To Witnesses After Cyclist Killed and a study of the wreck site including some pictures of the sightlines Crossroads where cyclist killed known as puzzling, treacherous One design flaw was a lack of a curb cut where the bike path ended and the bike lane began in the street. Dropping off a curb on a road bike is something that requires attention unless you like buying new forks and rims on a regular basis, which distracts from the job of actually driving the bike without hitting anything or getting hit. Also the sight lines were hampered by trees between the bike path and the road the bike path ended on. Another issue was the “exit ramp” design that brought the bike path parallel to the sidewalk and tapering off to nothing leaving the cyclist to cross the sidewalk before entering the road.

First of our UK reports. Cyclist injured and aside from that we know he was hit on a road…

And the other report. Cyclist killed in lorry crash identified Another possible hit-from-behind or buzz job, but we won’t know until the coroner’s court is adjourned, and unless they send a reporter to the court we still won’t know.

I’ll just let the irony sink in from the headline, I don’t need to say anything else about this. Land Rover Las Vegas to give away free bike helmets Oooohhhh!

And a severe case of blaming the victim in this article, where the deceased cyclists were all in full compliance with the laws while the drivers were drunk, or distracted, or just flat out driving in the bike lane and mowing down whatever rider was there… Bicyclists must obey traffic laws for safety of all If there had been any major wrecks that involved running that particular stop sign I could see the crackdown, but the major cause of cyclists’ deaths in Tucson is passing too close by a motor vehicle…

And that’s it for tonight, time for beddy-bye. >YAWN<

Billed @$0.02, Opus