Why state DOTs are running out of money, Wreck-Free Sunday

I was reading this week about several state DOTs that don’t have the funds to maintain the roads already built, much less build new ones, because they lack the budget. There are several reasons for this state of affairs.

First and foremost none of the states having budget issues has raised their gas tax since 1993 with the exception of California. Some of them haven’t raised the gas tax since 1987. In the meantime the fleet fuel efficiency has gone from 14 MPG back then to almost 26 MPG now, or about 50% better, while the retail price of gas has gone from around a buck a gallon to $3.50 as I type this, meaning the percentage of price covered by taxes has been reduced by 2/3.

Second, we have about twice as many cars on the roads as we had back then with a much lower Passenger load factor. In TX the load factor is so low now that the only thing that could make it lower would be cars driving around by themselves, somewhere around 1.07 people per car. Add to that the cars are bigger and heavier than they were back then and you get more wear and tear on the roads with no extra money to pay for it, and also more and bigger cars need more space than before and more new roads.

Something that could help that would be a larger mode share from bicycles. I know I’m preaching to the choir in this blog, but for those that get directed here by search engines I’ll make the list. Bikes are much smaller than cars on the roads, you can get about 8 bikes in the space of one car. Bicycles do less damage to the roads than just leaving them sit, one trip in a sub-compact car does as much damage as 1100 bicycles, one luxury SUV does the damage of 8000 bicycles, using the AASHTO formula comparing a fully loaded touring bike to the cars having a single 180 pound driver and no passengers. Had the increase in vehicles been covered by bicycles instead of SOV, the lowered emissions of the newer fleet would have improved air quality as bicycles are pollution-neutral and the bikes would have taken up far less space on the roads than the cars. One place that has seen all of their traffic increase covered by an increase in bicycle mode share hasn’t had to build a new street in a decade, just regular repaving as they age. This would be Portland OR, of course.

Something else that would help is making gas taxes a percentage of the price, not fixed per gallon. That way as gas prices went up and consumption went down tax revenue would hold instead of dropping like a stone in a still pond.

A third thing that would help would be a “road space tax” levied on new vehicles (bicycles included) that would pay for the space to drive that vehicle, based on the road space it needs. Bicycles use a lot less space than cars, and tons less space than SUVs so the bicycle tax would be much less than the tax on motor vehicles and would also establish a monetary right to the roads because bicycles’ space would be covered, and would also allow for increased pushing for segregated bike infrastructure as “we” would be paying for it, so long as the tax wasn’t the only source for bike infrastructure as car taxes have not been the sole source for motor vehicle infrastructure.

Now go out there and think of more ways to pay for roads, because they don’t come free…

PSA, Opus

Trying not to kill anyone, and the Feed

I was able to put my right sock on by myself this morning, which meant I could wear my shoes, which meant I had a level pelvis when I walked and I had a lot less pain in my leg. So yay! getting the sock on. Dad had a rough day yesterday but seems to be in much improved spirits today, and showed marked improvement in his strength and balance after therapy. So everybody is doing better this morning.

Today is the Ride of Silence. As I was saying yesterday, this will be the first time I have been totally unable to attend a Ride since Larry Schwartz died. I am totally bummed about the situation. but if someone could wear a red and black armband for me I would be much obliged. Red because I was injured, black because, well I was dead for a little bit. And also because you “know” a deceased cyclist. Ride of Silence Tomorrow Night Honors Princeton Anchor House Cyclist Doug McCune and Hernando cyclists’ Ride of Silence makes plea for safety also Rock Hill’s Ride of Silence a tribute to victims of bicycling accidents even Bicyclists to honor fellow riders in Ridgeland another link Salado: Memorial Bike Ride Honors Cyclist Killed In Accident getting close now Quincy Bicycle Club plans ‘Ride of Silence’ Wednesday not done yet Evansville’s Ride of Silence remembers fallen cyclists, raises moving issues are you kidding me? Ride of Silence honors fallen riders, urges awareness last link WILDOMAR: Bike safety event Saturday

More on that cyclist killed on Folly Rd. Folly Road bike fatality: Victim ‘swerving in and out’ of bike lane before accident That’s an interesting statement since there isn’t a bike lane in the Google Street View of the crash scene, but one may have been placed since that picture was taken. Interesting thing about the description of the wreck, the SUV sideswiped the cyclist, not the other way around.

An assisted bike is cut off by a car pulling from a driveway in AZ. Motorized bike rider killed in midtown crash Driveways are intersections, so intersection protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right (including laws and enforcement) to prevent.

