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

Brr!, and the Feed

If I’m reading the weather crawl on the cable box right, we had a record low this morning in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell, 39°F. This is a record for 2 reasons, only one is because it was the lowest temperature recorded on this day of the month, the other being it was the latest date that had a recorded temperature lower than 40° before Summer. This is following the warmest Summer in history, which was even warmer than the year we had more 100° days than we had official days of summer if you can imagine that. We had fewer days that were incredibly hot, but we also did not have any days that could be called “cool” either. We have already hit the forecast high for today but it hasn’t reached noon yet as I type this. I would say “typical Texas weather” except that records are by definition not “typical”.

From just down the road a bit from the WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell a cyclist recovers from a stupid driver trick. Injured cyclist urges drivers to put away the phones People need to know they are guiding a projectile as deadly as a howitzer shell with the destructive force of a 200 pound bomb, which is not something to be taken lightly. If a weapon was as dangerous and deadly as a motor vehicle it would be classified as a WMD not fit for use against civilians or soldiers not in armored vehicles. Interestingly enough driving a motor vehicle deliberately into either of those groups is treated the same as attacking with a WMD… Because it is.

The mode of wreck has been released in that Seattle wreck, and surprise surprise the truck driver violated the right of way of the cyclist. Followup: Bicyclist identified as Lance David; crash brings safety concerns back into spotlight I quote the wreck report:”Preliminary investigation indicates that a 53-year-old man driving a flatbed semi-truck was attempting a right turn from westbound South Hanford Street to northbound East Marginal Way South. At the same time a 54-year-old male bicyclist was northbound on East Marginal Way South approaching South Hanford Street. For reasons that have yet to be determined, the bicyclist collided with the truck-trailer’s left side wheels in or near the intersection and went down. Fire department medics responded and after administering CPR treatment, pronounced the bicyclist dead at the scene.” The truck driver was turning right into the through street of the T intersection, which means the cyclist had the right of way. Between the documented pavement issues and the truck that pulled out in front of him the cyclist had no way of evading impact.

Another child cyclist is killed in CA. Boy, 14, Killed By School Bus While Riding Bike in Glendale From other reports I can’t link to I know the child was riding on the sidewalk against the direction of traffic for the side of the road he was on, making him essentially invisible to the bus driver. This is the result of not having SRTS instituted for every school, the cyclist was more or less forced to ride the sidewalks by adults with the mistaken beliefs that it would be safer than the road when riding in the roads is safer by a large factor (which I know is counter-intuitive). The way to prevent this wreck is infrastructure,INFRASTRUCTURE, and MORE INFRASTRUCTURE! Until there is a bicycle-friendly route to this school the school should be closed. And I’m NOT KIDDING! If there were gang wars being fought on the only ways to get to this school something would be done about it, well there are already random projectiles being fired down the street, they just have people in them.

And yet another fatal wreck in CA, this one courtesy of Ted Rogers of BikingInLA. Bicyclist struck, killed in Santee No mode of wreck given, just the vague note that the cyclist was found in the intersection by first responders. So, intersection protocols to (maybe) avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

What I didn’t know until recently was code for a “Door Prize” in the UK. Cyclist injured after hitting parked car in Shrewsbury The car is parked, and then the driver or passenger opens the door in front of the cyclist, but instead of correctly labeling the wreck as a dooring incident the cyclist is blamed for running into a parked car.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today, less the motorcycle wrecks of course. I’m getting way too many motorcycle wrecks in the Feed again as some news outlets don’t differentiate between bikes with motors and those without and frequently it isn’t until I click the links to other reports that I find the wreck was a motorcycle one and not a bicycle one.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Still emulating that chicken, and the Feed

You know that chicken right? The one that runs hither and yon after being relieved of its head? That’s still my life. I have to go buy a reload card for my cell phone even though I paid for a year’s use and haven’t even come close to the 5000 minutes I bought back in December, I still had more than 4K minutes left on my plan when they shut my phone off… Grr. And I have something I need to do at church tonight. And I haven’t even gotten started good at filtering the Feed ’cause it’s freaking huge today.

A cyclist is killed in NC. Cyclist killed in Fayetteville collision This report does not pass the smell test for me as it is just too vague. The cyclist was blamed for “failing to yield to oncoming traffic” but then the only vehicle that has a halfway accurate place and direction given was the weapon vehicle, and even then the place of the wreck was only “near” the intersection listed. So I can’t say for sure how to avoid this wreck with the built environment. Get the infrastructure right to prevent.

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike a very strange wreck report that is behind a paywall. Fort Pierce man killed while riding bicycle on I-95 As I can’t read the report I can’t say how or why the cyclist was riding in the middle of the outside lane of an Interstate highway.

More bad news from NYC. Your Dog Can Legally Take Out A Cyclist As Long As It’s Not “Vicious” This is just another link to the “dog runs over bike” story…

Update on a CA wreck, courtesy of BikingInLA. Coroner’s report delaying filing case in Cal Poly bike death LEO have already determined the driver was at fault, but level of charges is dependent on what the coroner’s report says.

LifeStyle in NYC as they hold a pre-RoS tour of the local Ghost Bikes. Tour of City’s ‘Ghost Bikes’ to Honor Bronx Man Killed in Unsolved Crash Ordinarily I would make the comment that I hope this causes someone to report something to LEO that enables them to catch the killer, but this is NYPD we are talking about, they don’t care if you kill someone riding a bicycle unless the cyclist is another cop or a high-ranking pol in city government. And those people know better than to get caught on a bike given the total lack of prosecution against people that kill while behind the wheel. A driver’s license is almost a license to kill in NYC.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Catching up on links, the Feed

I have been a bit out of it for the last couple of days, but I managed to get in my first bike ride since Saturday this afternoon, and have been able to sit down and type coherent sentences for the first time in a while (and I sincerely apologize for that almost random words from the keyboard post from yesterday).

Up first because Florida is the worst place to walk or ride a bike in the US AGAIN… Bicyclist Fatally Struck by Two Cars on Deerfield Beach Road, One Driver Fled Part of the problem here is a culture that thinks anything on the roads that is not a car or truck is illegal, and may be run over at will. Even when you have a case where a driver hits someone because they are not actively watching for anything smaller than a Fiat 500 on the roads with them but stops to alert other drivers not to hit the guy he just hit, since the driver is in fact smaller than a Fiat 500 (by how much I’m not sure) he gets ignored along with the body on the road that was just hit and presumably still alive. Other than banning motor vehicles in the state of FL for a year and applying stringent medical, psychological, and legal testing combined with extensive practical testing, I don’t see any way to avoid wrecks like this. Seriously, you have a whole state full of people that should have never been issued a license combined with people that are no longer able to function as drivers who don’t know they are no longer competent to drive a deadly weapon as transportation, and throw in a rather large population that either by choice or economic necessity is not using a car or other motorized armor, then throw in the third factor of infrastructure that was designed by someone who never heard that people walk or ride bikes for anything other than exercise, and you get Florida, the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike for NINE YEARS running!

Still hittingkilling cyclists in FL. Young teen struck by vehicle on Hutchinson Island dies LEO originally though the youth was riding the bike but additional investigation showed he was walking across the road with a friend when hit. The condition of the friend has not been released.

A little north of the most deadliest state we have a SWCC death. Cyclist struck, killed in Beaufort Co. Since the media outlet chose a stock photo collage over pictures of the scene I can’t make any comments on the story except that it wasn’t said where the cyclist was crossing from and to, and the only witness to the wreck was the driver of the weapon vehicle.

An IL man is killed riding his bike. Bolingbrook man struck and killed by car in North Riverside and Bolingbrook Bike Rider Struck, Killed by Car Hit-from-behind wreck, use the protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Justice delayed in a fatal LA bike wreck. Judge reschedules hearing for suspect in cyclist’s death No reason given for delaying the hearing.

A cyclist in the Great White North is knocked down at an intersection then run over by a truck. Cyclist killed in Griffintown Given the fact that the cyclist was filtering up between stopped cars in heavy traffic there is the possibility the cyclist was doored first then run over by the truck. To avoid filter up the outside, not between lanes so that you at least have a possibility of falling on the sidewalk away from motor vehicles. To prevent get the infrastructure right so that heavy trucks are not sharing road space with cyclists. More Cyclist killed in Griffintown collision

From Oz comes a report of a ninja driver hitting a lighted cyclist. Cyclist lucky to escape serious injury Driving with provisional plates (P Plates) without lights and in the bike lane, I don’t see anything wrong with permanently denying this person’s application for a license. Also take his car. The cyclist on the other hand was lighted front and rear and wearing reflective clothing (that only works when the car has its headlights on…) and not in the road. More Cyclist injured in hit and run – Port Macquarie

LifeStyle in GA. Bike Ride Set To Honor Fallen Police Officers

From Enn Zed a driver actually admits they did not look before opening a car door and killing a cyclist. Driver admits fault in cyclist’s death The “small amount” the car door was opened was enough to knock an experienced cyclist off the bike and half a lane over into traffic moving much faster than the cyclist’s speed before the impact and definitely more than the now stationary cyclist. This wreck was not avoidable by the cyclist under Enn Zed law that requires a cyclist to remain in a bike lane if one is provided, and could only have been prevented by a driver actually looking before opening a door into the bike lane.

More from Enn Zed. Cyclists feel vulnerable New Zealand is the Florida of the Antipodes with bad infrastructure magnified by bad attitudes on the parts of transport ministers and drivers alike.

Infrastructure! news from the UK. Cyclist warned of death danger at west Hull roundabout This is why infrastructure projects need cyclist review, this cyclist was able within 3 minutes to tell this intersection would not work and would in fact kill cyclists that tried to use it as designed. Of course those 3 minutes were as he was getting hit by another vehicle that “did not see” him…

Legal stuff from DC. DC Should Be Tougher on Drivers Who Hit Bikers This is in response to the DC case where a driver used his vehicle as a weapon against a cyclist and then left the scene, and got community service.

Infrastructure from NYC. Pedestrians Who Follow Rules Still Risk Injury, Study Finds Interesting that more than 1 of three cyclists going to ER are sent there by cabbies trying to get to the next fare. Also interesting that only 10% of injured cyclists or pedestrians were distracted by cell phones or music devices when they were hit. This is much lower than indicated by the number of people walking around in a cell-induced haze, or riding as an “iPod Zombie”. You would think that with such a high percentage riding distracted they would form a larger percentage of the victims, but apparently distracted cyclists still pay more attention to their surroundings than distracted drivers.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Taking care of a bunch of things, and the Feed

Things are a mite chaotic around Casa de El Poeta today as I have been doing my imitation of a decapitated chicken trying to get things taken care of, plus I’m supposed to be ready to take a phone interview for a possible long-term (more than 2 weeks) computer job, and all the rest of the things that need to be taken care of just for day-to-day living. So I have been busy, and if things work out I will be busier still. But I will be making considerably more money than I have been doing 1-2 day gigs every once in a while. So financial stability vs free time, decisions decisions…

Up first a CA cyclist was hit by a school bus. Cyclist hit, killed by school bus in Palmdale and 18-Year-Old Bicyclist Hit, Killed By School Bus more Bicyclist Struck, Killed by School Bus — Chris Wolfe Reports another one Teen struck and killed by school bus in Palmdale last link Teen Struck, Killed by School Bus in Palmdale – Jennifer Gould Reports OK I took a look at the scene of the crime via Street View, and it doesn’t make sense. There were 2 lanes of travel and a left turn lane, then a right turn only lane for the opposite direction of travel for the bus, and the bus hit the cyclist in the left turn lane for the opposite side of the street. This reads more like the driver swerved at the cyclist than tried to avoid him. There was an unconfirmed report that there was a third vehicle at the scene that had stopped to give the cyclist a clear crossing and the bus swerved around that vehicle. At any rate the bus was in the wrong lane when it hit the cyclist, and the cyclist had cleared the bus’s lane of travel when he was hit. Intersection protocols might have prevented this wreck but it’s not likely, but getting the infrastructure right including not having a 50 MPH highway running through residential areas and a park would have prevented it.

And an interesting link from the UK. Cambridge drivers warned car doors can be a menace to cyclists The only wreck mode that is 100% the fault of drivers by law, and there are still people that try to blame it on cyclists…

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

I didn’t get green beer dumped on my head this year, and the Feed

I was at the Lower Greenville Ave. St. Patrick’s Day Parade today which required getting up before dawn to catch 2 trains and a bus and then standing for 2 hours next to a temporary railing to watch people that were already drunk by noon throw beads. IOW I had a lot of fun that was physically tiring, but worth it because of the people watching. Then came the “fun” of getting home. We had to wait for 2 trains to get away from the parade site, had to wait on another at the transfer point because the first was full, then the train we were on broke down and we had to wait for the next train (our train would run, but could not carry passengers because about half the doors would not open) and when the next train showed up there it was already nearly a full train of people and we had to wait until the train after that. So essentially we took 90 minutes to make a trip that normally takes less than 20. The standing around has aggravated my injured leg to the point that I want to just spend the rest of the day in bed, but can’t because of having this blog post to do and RPG tonight.

A CA cyclist is hit from behind and killed. Bicyclist Killed on Santa Margarita Parkway The picture of the wreck scene shows ample number of lanes to move over to pass a cyclist, why that didn’t happen is unknown at this time. I don’t see any place the cyclist could have hidden to “dart” in front of the driver in this case, so he must have been in plain sight the entire time preceding the events that cause his death. Protocols might have helped, giving cyclists a separate place to ride would definitely have prevented it but I don’t even see a place to put a cycletrack.

Still in CA a cyclist that “won” the door prize has died from his injuries. Bicyclist Killed After Colliding With Car Door In Hollywood The injured cyclist hung on to life for a week before succumbing to his injuries. The proximate cause was failure of the driver to pay attention to the road before opening the door, contributory was a door zone bike lane and mandatory sidepath laws that forced the cyclist to use it.

A GA cyclist finds her lane filled with SUV going the wrong way. State Patrol releases details in fatal crash involving cyclist The narrative in this wreck is just awful, the driver left the road to the cyclist’s right, returned to the road in front of the cyclist, then went off the road to the cyclist’s left on the side of the road the driver was supposed to be driving on and flipped the SUV. This was a wreck that no human cyclist could have avoided, and infrastructure might not have helped either (unless it was far enough off the road or protected by a stout barrier). The kind of “infrastructure” that could have prevented this wreck would be strict licensing procedures that keep idiot drivers like this from ever getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. What I would like to see done to this driver in the way of “Justice” is not fit to print even in this rather liberal blog. Suffice it to say that I would have much pain inflicted on her as she slowly died a long and painful death.

In TN cyclists are injured inside a gated community. Briefly: Two young bike riders injured in accident, Grand jury to hear statutory rape case, Court hearing set in Savannah killing AFAICT this was a hit-from-behind use the protocols to avoid, and fix the infrastructure to prevent. Even for the 1% that can afford to live in gated communities need biking infrastructure…

And finally, e-bikes must seem like a threatnew market to car makers, now Toyota has a prototype. E-Bike News: Toyota E-Bike, New Factories, New Designs & Tech, E-Bike Book, Tours, & More! How about that 3-wheel scooter? Not much bigger than a e-assist bike or motorcycle, it would make a significant difference in city traffic if implemented in large numbers.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

It’s morning already!? and the Feed

It feels like I just shut down this computer and now I’m up and posting already. I didn’t even get to read all my comics yesterday (that I used to decompress from all the ugly things I read (some of which are not suitable for this venue)) so I did not sleep well last night. I also forgot to mention that I was not the only one sheared at the Sunday service, there were actually two people who left with cold ears (or more, I thought my face was going to freeze and it was only 48 on the way home). Part of the difficulty yesterday was the links came in faster than I could filter them, and I ended up discarding about 2/3 of the links as not fit for this blog. That means if you look at yesterday’s blog post, and double the number of links, that was what I read and didn’t use. Besides the sheer time required to get all those links loaded, there was also the time to read them (most only required a quick skim to determine subject matter) then decide if it required further reading and then deep thought. When I use a link it normally takes about a half hour to read and look at the pictures and really absorb the information for putting it in this blog, like in that double hit-and-run in AZ I had to zoom in on the details of the picture of the weapon vehicle they found to say the “crossing cyclist” story was suspect. That link took more than an hour to investigate and link. But some days are like that, they have lots of small details that have to be examined slowly and take lots of time, with yesterday being a rather good example of a bad day.

Up first is yet another link to the woman killed in Arlington at the beginning of the week. Cyclist killed in Arlington identified Since none of the investigators rides any kind of bike they don’t see why the cyclist left the shoulder to ride on the edge of the travel lane, and since they don’t know the cyclist’s intended route they don’t know if she was preparing to make a left turn shortly, either. Hit-from-behind protocols, with emphasis on rear-view mirrors to avoid and fix the fershlugginer infrastructure to prevent.

Another link to the salmon cyclist death in CO. Bicyclist at fault in fatal collision; police release man who drove away afterward I still find the driver’s story suspect, but I am not the one with access to all the information about the wreck. The driver claimed to have never seen the cyclist even when he hit him and thought the noise he heard was ice falling from a truck in front of him hitting his vehicle.

A SF cyclist “wins” the door prize when a driver pulls into a bike lane to park directly in front of a cyclist and then opens the door as she passes. Video: Geico (Partially) Blames This Cyclist for Getting Doored In CA a door prize is 100% the fault of the driver for opening a door into traffic (including bicycles) or leaving the door open too long, but the insurance tried to make this cyclist part of the problem instead of 100% the victim.

From the UK a report on the number of door prizes “won” every year. Almost 600 cyclists a year injured after being knocked off by open car doors What I find telling is that when I opened the comments for this article the first 9 blamed the cyclists for being in the roads, not the driver that opened the car door illegally in front of the cyclist.

Even pro and former pro cyclists are not immune to the left cross as Laurent Jalabert demonstrates. Cyclist Jalabert injured in crash and Former Cyclist Jalabert Seriously Injured In Road Accident Seriously, the good thing from this is that French LEO take crimes like these seriously and don’t automatically blame the cyclist for having his right of way violated. While French cycling infrastructure is not the best it’s still pretty damn good, but inattentive drivers are still going to be the bane of existence until cars are second and cycling infrastructure takes priority over motor vehicles.

Infrastructure! as NYPD finally gets it through their collectively thick skulls that wrecks are not “accidents”, that they are the result of somebody’s neglect, carelessness, or malice. It’s No ‘Accident’: NYPD Changes the Way It Talks About Traffic Deaths Now if they can just do something about “No criminality suspected” sometimes less than an hour after someone gets run down on the sidewalk…

A reminder that some things are why we fight to make cycling safe. Enter The Deuce, Part V

And those are all the links that gave me fits and that I could use with this blog, today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

What should be a short post before Mule Duty, and the Feed

Well there isn’t much in the Feed today, and I think I have played the pictures from the parade line as far as it will go, so there’s grocery shopping and real links today and not much of either one.

First link is not about wrecks, or infrastructure or any of those things, in case you have forgotten the date. Valentine Bikes Day Notice the one word that is not about two-wheeled human powered vehicles? Cowabunga dudes! (and if you “get” that reference you may be younger than you think.)

The Big Story today is closure on a fatal hit-and-run in CA. Man Sentenced to Prison for Deadly Hit and Run and Driver who hit, killed bicyclist in Rancho Santa Fe sentenced to two years in prison I don’t know which is worse, that the driver only got 2 years for killing a cyclist, or the comments that he would have gotten more if he hadn’t been an Asian, or the comments that he got too much for killing “just” a cyclist.

A cyclist trying to cross a highway at an intersection gets hit part of the way across. Family Searches for Answers Following Bicyclist’s Death That intersection is huge, at least 3 lanes in each direction, turn lanes and all combined to 9 lanes to cross in the time alloted by the traffic signal. The cyclist appears to have been hit in lane 7 of 9, if he wasn’t watching the light carefully at the intersection he could have lost 2-3 seconds after the change to green and a slight fumble getting started would have cost him another second, so 4 seconds off the green phase off the bat, with 4-6 seconds of amber could have given him as few as 10 seconds to clear the intersection that would require more than 6 seconds to clear if he hit the intersection at a normal cruise speed. IOW if he had timed the intersection perfectly he would have had barely enough time to avoid getting hit, but any delays or fumbles on the cyclist’s part would have placed him in the middle of the intersection with traffic coming at high speed towards him. The LEO at the scene reports that people get hit in this intersection regularly, so I’m going to call this wreck the fault of the City of Las Vegas for building crappy infrastructure that can only be negotiated safely by motor vehicles, and that only because motor vehicles have crumple zones to protect occupants in wrecks.

Two links to a cyclist who was collateral damage in a police pursuit. Female cyclist injured in downtown police pursuit and SIU investigating Queen Street collision after cyclist injured From what little LEO have released on the cyclist’s part of this there was nothing a cyclist could do to avoid this wreck as it appears to be a “pinball” wreck with the direction of the weapon vehicle altered by impacting a third vehicle (actually a second with the cyclist being the third) before hitting the cyclist. Infrastructure would not have helped much either. The wreck looks to have been pretty severe from the crumpled remains of the bicycle shown in the second link.

Infrastructure! in VA, two links. Petersen’s bike safety bill dies and Bike tailgating measure clings to life in Va. House One can readily see the value the VA GA places on human life not moved inside a motor vehicle.

Infrastructure in Canuckistan. Bike lanes pit cyclists against residents Oh gee, free storage of private property in the public right-of-way, or a safe place for human beings? That is a conundrum [/sarcasm].

A coroner in Enn Zed recommends requiring the very thing that made no difference in the death he was investigating. High visibility gear should be compulsory for cyclists – coroner The off-duty LEO who died in this wreck was wearing all manner of reflective gear and properly lighted, but still was killed by a motor vehicle operator. And the coroner thinks it a “no brainer” to do something that the evidence in front of him has just proven to be ineffective. To talk of a lack of working brains…

Last link has nothing to do directly with bicycles, but is an example of what can be done with talented DIY. DIYers build prosthetic hand for 5-year-old boy Lose a hand? build another one. It’s Open Source Medicine.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Well that was fun (not), and the Feed

I just want to tell what a rip-off I got from Target when I went to exchange some clothes that were the wrong size. I first had a problem because I didn’t get a gift receipt, the second problem I had was after I finally found the same merchandise as I got in my gift I was charged for the exchange because the price had changed. The price changing was not my concern, I exchanged like for like in a different size and should have gotten a direct exchange, not charged the current price after being refunded the original price. This is a common rip-off method used by big-box retailers to extract more money from exchanges. At least I got a 10 mile ride out of the deal, riding through the maelstrom that is the pickup after school for a middle school on the bike route I took on the way. Something needs to be done about that mess.

Also this is another Mule Day as I need to haul home the week’s food. I glued the reflective strips (in ANSI Safety Lime) from the deceased blinky vest to the back of my ALICE ruck to make me a bit more visible as I pedal to and from the store. You would think I would be visible enough as it is with something that big on my back, but all my online research shows me that drivers in the US are Not Very Bright at looking where they are going and not running into things in the road.

And the only live link I have today is from NZ about infrastructure. NZ researchers create online injured cyclist-door crash map Before you can deal with a problem you need to know what the problem is. This is a good first step as to where enforcement of anti-dooring laws should take place.

And since I have to go make like a mule today, I’ll leave it at that. And send a nasty note to my search provider about sending only a page of ads with no links for the subject I requested.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

A mostly infrastructure post, and the Feed

Yep, not many links to wrecks today (thank [deity]), but lots of infrastructure links, and Stupid Cyclist Tricks (thank you David Letterman).

More strangeness in the mails as I was asked to sample ground coffee and do a survey about it. I’ll get back with you (if I am allowed to) about the coffee, but it’s several pots worth of free coffee coming in the mail… even if it’s Not Good coffee it’s still Free Coffee.

And I can tell it’s winter by looking at my average speed on the bike computer, which has dropped from around 11.5 MPH to 10 or so (with several trips under 10 MPH between cold, rain, and high winds that never seem to be in my favor). One thing I have to report on the good side, aside from some condensation problems the new mask is working well at it’s intended purpose of keeping wind off my face and not fogging my glasses. I would still prefer putting a baffle in a full-face motorcycle helmet, but really this mask is doing the job, and is not too bad to use now that I have figured out that the mask works best under the ‘clava instead of over it. I still need to glue that washer to the glasses so that I get them quickly located on the mask instead of having to fiddle with the left-right location to get both mirrors in the view of the lenses. That’s part of the fun of DIY personal gear.

Up first, to borrow a phrasing from Ted Rogers over at BikingInLA, if your casing homes to rob and you have marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and outstanding warrants you might want to ride a bike with lights on it to prevent getting pulled over by police. Thursday’s Sentinel police log

A cyclist in Oz is injured in a hit-and-run, 2 links. Cyclist seriously injured during hit and run and Cyclist injured in suspected hit-and-run If the driver didn’t stay at the scene then I’m pretty sure this was a hit-and-run…Note that you can see the cyclist had both a head and tail light visible in the video to the second link, which places the onus on the driver to see the cyclist since the cyclist has taken appropriate measures to ensure visibility. I still have no sound on my computer so I could not hear whatever voice-over came with the video. I’m not sure of the location of the wreck in relation to the nearest intersection so I can’t give instructions on avoiding this type of wreck, but getting the infrastructure right would prevent it.

Our first Infrastructure! link comes from VA as their dooring bill wends its way through the legislature. Senate panel backs car door opening bill in Virginia The comments on this bill are interesting, to say the least.

Another VA infrastructure law that helps cyclists is this bill being rejected. Panel rejects bill that would limit red-light cameras Right on red is a law that has killed thousands and maimed millions of pedestrians since it was forced on the country back in the 1970s as a way to save gas, but this bill would NOT protect pedestrians and sidewalk cyclists from drivers that roll through intersections without stopping to make sure that the intersection is really clear of traffic, not just clear of cars. Dumping it was a good idea.

Late link, Miami judge sentences drunken bike killer to less than a year in jail after hit-and-run. Michele Traverso Sentenced To Less Than a Year For Killing Cyclist; Carlos Bertonatti Still Awaiting Trial and Michele Traverso, Driver In Hit-And-Run That Killed Aaron Cohen, Sentenced To 364 Days In Jail (VIDEO) 364 days for killing a human being and injuring another in the same incident, with no mention of keeping him away from the controls of motor vehicles after his sentence. After reading the second link I’m wondering if the judge’s bank accounts need to be frozen and examined for recent large deposits, because going from 20-25 year to less than a year in under a week sounds suspiciously like money changed hands in exchange for a lesser sentence.

And that’s all the links I have today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus