Running fully caffeinated, a heavy Feed

Yes we are running a full load of caffeine this morning, and it was needed to wade through the number of links in the Feed. we ended up with a signal-to-noise ratio of about .5 and many of the reports had to be read completely to find out that there were no actual bicycles involved, like the Harley rider that was rear ended at a traffic light who had ridden “chopper” styled bicycles as a child with dummy V-twin motors in the frame. That was a cute but sad story, and had nothing to do with the focus of this blog. For those of you who are dropping in from Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery the focus of this blog is how not to be killed riding a bicycle, first, and general bicycle advocacy second. Also I want people to have fun riding their bikes, I have scads of fun riding mine and I think the joy should be shared. The fact that I tell people how to avoid common wreck modes does not mean I’m blaming the cyclist in the wreck the advice is attached to, I’m using the wreck as a teaching tool to promote awareness.

Up first are more reports on the Boca Raton hit-and-run that killed Loren Clobes. Bicyclist killed in Boca Raton hit-and-run; cops questioning driver and Bicyclist killed in Boca Raton hit and run Aside from the cyclist’s middle name neither report adds anything to the story as we know it now. The driver is still clueless at best or a lieing killer at worst, and the cyclist is like Generallisimo Francisco Franco, still dead. (For those of you wondering what that is about, there used to be this really great TV show on in the mid 1970s on NBC after the late news on Saturday nights that had a fake news segment like Jon Stewart’s show that used to open with “This just in, Generallisimo Francisco Franco is still dead” after the dictator of Spain died.)

More on the cyclist killed on the Canadian border. Unidentified cyclist killed in traffic accident and CYCLIST KILLED IN NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE COLLISION also Cyclist injured in collision with truck The media is in a minor frenzy because there were 2 fatalities out of 4 wrecks and the 2 survivors were seriously injured, all in less than 4 weeks. Questions about infrastructure, driver education, cyclist education, and law enforcement’s role are all being raised. As for what I think, I say yes, infrastructure needs improvement, driver education needs improvement, cyclist education needs improvement, and law enforcement needs improvement. What would be the best place to start? Well, driver education about bicycles on the roads, and law enforcement education and greater exercise of authority against drivers that cause harm to cyclists would offer the best bang for the buck, followed by cyclist education, then maybe infrastructure. While I think segregated cycling infrastructure has the greatest potential for reducing bike wrecks, education and enforcement have the biggest bang for the buck.

Questions still remain about what seems to be a single-vehicle bike wreck in MI. Clare County deputies continue probe into bike crash that left rider with critical head injuries “Police and news agencies have received multiple calls from citizens speculating about the possible involvement of a vehicle, deputies said.” There is always the possibility of a car that passed too closely, which wouldn’t leave any evidence.

Multiple reports on a wreck in OR. Cyclist killed in freak accident on Hwy 101 and Bicyclist killed in Lincoln City after falling into traffic OK this is one of the major reasons why I don’t ride clipless pedals, because after the wreck it is almost impossible for me to unclip in a hurry.

A CO cyclist is killed in a left cross. Boulder cyclist killed in car collision This is a type of wreck that is very difficult to avoid. It is sometimes possible if you pay attention and the driver gives you enough room, but to be honest this does not happen often. The way to avoid a wreck in left crosses is to turn right when you see the car coming. This reduces the angle of impact which reduces the amount of force that hits the cyclist.

Another left cross in NH. Portsmouth bicyclist injured in collision with car at intersection Same advice as the previous wreck, turn right if you have the time.

The first of our wreck reports from the UK. Cyclist injured in accident There were a bunch of wrecks in this report, but nothing about the wrecks just the people in them. There was a man in his 50s, another that was 60, and a kid of 9, all hit over the weekend. Fortunately there were no fatalities.

Another report from Jolly Olde. Tributes to cyclist killed in crash This is an unusual report in that the mechanism of the crash was spelled out as a hit-from-behind. The hit-from-behind avoidance protocol is mirror(s), have an escape route, and be ready to bail to the escape route or from the bike should you see an impending wreck in the mirror(s).

Last report from the UK is a complaint about bike riders not obeying the laws. Lycra louts drive me crazy! I’m sure that drivers obey every law and are never wrong, because they are so good. That is why they have speed and red light cameras all over the country in Jolly Olde.

There is not enough space for all the bikes in the bike lanes in Copenhagen. Bicycle-friendly Copenhagen tries to ease crowded lanes Traffic jams in the bike lanes/paths? In Copenhagen? Whodathunkit?

Not to deride the UK but we have our own home grown crazies. Make cyclists wear helmets Like that will really help when a motor vehicle hits you. There was only the one report of someone getting hit while wearing a bike helmet in a wreck and the helmet failed, and yet he still gave credit to his survival to the helmet.

How much does the government effect your commute? Door to Door: Public Policy and Your Commute Well as a victim of a hit-and-run during my commute that was never even investigated I would say the government has greatly effected my commute, it eliminated my need to commute by making me unemployable except on the internet.

After multiple hit-and-run wrecks in IA against cyclists, bicycle advocates are pushing for more equal law enforcement for the victims of bike wrecks. Bike group leader calls for another look at traffic law enforcement When someone is allowed to destroy evidence and hide the fact that they were in a fatal wreck, that to me is not equal enforcement, that is condoning terrorism.

And the battle over the Alice Swanson ghost bike in DC continues. The ‘Bizarre’ Life of a Memorial Who is going to give in first?

And to show that anti-bicycle crazy is not just confined to the Anglophone world, this report from Treehugger. 5 Places Riding Your Bike is Banned or Illegal (You’ll Be Surprised) Some of those bike bans are motivated out of desire to control a minority that is despised, others out of a misguided desire to make things safe, and some because they just don’t like bicycles.

And that’s all I have for you today.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Shave your legs and saddle up!

Yehuda Moon had a line that will become a classic today, as quoted in the headline. 2009-08-10 Shave Your Legs and Saddle Up

PSA Opus

Someone needs to make these in a wicking T-shirt

I love Yehuda Moon, and someone needs to make these shirts in a wicking T so I can wear them on my bike. Free Range Vehicle

PSA Opus

Yehuda Moon will be back tomorrow

I know many of you have been in severe withdrawal since Rick Smith took his break from writing and drawing Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery. Well slap those veins because your daily fix of graphic bicycle advocacy is coming back tomorrow. For those of you who didn’t check back in daily at the Kickstand, there were a few teaser strips for the new Joe King Sunday comics and RoS strip with Yehuda in the woods, but tomorrow will be the first of what Rick promises will be 6 days a week of Yehuda and company plus Sundays with Joe.

PSA, Opus

So many wrecks they don’t even get separate articles

Yes we had another area that had so many bike wrecks in one day that all the wrecks were lumped into a single article instead of giving each victim a separate story. That’s twice that has happened in just the last two days. I don’t know if this heralds a trend, or if it just indicates a series of hot spots for bike wrecks combined with lazy or overworked reporters. For me it makes for fewer links that have to be hand-coded, which is good, but I still have to create as individual an account as I can for each wreck. Of course in UK wreck stories I sometimes lump all the links together because of a lack of information, which today has been done for me.

One wreck that got multiple reports, two kids out for a ride on the same bike. Bicycle rider hit by van dies and Police say no charges for bike accident The kid that died would have been dead with or without a helmet (helmet use by either rider is still not released) as he sustained fatal injuries to areas not protected by helmets according to the autopsy report released in the second article linked. This was a story I told you about earlier in the week when less was known about the wreck. The skid marks from the van indicate that the kids on the bike crossed the centerline and hit the van head on, killing the one cyclist instantly and severely injuring the second. Since there was no mention of there being a tandem bike involved I have to assume that one was providing propulsion and/or steering while the other was just sitting or providing steering. Either way, not a legal way to ride a bike.

An IA rider is injured by a right turning vehicle with a driver that was just not paying attention. Cyclist injured when hit by truck If the rider was in the correct lane of travel and got hit there should have been a ticket issued to the truck driver for failure to yield before turning right on a red.

A wreck article that doesn’t say much about the wreck. Simi man seriously injured in AIDS benefit ride All I could find from the article was he “fell” and got injured.

An updated and separate article explains what brought an experienced rider down near Vancouver WA earlier this week. Bicycle crash blamed on stick A piece of road debris almost killed a man, who was actually paying attention to how and where he was riding. Almost as bad as getting killed by a suicidal squirrel. Google that one if you hadn’t heard about it. Or just read this comic with the comments turned on. Lots of good links there.

A homeless man has a run in with a car that required a helicopter ride to a hospital. Homeless bicyclist airlifted to hospital after he was struck by car Typical SWSS wreck except that the driver said the cyclist went from the curb to the left turn lane and back to her lane before she hit him. Darn fast riding for a guy that doesn’t eat regularly… Especially considering he did that from a complete stop, “bicyclist next to a sidewalk in the outside lane.” If she’s watching him make all these lane changes why didn’t she slow down? Why was she still going fast enough to crack her windshield when she hit the homeless man?

A woman dies riding in a bike race, and people ride in her memory and honor. Riding to remember Natalia Hogan RIP

An explanation (?) for the last TT in the Giro. The Explainer – Who decides what’s “safe?” For those who haven’t seen the Universal Sports coverage that stage was a nightmare at racing speed.

Another cyclist is hit in the UK. Cyclist injured in Hatfield road crash This article is unique in that there were detailed photographs of the wreck scene, with the gory bits obscured of course.

This wreck was very nasty as another woman gets tangled in a semi truck. WOMAN CYCLIST INJURED IN LORRY COLLISION You can see that there are 2 shipping containers, one on the tractor and another on the trailer, so this is a huge vehicle that apparently was passing the woman on the road and pinched her off the road and into the rear wheels. At this point it isn’t known if this was a left cross or just not allowing enough room to the left.

And in our final story, from the Beeb, so many cyclists were hit in a small area in separate crashes that they just had to lump them all together, like I sometimes do with UK reports that have no information except that a wreck happened. Cyclists injured in road crashes I hope the survivors recover fully.

And that’s all today.

Billed @$.02, Opus

More stuff happened, and Yehuda Moon has ceased new comics

Yes, Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery has stopped updating for the foreseeable future. The lamentations of disbelief at the web site have extended for 3 pages. I’m half tempted to say, “Get a life, it’s a comic strip” except I feel the same way. After 15 months it’s like losing a family member.

Returning to the Real World for a while, a writer (?) for a college paper makes a terroristic threat against bicyclists and gets called for it, repeatedly. Bicyclists need to stay on sidewalk Umm, yeah Zack, you need to make sure you never even come close to hitting a cyclist for the rest of your miserable life, because even if you think you were joking, the prosecutor won’t be. And FYI riding a bicycle on the sidewalk is illegal in MI. And I don’t think people are going to stop with breaking your head and tail lights out or keying your car either. I think you need to see about getting a volume discount at an auto glass replacement store, I hear windshields are expensive. Not to mention side windows and mirrors

And in the “What were they thinking?” department, a woman passes a school bus with the flag out and all the blinking lights going and kills a kid getting off the bus. Woman gets probation in death of teen at bus stop No bicycles involved, just an illustration of the value placed on human life not protected by a motor vehicle (hey, if he was important he would have been driving himself or have been driven by somebody else instead of riding the bus).

A note from Oregon on why you should never trust a car will stop. Economist’s Notebook: Game Theory and Stop Signs Note the cost/benefit matrix at the bottom of the article and substitute a -1 for the -10 cost for a car (either side of the matrix) compared to a bicycle, and a -100 for the -10 for a bicyclist. You get killed, the car gets minor damage.

It seems like there are a lot of people that have opinions that are given too much credence. New Jersey’s three-foot bicycle buffer bill leaves us spinning I’ll give you a hint, 3 feet is not that hard to judge and probably closer than you would pass another car on the roads. The law would be most useful in cases where cyclists are “buzzed” to “teach them a lesson” and run off the road. I think many of the commenters to the article want to be able to “buzz” cyclists without fear of coming afoul of the law.

There’s just not a lot I can say about this one. Canton man killed in bicycle accident This is the kind of wreck that wearing a helmet could have made a difference. Notice that there were no other vehicles involved in this wreck.

From the UK comes another bike wreck that has parts of the “5 Ws” missing by law. Injured cyclist airlifted to hospital “Nothing to see here, keep moving.”

And a good story about cycling from Jolly Olde, but it could have happened anywhere. Mugger foiled by cyclist £500 is little enough for your services, but thanks anyways.

And that’s it for today, maybe more later.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Where My Mind Is

Yeah, that’s where my mind is, I’m still at the wreck. You can read about that wreck on the “About Opus” page.