A cyclist in IA survives a hit-and-run. Injured Cyclist Needs Your Help With the cyclist being dragged 150 feet by the weapon vehicle I’m surprised the charges didn’t include some kind of assault charge. Hit-from-behind wreck, use the protocols to avoid. Get the infrastructure right to prevent oblivious drivers from hitting cyclists and dragging them 150 feet under their vehicles.

Cycle Twin Cities catches you up on the news from around the twin Cities in MN, (DUH). Twin Cities Cycling News From Around the Web Some citizen bike races and infrastructure news as they have a major bike/ped bridge that is still out of commission until someone decides to fix it.

From the Great White North, drivers are too stupid to know when they are tired so they need technology that will tell them it’s time to get off the road and take a nap. Quebec coroner calls for driver drowsiness alerts So, 2 years on and they still haven’t found anything to charge a guy that hit 6 cyclists and killed 3 of them? TANJ!

More from the GWN. Cycling safety in the spotlight after trio of crashes All 3 of the wrecks listed in the article were at intersections, as well as most of the anecdotes in the story. Use intersection protocols to avoid a similar wreck, and get the infrastructure right to prevent one.

Speaking of infrastructure, which is more important safe streets or pretty streets? Absurdist Shrubbery If there’s all this room for landscaping (not to mention budget), why is it so hard to get 5 feet to put a bike lane? You really have to wonder some times.

And coming on the heels of an absurd “statistic” from a driving web site (“57% of cyclists run red lights”) comes an equally absurd response. Cycling’s kitten bothering shame Yes, 21% of cyclists in the UK have bothered a kitten while riding, sort of. At least as rigorous as the “statistics” offered from the other article. Not mentioned was the 31% of drivers that admitted to running red lights in that same poll. Links to the poll are in the article linked in this paragraph.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today that were still good by the time I got around to posting this in my blog. There were some doozies out there that were broken by the time I got ready to put them in the blog.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Waiting on the Ride of Silence, and the Feed

No, I’m not forgetting about the Ride of Silence. It’s just that this year I’m going to be in a place without a Ride and also without a bike, which makes me a little depressed about the Ride. I’ll get over it, but for now I’m a bit on the down side. That’s why I’m not posting as many links in the run-up to the Ride as I usually do. Also this is the first time I won’t be able to make the Mother Ride. I mean I have missed a few RoS because of scheduling snafus (the BPAC meeting being held on the same day and a couple of cities away from the Ride being the biggest impediment to attending the Ride), but this is the first time I have had absolutely zero chance of making the Mother Ride.

I’m not going to post any links to the death of the cyclist killed when she hit the back of a team car during a race in CA, but that doesn’t mean I disregard the death. It was just as meaningful as any death, but it was during a race on closed roads and there is nothing I can say that would apply to people riding on the roads in “normal” traffic. So while I feel just as bad about this wreck as I do about all the rest of them, I’m not going to link to this story.

Up first a NC cyclist was wearing clothes instead of a glow in the dark clown costume so it was obviously his fault he got hit, right? Cyclist was wearing dark clothing, lacked large reflectors on bike The cyclist in this case was seen to be drinking prior to the wreck, so there is a possibility he was impaired and rode out in front of the driver too close to be avoided. To avoid use intersection protocols and wear lights on the bike, to prevent get the infrastructure right so cyclists don’t have to cross busy high-speed highways to get to or from things like restaurants.

A little away from that wreck the guy that died on Folly Road in Charleston was also charged in a DUI death of a pedestrian on the same stretch of road. Skinful felony DUI suspect under legal limit for alcohol, tested positive for THC I’m still trying to get a handle on this wreck as a local tells me that there were no parked cars on the street where the cyclist was killed, but that this was a street that saw a lot of bike traffic because of the bridge it connected to and that trying to ride on side streets would cause you to keep crossing Folly as the through streets crossed the road several times. As far as the previous wreck is concerned he may not have had enough alcohol in his blood to be legally drunk but add a contact high from pot… and I’m still of mixed feelings about this. Sure he was a drunk/impaired driver who killed a pedestrian, but he died a cyclist… So does he go to the hot place of eternal torment because ha drove drunk and killed a pedestrian, or the comfy place with bad music because he died a cyclist? Questions like that are beyond my pay grade and security clearance…

A CT cyclist and several passengers are injured when a bus is hit from behind as the cyclist was loading his bike on the bus front bike rack. Several Injured After Truck Hits Bus OK there is no earthly way a cyclist can avoid this one as it was a pinball wreck where a second vehicle hits the cyclist after being hit itself, and in this case the bus was hit out of the field of vision of the cyclist or any of the rest of the passengers of the bus. To prevent this would be a good case for installing bike/bus lanes so that there would be no trucks in the lane to hit the bus from behind at a high rate of speed.

A really nasty hit-and-run in PA. Charges Expected In Weekend Hit-And-Run From the information in the article I would say that this was either a case of an impaired driver or a deliberate assault on the cyclist for being “in the way”. To avoid use the hit-from-behind protocols from the link at the top of my blog, to prevent get the stupid infrastructure right so drivers don’t feel compelled to get angry at a cyclist “in the way”.

A cyclist in Enn Zed gets right crossed (the equivalent of the left cross for those that drive on the wrong side of the road). Cyclist hit in rush hour traffic Not much I can say about this one really except the usual platitudes about using intersection protocols to avoid a similar wreck and getting the infrastructure right to prevent a wreck like that from ever being able to happen.

Infrastructure! news from around NY. Westfielder Walker Makes Strides for Safety at Tamaques Park Apparently pedestrians feel like they should walk in the bike lanes. And the sidewalk, and anywhere else they feel?

Another article ranking infrastructure along with intangibles for cycling in the US, by city. Minneapolis Ranks #1 For Cycling…. Again. I noticed that Dallas and Garland both failed to make the top 1000 of cities in their size…

Cyclists in Jolly Olde don’t like being stationary targets. We jump red lights for our own safety, cyclists claim I have been hearing this for years, and there is some factual evidence to back them up on this one, specifically the study on why more women than men are killed by HGV at intersections. Advocacy & Safety – “Are women cyclists in more danger than men?”

Links to Ride of Silence events. The Ride of Silence: a loud cry for bicycle safety and Freeloaders: Two wheels are better than four

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Up to my ears in links and the Feed

Another weekend of e-mailed links and stuff sent over my FB wall and also a metric buttload of links in the Feed. So since I brought everyone up to date on my situation yesterday, on to the mayhem.

Up first from the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike, LEO are doing “something” about bike safety. Bike lane wars reach Weston as deputies issue warnings, tickets to cyclists That’s right, they are giving tickets to cyclists for leaving the bike lanes to pass slower cyclists rather than ticketing drivers that pass with less than 3 feet of clearance. And the thing is FL laws specifically allows a cyclist to leave a bike lane to pass a slower cyclist as well as to avoid debris, trash, or other unridable conditions in the bike lane. And also the shoulder of a road is NOT a bike lane, the picture that accompanied the article showed a shoulder full of loose gravels and trash.

Still in the state of FL a SWCC is hit-and-run then hit by a second vehicle. Hudson bicycle rider killed in Saturday night crash Not much I can say about this one. Either the cyclist was riding in the travel lane and was not seen by the first driver or he was crossing the road and did not clear the lane in time. intersection protocols to avoid, get the infrastructure right so cyclists don’t share high-speed highways through town with motor vehicles and that will prevent a similar wreck.

Moving to Upstate NY, a child is hit in an intersection. Child on bike hit by car, injured From looking at the satellite view I could not see any traffic controls at the intersection, so I’m going to use the narrative provided and say the kid most likely did not stopyeild at the intersection with the more through street when he got hit. Intersection protocols to avoid a similar wreck. Get the infrastructure right to prevent it. Seriously there is no earthly reason to be driving that fast in a residential area with kids walking and riding bikes.

A wreck in IL, near the home of Bigfoot (the monster truck, not the cryptozooid). Colorado Man Killed While Cycling In Madison County Intersection between a trail and a major highway, use intersection protocols to avoid and fix the intersection to prevent. The intersection in question, Illinois 111 & Horseshoe Lake Rd notice the trail makes a right angle turn here across the main highway, I don’t know if there is a dedicated phase for the traffic control on the trail or not. More Bicyclist struck, fatally injured in Madison County and a late link Bicyclist killed along Madison County bike trail

In CA some links to a cyclist that had some kind of bike malfunction that flipped him over the handlebars and on his (helmeted) head. Man killed in King Street bike accident identified; Stephen Pollard was a well-known Santa Cruz ‘original’ and Man killed in King Street bike accident identified; Stephen Pollard was a well-known Santa Cruz ‘original’ Well, when I filtered they had different headlines… This is a wreck that could happen with any kind of infrastructure.

More from CA as the driver that ran a cyclist over from behind is charged. CHP recommends vehicular manslaughter charge in fatal bike crash

A wreck in NYC with “no criminality suspected”. Cyclist Struck & Killed Near Citi Field the cyclist was hit from behind by a vehicle that was “sharing” the lane. To avoid use hit from behind protocols, to prevent get the cars off the streets where they expect bicycles to ride. This is another street that cyclists get funneled into by bike lanes on either end but nothing in the middle and really bad roads on parallel streets.

On the run-up to the Ride of Silence comes this item from Charleston SC. Ride your bike to work this week

More from Rockford IL Guest Column: Bikers, drivers must be aware of each other

New problems in CA. Tour de theft targets high-end racing bikes

A pretty picture at first glance, fraught with meaning at second glance. On the Street….Lafayette St., New York For the slow ones, look hard at the cyclist’s right leg.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

State of the author, Wreck-Free Sunday

I have been busy making regular posts and taking care of Dad and trying to keep him active that I have not been doing so good myself. I mentioned I had a pulled muscle that was not healing right, well I also bumped my knee while moving Dad out of the bed and it has not been healing right either. I don’t know what the problem is, because I normally heal up faster than anyone outside of a comic book, and this is not normal for me. The knee injury was over 2 weeks ago, the pulled muscle was back in December, and between the two of them I’m hobbling around like an old man.

Another issue I’m developing is I’m losing muscle mass in my legs. Remember that post a couple of months ago lamenting not having large enough leg holes in my underwear? Well they are plenty large now and can be pulled up in one easy motion without any finagleing the leg through the opening, and my weight is under 190 pounds. This is Not Good. At this rate by the time I get home I will be completely out of riding shape. I still have lots of upper body muscle mass because of lifting Dad in and out of bed, but I’m willing to bet that the loss of muscle mass in my legs and the increased problems I have been having since coming here to take care of Dad are somehow related. Up until I came to TN I was riding almost every day and feeling pretty good after a ride, but it has been more than 3 weeks since my last ride on a bike. Now when I ride I ride in the back of a car, mostly to and from doctor appointments. Did I mention that I miss riding a bike almost as much as I miss my wife? Well I do. I’m not sure how Mrs. the Poet feels about that but she should know that she still beats out riding a bike by a little

Dad is still making more steps forward than back on his road to recovery, but getting him to eat is still the big concern. He’s eating enough to keep alive but I don’t think he’s eating enough to recover. And I sound like my Italian grandmother when I’m talking to him now, constantly trying to get him to eat more. (My grandparent count really deserves a separate post, my family was a little “different” when I was growing up.) So far though nothing we have given him has gotten him to eat much with much of what we bring him getting a single bite and then ignored. He did seem to greatly enjoy the bowl of Senate Bean Soup we fixed for him (made with real Senators) the first time we fixed it, but he hasn’t touched it at all since. And I can’t tell you how much food we have had to throw out because he had a little bit and then turned the rest of it down. With as tight as our food budget has been at home in TX that really hurts me the most. But what really causes me pain is the frozen food that has gone bad from age in the freezer…

Well I’m going to sit on an ice pack I found in the freezer while looking for something to fix dad for dinner yesterday and see if that doesn’t help my hip muscles some. Regular post tomorrow.

PSA, Opus

People sent me lots of links today, and the Feed

I got a lot of links that were sent via e-mail and Facebook today, about changes to the legal infrastructure that allows people to add another crime to their event and actually reduce their punishment. I’m referring of course to hit and run. In the vast majority of states in this country if you are DUI and you hit and kill someone you are leaps and bounds ahead to leave the scene. The difference in sentences between hit-and-run and DUI homicide are huge, in many states the maximum for hit-and-run is less than the minimum for DUI homicide. But our first link is an attempt to reduce the incentive to leave when you’re drunk and you hit and kill someone. End Hit and Run Loophole Yes, they are doing something about the disparity between hit-and-run and DUI manslaughter in CO by making them virtually identical in punishment and allowing additional charges to be filed in cases where DUI is suspected but can’t be proven because the driver failed to remain at the scene.

Another one that came both in the Feed and people sending me the link in e-mail and on FB is the news that the man who allegedly killed a cyclist in the bike lane on the Rickenbacker Causeway in Miami in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike will be getting less than half the sentence he deserves because he left the scene and destroyed the evidence he was drinking. Trial Date Set For Driver In Fatal Rickenbacker Hit & Run The max he can get is only 15 years, but he should get life for hitting 2 cyclists and killing one. More Hundreds ride in memory of cyclist killed and Memorial Ride for Cyclist Killed in Hit and Run

In CA they are sure the cyclist ran the stop sign, but the driver left the scene which makes the wreck automatically his fault. Bicyclist Seriously Injured In Hit-And-Run To avoid, if the report is accurate then don’t run stop signs, otherwise use intersection protocols. To prevent, get the infrastructure right and make hit-and-run a serious crime like hitting someone while DUI. The rumor is that DUI in the Netherlands is a permanent loss of license, which is not as serious to the driver as it would be in this country where everything is designed for the motor vehicle to the exclusion of all other modes of transportation. I don’t even want to contemplate the horrors you suffer as a ht and run driver…

Another CA hit-and-run. Two cyclists injured in Soquel hit-and-run In this case the cyclists were doing nothing wrong, the driver just failed to make a safe pass and took out two cyclists, by cutting back too fast after passing the rear cyclist. To prevent get the idiots in cars away from cyclists.

On the same theme, a cyclist’s parent wonders why the person that hit her child still wanders the streets while her child remains in a hospital. Injured cyclist’s mother criticizes lack of arrest Depending on who you pay attention to LEO either know who hit the cyclist or they think there is someone else that knows but hasn’t told them yet… Hit from behind wreck, use the appropriate protocols to avoid, and getting cyclists where they need to go without having to ride on major highways would prevent any future wrecks like this.

In PA a cyclist is hit by an errant piece of farm equipment being transferred by trailer. Bicyclist flown to hospital after being struck by farm equipment in Silver Spring Township Yikes! I can’t even contemplate what it must be like to get hit by the mower bar of a tractor, even if it isn’t powered up. There was nothing the cyclist could have done to avoid this wreck as the mower bar was extending from the side of the trailer and below the cyclist’s line of sight, but getting the infrastructure right so that a bicycle was not sharing the road with a commercial vehicle would have prevented this wreck. More UPDATE(2): Teen seriously injured in unfortunate accident with farm machinery

In NJ a cyclist is hit on another busy highway. Update: Bicyclist Hit By Car on Route 1 Has Died I tried to read the comments to find out more from locals about the wreck, but the comments would not pull up for me to be able to read them. Definitely a hit-from-behind wreck, but I can’t say how to avoid a similar wreck. I do know one thing from looking at the crime scene pictures, that this was an infrastructure-related wreck. The two highways basically acted like walls cutting across the landscape for those not in cars, and none too friendly for people in cars that are trying to get from one side of the highway to another.

Update on that hit-and-run in CA where the dead cyclist’s dog stood watch over the body until someone else found it. Santa Cruz: Bicyclist killed in hit-and-run on Highway 1 identified they now Know where the cyclist was hit, and he wasn’t in the road. So the driver had to leave the road to hit this poor guy… More CHP announces suspect vehicle in North Coast fatal hit-and-run with bicyclist

Another link to the cyclist killed riding the Natchez Trace. Doctor killed riding bike on Natchez Trace As I pointed out this is what passes for intercity bicycle infrastructure in this country, which is shared with cars and light trucks at a speed limit of 50 MPH… And death lurks around every turn…

Death and destruction in the Great White North as cyclists get hit in droves. Two killed, one critically injured following weekend crashes At least one wreck was on a straight, flat, road with no impediments to the sight lines when the cyclists were hit from behind by a driver that was not paying attention to the roads. I think you know what comes next:To avoid a similar wreck use the hit-from-behind protocols, to prevent it get the infrastructure right. but since this is in Canuckistan they actually have a decent chance of getting that infrastructure.

And to wind things up, another link sent to me by a reader, this one about legal Infrastructure! Do Passing Distance Laws Really Protect Cyclists? Do laws against murder really prevent people from getting killed? Most people say it’s unquestioned. Then why do they question if laws requiring a safe distance to pass that specify what the minimum is also not protect cyclists from passes that are too close?

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Running late again, and the Feed

Dad is doing well, as well as can be expected considering. I’m getting tired, though, and my old injuries from the wreck are acting up. This is not what I want, because it severely limits the level of care I can give Dad.

Up first is the most egregious case of hit-and-run assault I have ever read about, as a driver in Galveston actually talks to his victim before leaving him to die. Cops: Driver talks to fatally injured cyclist before fleeing Since the mode was not mentioned I can’t tell you how to avoid the wreck. But one thing I can say, there is a very high chance that this was not an “accident” but a deliberate act of assault on the cyclist by the driver. More Driver kills island bicyclist

A wreck with a slightly better result both from the LEO point of view and the “Hey, the cyclist is alive” point of view from Portland OR. Ore. bicyclist struck by van, dragged 145 feet I know that headline does not inspire confidence in the outcome, but it was not near as bad as it sounds. Intersection wreck, so intersection protocols to avoid. Get the infrastructure right to prevent, including much tougher regulations for getting and keeping a license than the one that let this distracted goon drive 145 feet with a bicycle and rider trapped under his vehicle. Also riding in the street might have helped with this one.

A MS cyclist is killed on a National Bike Route. Attala cyclist hit on Natchez Trace, killed Hit-from-behind on a road with bicycle priority and great sight lines. I haven’t been the whole length of the Trace but most is 2 lanes with good sight lines even across turns if the drivers are travelling at or under the speed limit and usually quite pleasant to ride on. The driver in this case broke the MS 3 foot passing law as well as the Basic Speed Law that requires a driver to only drive as fast as they can stop in the distance they can see. Since this was already on “bicycle infrastructure” as envisioned in this country, you can see the massive lengths yet to go to reach the Dutch ideal.

In far west NY motorcyclists ride to remember a cyclist killed by a drunk driver. Funeral Held Today for Bryce Buchholz A group of about 20 bikers of the motor variety held a ride for a biker of the pedal powered variety prior to his funeral. This was the rider that was hit from behind while riding salmon, so there wasn’t any way to avoid this one except to not be there to get hit. To prevent, as I posted earlier some way of keeping drunks off the roads would be a great start because this wreck happened in an area that would have been shared between bicycles and motor vehicles at a much lower speed limit in Dutch infrastructure as it was where people live.

After several bike wrecks a community bands together to demand better infrastructure. Salisbury bike lane initiative gains traction Why does it take people getting killed to make the powers that be realize that their infrastructure stinks?

The cyclist that was hit-and-run by a driver that stopped to pull a damaged bumper cover out from under the front of the car but failed to render aid to the cyclist, has died from his injuries. Memorial Held For Cyclist Killed By Hit & Run Driver Another victim in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike.

In Oz they’re having an epidemic of “door prizes”. Car doors and city streets a dangerous mix for cyclists The numbers reported were just… wow.

And that’s all I can stand today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Why isn’t anyone paying attention? Wreck-free Sunday

OK this isn’t entirely a Wreck-free Sunday post, but I’m not going to mention any specific wrecks. I’m just going to ask that yo refer to the last couple of weeks of wrecks and notice how few of them would have even been possible with getting the infrastructure right. Granted there would still have been a few that could have happened in the Netherlands, but the vast majority could not have happened with Dutch-style infrastructure that keeps bikes off streets with speeds over about 18 MPH (30 km/h) with some areas having even lower speed limits of 20 km/h (about 12 MPH). The stopping distance (reaction time plus braking distance) at 20 km/h is about 15 feet, with some vehicles having even shorter distances because of radar and very powerful brakes. fifteen feet or less means that if you can see it you can probably avoid hitting it. The laws in the Netherlands also mean that if you are in an area with 20 km limits you are probably on high alert for kids running out in front of you or other sudden obstructions and as such even bicycles will register on your personal awareness.

This is what we need now in the US. No excuses, no more delays, because delays mean more dead cyclists and more dead kids, both now and in the future from diseases related to a sedentary lifestyle. We are reaping the “benefits” of years designing the environment to only support moving around in a car leaving little to no choice to use other modes of travel. Right now the number one killer of children is motor vehicle wrecks, with pollution from motor vehicles also being high on the list. That continues up to age 35 or so when diseases from sedentary lifestyles begin to overtake the wrecks. So our cars are killing us coming and going, directly and indirectly, unless we live long enough to die from old age, because the infrastructure has been built that way and our culture is such that the thought of driving less than 2 miles to the grocery store or the video rental is not absurd but accepted and commonplace.

So, we have another barrier to acceptance, attitudes towards cars. If cars are so ingrained into the culture that driving a distance that could be easily walked or ridden by bike is not only accepted but expected, How do we change that culture? The same way we changed the tobacco culture in this country, by relentlessly demonstrating the amount of damage done to people by automobility. A handfull of people died from playing a game called “Lawn Darts” several decades ago where people tossed heavy blunt darts underhanded towards a circular target where the second half of the team waited to throw their turn in the other direction. Tried buying a set lately? You can’t. That is what is needed in the long run, a lawn darts campaign against the constant use of motor vehicles for personal transportation, a cigarrette campaign against the abuse of motor vehicles.

We don’t need to do it for ourselves, we need to do it for our children.

PSA, Opus

After a very long day Dad is back home, and the Feed

My brother and I finally have Dad back home. His pain levels have been brought under control, and he looks and sounds much better. He still isn’t eating much and has lost a lot of weight he couldn’t afford to lose, but part of that was the quality of the food they served in the hospital. I mean I tried some of the stuff they served him and “Yuck!”. There were a couple of things they couldn’t screw up, like pinto beans and a grilled cheese sandwich (in separate meals) but most of the “food-like substances” were not actually edible by anyone with functioning taste. I mean I wouldn’t even eat most of the stuff they gave Dad, it was that bad, and I managed to eat just about everything my daughter gave me when she was first learning how to be a vegan cook. The total lack of anything with sodium in it except the cheese just ruined what little flavor the ingredients had to begin with and the preparation (pureed and minced foods) did the rest. I mean pureed mac and cheese with low-salt cheese? Try wallpaper and the paste as a substitute. Seriously, it was that bad.

Moving on to actual bike links, up first we have a blame-the-victim because all cyclists break the law letter from Just outside Woab World HQ in the beautiful suburbs of Hell. A letter from a reader about cyclists Note the tone of the letter is accusatory, even thought the cyclist in this case was hit several feet away from the actual road on the shoulder.

Another TX cyclist gets splattered across the countryside by the favorite weapon of vehicular homicide (and the biggest selling vehicle in TX) the Ford F-150 pickup truck. Bicyclist Struck, Killed Along Local Highway Identified Another hit-from-behind wreck in TX, q’uelle surprise. The usual protocols apply for avoidance, and effective infrastructure to prevent. Another thing that might help is mandatory seizure of the vehicle as “evidence” any time there is a fatality.

A wreck in CA that could be upgraded in charges if they could locate a couple of key witnesses. Tehama County DA seeks ID of witnesses in cyclist killing “However, in certain situations, the law in California does allow for a murder charge to be filed when the DUI driver acted with a reckless indifference to human life“, from the statement of the DA to the press. On the off chance that either of those two people is reading my blog, or someone that knows these people, please get in contact with the DA’s office.

A cyclist is hit and killed in NC. Bicyclist dies after being struck by vehicle in Laurinburg Since the driver is being charged with a homicide I’m going to assume this was a serious case of “I didn’t see him” that would have required the driver be actually blind to not see the cyclist. IOW negligence that borders on a deliberate assault. Hit-from-behid protocols to avoid, getting the infrastructure right to prevent.

Meanwhile in the most deadliest state to walk or ride a bike in the US for 6 years running, LEO still haven’t cracked the case of a SWCC as a homicide. Investigation of Bicyclist’s Death May Take Another Month So, there’s some evidence the truck driver ran the red? “Curiouser and curiouser,” said Alice…

A sidewalk salmon is hit in Upstate NY. Woman, 47, riding bicycle struck and dragged by car Driver making a right turn and not looking where he was going runs down a cyclist in the sidewalk. Simple enough, to avoid ride in the street with traffic, but the real issue is why an adult woman was riding on the sidewalk instead of the street, so get the infrastructure right to prevent wrecks like this. And in this wreck infrastructure that was not bike friendly was as great a contributor as the salmon cyclist.

Bike V bus in MI, with a somewhat better outcome than what is normally the case. Bus hits bike; biker OK, bus damaged The cyclist in this wreck had too much to drink. To avoid, don’t ride drunk, to prevent, don’t mix buses with bikes which will make drunk cyclists a minor inconvenience.

A bike v bike wreck in OKC. Beloved Cyclist Dies After Crashing Into Other Cyclists In OKC The cyclist appears to have had something like a stroke or heart attack just before he lost control of his bike, nothing that can be done to avoid or prevent something like this.

An ID cyclist has next to no chance of finding justice in his wreck. Bicyclist injured in collision with Boise police car

Another story about that CA hit-and-run. Driver Sought In Hit-And-Run That Injured Antioch Cyclist As I pointed out yesterday that model of Acura has a glued windshield that requires professional tools and supplies to replace, all they need to do to catch the perp is wait for him to fix the windshield and arrest him then for tampering with the evidence in a crime, and obstruction of justice…

Another MD cyclist is hit. UPDATE: Cyclist Killed On Rt. 108 Identified Yet another hit-from-behind fatality, use the protocols to avoid, proper infrastructure to prevent.

Another link that wasn’t posted yesterday about helmets. Only 1 in 5 Capital Bikeshare Users Wears a Helmet Ooohhh! scaaarrryy! cyclists with bare heads! It’s total Anarchy! Cats and dogs lying together… How does that quote go? (Ghostbusters, I think, Bill Murray had the line whatever the movie was.)

I keep mentioning infrastructure so many times, here’s a link to a partial solution to the problem. Crash expert backs calls for 20mph speed limit While this would be a step in the right direction, speed limits in the Netherlands are 20 km/h in residential areas.

A pretty bike picture. Twin Cities Bike Picture of the Day: 5.3.12

And those are all the links that gave me fits today. Before today becomes tomorrow…

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Some small measure of success, and the Feed

Dad is making small strides in his recovery, he managed to walk from the bathroom to the bed un-assisted and was able to sit down on his own. I still had to assist him getting his legs in the bed and getting up to his feet, but he may be able to start doing more for himself soon. He is also not taking the pain pills as often as he was, which can be either a good or a bad sign.

The big story today is the cyclist that was killed on a MUP in OH when he ran into an unmarked bollard in the middle of the trail away from any intersections. Cyclist dies after hitting barrier on B&O Trail and Barriers rethought after fatal bicycling accident also 179th mourns cyclist The really frustrating thing about this fatality (beyond that it was on one of the few SBR we have in this country) is that it was preventable. The bollard was both not properly marked and unnecessary. There was no intersection near that would allow a motor vehicle to enter the trail. It was just sticking up in the middle of the trail for no good reason. It could be removed tomorrow and not decrease the incursions of motor vehicles on the trail by any amount. All it has ever done is injure cyclists and now killed this one. Remove it and place a plaque beside the trail marking the site where this man died.

A wreck not far (by TX standards) from WoaB world HQ in the beautiful suburbs of Hell. Injured hit-and-run victim makes a plea for the driver to come forward Had Perry not vetoed the Vulnerable Road Users law in 2009 there would have been additional criminal charges that could be applied in this case. To avoid use the intersection protocols in the link at the top of my blog, with SBR and lowered speed limits to prevent such a wreck.

A wreck of unknown type in NJ, Cyclist injured in Gloucester Twp. crash At this point all that is known about the wreck is it was in or near an intersection, so intersection protocols to avoid, and proper infrastructure to prevent. Some legal infrastructure that makes hitting a cyclist a criminal matter when drivers are at fault would help considerably, too.

Another NJ wreck. Cyclist, 65, struck and killed by vehicle in NewarkZ Really bad road to be riding a bike on as the pavement is as much not there as it is there. Unfortunately this is pretty much the only through route in the area so all modes of travel have to use it regardless of how well it suits them, and right now I would say it doesn’t “suit” anyone, but motor vehicles would definitely be better suited to it that anything that tried to share it.

A wreck in PA injures a tiny cyclist. Child, 4, struck by SUV The child snuck out while he was supposed to be asleep and was hit because he was not conspicuous to the Texan driving the Supersized unnecessary Vehicle. I really don’t see any way to prevent something like this from happening with another 4YO in the future. Kids are kids, and as such do things that they’re not supposed to do and do unpredictable things.

A ridiculous sentence for killing a cyclist in NY. Woman faces jail in fatal accident with bike rider The woman worked in a hospital but couldn’t be bothered to stop and call 911 on her cell phone before going to work, and only gets 120 days in jail for leaving the cyclist to die, when prompt medical attention probably would have saved his life? What was this judge taking, and why isn’t he sharing with the victim’s family?

A cyclist is killed right outside his school in MN. Minnesota high school student struck, killed while riding bike and Teen Bicyclist Hit by Car, Killed in Minnetonka also Teen cyclist struck and killed Aside from getting hit right after he left the parking lot there wasn’t a whole lot on the mode of the wreck, so treat it like an intersection wreck and use the appropriate protocols.

That fatal wreck in SC has now been determined to be a right hook of the killed cyclist. Update: Crash Kills Cyclist In Simpsonville Not much to say here except that intersection protocols apply to avoid and decent infrastructure to prevent, and someone needs to take the license to drive away from commenter Bill Bush. (read the comments, but take a deep breath first…

In East Canuckistan a cyclist hit in a crosswalk is given a ticket… Cyclist injured in SUV collision Other than the cyclist being in the crosswalk and therefore in an intersection there wasn’t anything given about this wreck that would let me say how to avoid this wreck specifically, so intersection protocols to avoid, decent infrastructure to prevent and better awareness for drivers that there are bikes out there. Another link Injured cyclist to be ticketed for riding in crosswalk, police say

Sandy Eggo cyclists protest for better legal and physical infrastructure after a cyclist was killed on the same road and in nearly the same spot as a local newscaster was nearly killed 5 years ago. BICYCLISTS PROTEST OUTSIDE CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CALL FOR IMPROVED SAFETY FOR RIDERS The cyclists were hit in a bike lane next to a 60 MPH road with a line of paint being the only separation between the two modes of travel.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus