Wow is this late, and the Feed

Life is conspiring against me getting this out before midnight tonight, but I will try. Dad is improving daily, with the steps back being smaller and smaller and the steps forward getting bigger and bigger. Me on the other hand, I’m just trying to keep circling without going down the drain.

Up first, the guy with the dog that stayed with his body after the cyclist was killed in a hit-and-run was on a memorial ride for his best friend. Cyclist killed in coastside hit-and-run was on memorial ride for his dead best friend He was just a day’s ride from completing his ride across the country in memorium to his friend when he was killed. There are words I could use, but they fall so short of the real meaning of this story that it makes me want to cry.

Update on the driver that hit a cyclist from behind on Hwy 360 in Austin. Driver who hit cyclist on 360 was trying to pass traffic The driver was trying to pass on the shoulder, illegal in TX, when he killed the cyclist. But still somehow they managed to not file any charges against the driver?TANJ! Fix the legal infrastructure starting with the LEO that investigated this wreck.

Back in CA a PG&E utility vehicle left crosses a cyclist causing serious injuries. Cyclist critically injured in collision with PG&E vehicle Left cross, intersection protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A sidewalk cyclist in WI gets truck-smacked. Sparta cyclist struck by cement truck That has to hurt. AFAIK this was a salmon cyclist riding on the sidewalk and crossed with the green light in front of a turning truck and almost cleared it, but got knocked off the bike. That got caught under the rear wheels while he slid out into the street. To avoid don’t ride on the sidewalk and ride with traffic, also intersection protocols, to prevent get the infrastructure right so kids don’t ride on the sidewalk.

Another WI wreck. Vehicle strikes girl on bike in McFarland The driver went about 50 feet after hitting the cyclist in a 15 MPH zone. Either excessive speed or driver distraction or a combination of both were factors in this wreck, not the cyclist’s lack of a helmet. There should not have been any huge SUVs that a driver can’t see out of around the school during an active school zone, I’m placing a great deal of blame on the infrastructure in this one after the driver.

A serious non-fatal wreck in LA. DeRidder teen seriously injured in Vernon Parish crash From what I can tell the kid rode into traffic from a driveway without looking, something drivers do to bikes all the time. It’s much more painful when the bike does it to the car. To avoid use intersection protocols at all driveways and parking lot entrances, to prevent… well I think everybody is starting to get the message by now.

A NJ kid is hit because drivers don’t slow for a blind corner in a residential area. Eight year-old boy suffers serious injuries after being struck by car The driver was doing the speed limit but was driving too fast to see the kid riding legally in the road in front of him. Nothing the kid could do to avoid this wreck, but the driver… I also place a great deal of the fault in this wreck with the infrastructure for placing too high a speed limit on a curvy residential road that will have children on it, as well as adults riding bicycles and jogging or walking. notice from the video there were no sidewalks or any kind of bike infrastructure, you’re either in the grass/ditch or you’re in the street.

In the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike 6 years running, a blind driver killed another cyclist. Boy, 12, killed when SUV hits his bike Note the driver was absolved of all guilt by the media outlet, the car did it… Hit from behind wreck, use the proper protocol to avoid, and stop letting drivers get away with negligent assault when they can’t see where they are going to prevent.

A fatal wreck in VA from cyclist on a group ride. Reston Bike Club Rider Dies From Injuries My condolences to the victims in this wreck. Bike v bike wrecks are mostly non-fatal, except when they aren’t.

The driver in a hit-and-run turns himself in after taking the time to detox after the crash. Man charged with hit-and-run death of bicycle rider turns himself in I find the bond set to be oddly specific at $101,092. I think they left a few charges off the list, they “forgot” obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence that he was (possibly) DUI…

I think this wreck was in CT. Cyclist injured in collision Because this is a paywalled link I can’t figure out the mode of this wreck…

In the Great White North the driver that hit a cyclist has been charged with a crime. Driver charged after cyclist struck in Kitchener I still haven’t figured out how this wreck happened, but the police have and they decided the driver was at fault, so I’m going to assume the wreck was not exactly as described.

Another wreck north of the border. Cyclist injured in Melton Apparently this was an intersection wreck caused by the driver violating the cyclist’s right of way, LEO in the case being very quick to assign blame. To prevent, get the infrastructure right, but the legal part of the infrastructure seems to be working fine.

Another Canuckistan wreck has LEO on the lookout for a hit-and-run driver. Burnaby police looking for hit-and-run driver So, ninja cyclist is hit from behind, driver sees the cyclist and then bugs out. Lights and reflectors to avoid, and get the freaking infrastructure right to prevent.

A cyclist in Oz is injured when a semi towing multiple trailers (road train) fails to make a legal pass and hits him with the last trailer in the train. Cyclist struck by road train Hit from behind protocols to avoid, some way for cyclists to get between cities without sharing roads with trains that don’t have tracks would prevent a wreck like this.

Last link, from TX, a guy riding a unicycle naked is given a ticket for distracting drivers. Weird News: Naked unicyclist charged for distracting drivers The cyclist was a little off on the date of the World Naked Bike Ride.

And that was all the news 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

Dad is coming back from the hospital today, and the Feed

I have been somewhat out of the loop about Dad’s condition and destination, but from what I have been told we are going to pick him up from the hospital this afternoon and bring him home, that there had been some alterations made to his medications that have stopped his back spasms and made him much more comfortable, and that he is able to get in and out of bed on his own. Before he quit eating he was almost able to get back in bed on his own, but still needed help getting sat up to get out of bed. After he quit eating that went backwards of course. His voice on the phone sounded much more sure and stable, and free of pain.

Up first is an update on the CA wreck of the founder of the Cutters cycling club, named for the Cutters team in the Little 500. Cyclist’s death has riders on edge Way too many wrecks on that stretch of pavement, way too many cars leaving the road to hit bicycles. And why haven’t assault charges been filed in the case where the driver crossed the road to hit cyclists head on? TANJ!

Another hit-and-run in CA. Police seek vehicle that injured cyclist in Antioch hit-and-run I didn’t catch the mode of the wreck, but finding the perp shouldn’t be too hard if they lean on the people who sell windshields.

A cyclist is hit in MD. Hit and run leaves teen severely hurt The mode of wreck sounds suspiciously like an assault, “swerved onto the shoulder striking the teen“. Anyway hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, getting the infrastructure right to prevent.

The LEO that hit him says the MA cyclist was riding salmon. Police: Bicyclist rode wrong way on Rte. 9 before crash Assuming the sole witness to the wreck was telling the truth, this wreck could have been avoided by using hit-from-behind protocols and not riding salmon. Getting the infrastructure right would have prevented the cyclist from being on a fast, busy, highway in the first place. The fact that the hospital the cyclist was taken to has no record of his admission and the police report having him with serious injuries makes me wonder about the rest of the report.

An IA wreck has closure as the driver responsible pleads guilty. Driver to plead guilty in death of bike rider AFAIK IA has Vehicular Manslaughter which has a much higher minimum sentence, so I’m assuming this is a plea bargain.

A cyclist is killed in Oz. Cyclist killed in accident near Clunes and Cyclist dies in road accident near Clunes also Three killed on Victoria’s roads None of the reports gave a mode for the wreck but all seemed to indicate the cyclist was not the one at fault in the wreck from the wording of the articles.

Helmet-crazy Infrastructure! news. Study: 80% of bike-share riders don’t use helmets and Bike Sharing? Stay Safe By Wearing A Helmet also 4 out of 5 of Bike Sharers Don’t Wear Helmets another one The Flaw In Public Bike Sharing Programs and last link Bike helmets could save $41 per child in hospital costs So the average child in the ER would cost $41 less if he/she had been wearing a helmet? And how much could we save if we get kids away from the most deadly thing in their lives, motor vehicles?

Infrastructure news from the UK about the upcoming London election. London Mayoral candidates questioned at cycling hustings I agree with one of the hecklers “When in a hole, stop digging!”

Infrastructure of a different kind in Italy where they have charging stations for e-vehicles built into a phone-booth like structure that also offers WiFi for browsing the Internet while waiting for your car or e-bike to recharge. In Italy, solar-powered phone booth offers wifi and electric-vehicle charging Just the spot to recharge your e-bike and catch up on e-mail… (no pun intended)

And that’s all the news that gave me fits today. Come back tomorrow for more Dad news with more actual bike news, too.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Another Mule Day, and the Feed

Yep, still trying to restock the pantry after running low on a lot of things last month, including allergy pills. This will be a 2 ruck and bike panniers day according to Mrs. the Poet, and I’ll need to bring the tie-downs for lashing external cargo to the rack that’s too big to carry in a ruck. Apparently there is a big sale on toilet paper in the mega-pack and Mrs. the Poet doesn’t want to miss out on this bargain. I feel sorry for Blue, and a little concerned for my legs. Mrs. the Poet will be tasked with bringing home things that need to not be squished, like bread and some of the produce. Blue will be tasked with bringing home the really heavy stuff and also things too big to stuff into a ruck, I get whatever fits into my ruck. If we get volume-limited Mrs. the Poet gets the light stuff Blue and I can’t carry. Whee!

More on the soap-opera that has become the Pinkybike wreck investigation in CA. Police Reopen Cyclist Crash as Possible Aggravated Assault At this point I’m thinking the driver or passenger in the Lexus is either in LAPD or highly connected with LAPD.

Another cyclist hit in the same town where the idiot in the Escalade drove over the curb and hit 3 cyclists on the sidewalk, this time with fewer victims and much less damage. Cyclist, 11, injured by car in Concord This is a case of a driver not looking where the car was going but only watching for possible threats from the street. As a cyclist there is no way to avoid a wreck like this and still be able to use the roads, SBR to prevent along with significant penalty for hitting a cyclist/pedestrian, like loss of the vehicle.

Speaking of that other wreck LEO are checking the cellphone records of the driver. Police check cell records in fatal Concord crash

A driver knows they’re boned by the evidence in CA. Soquel horse trainer pleads no contest in the 2011 death of a cyclist The victim’s BAC% should have been ruled inadmissible in the case. He wasn’t hit because he was drunk, he was hit-and-run because the driver did not bother to not hit him.

More on the idiot cyclist that killed a pedestrian in SF. Traffic Video Allegedly Contradicts Cyclist’s Story In Deadly S.F. Pedestrian Collision Since this video is not available to be viewed (even if I could not view it with this computer) and does not show the light in question I reserve judgement about the timing of the wreck, but those that have seen it say the cyclist was not laying the bike down to avoid the wreck. But they say that it does show the pedestrians were also not in compliance with the portion of the applicable CA code that requires peds to not enter the crosswalk until all vehicles already in the intersection have cleared it, so lots of blame to (apparently) go around here, but still DON’T HIT THE PEDESTRIANS! Of the 3 deaths in bike/ped wrecks in SF in the last 2 years 2 were pedestrians and one was a cyclist, so out of self-preservation if nothing else DON’T HIT THE PEDESTRIANS! More SF officials announce efforts to reduce traffic fatalities

Hit-and-run in PA. Perry County teen hit by pickup while riding his bike The wreck was described as being near an intersection but not actually in the intersection and the cyclist was not riding salmon, so hit-from-behind protocols to avoid. SBR to prevent. The narrative sounds like rednecks out to scare the cyclist by a buzz job that got too close, possibly a random assault of a cyclist in response to the recently activated 4-foot passing law in PA.

A drunk driver kills in Paradise. Bike rider dies after collision in Hilo Wednesday morning (April 11) and Hilo bicyclist killed by suspected drunken driver More 20-year-old bicyclist killed in Hilo hit-and-run and Man, 20, dies in hit-and-run collision in Hilo another one Fatal bike vs. vehicle crash in Hilo OK the facts of this case are a hit-from-behind by a drunk driver that was exceeding the speed limit (as proven by the utility pole that was taken out by the vehicle)… Now how the heck you’re supposed to avoid something like this on a narrow residential street is utterly beyond me. But SBR to prevent, maybe.

A driver person in a car hits 3 cyclists from behind in TN and no charges are filed. Father Struck, Killed During Family Bicycle Ride WTF? There were 5 people riding legally on the road and the driver only missed 2 of them and because he might have had the sun in his eyes the driver gets a pass? And TN has a 3-foot passing law that hitting a cyclist is proof that you didn’t give 3 feet. TANJ!

And in SC a driver is arrested almost a year to the day after he killed a cyclist. Inman Man Charged In 2011 Deadly Hit-And-Run Accident Not enough information about the wreck to tell how to avoid it, but putting this idiot behind bars for a long time might let everyone avoid another wreck, at least with him. SBR would prevent wrecks like this.

And in NYC more lazy investigation by NYPD before the victim’s body is even cold. [UPDATE] SUV Driver Kills 18-Year-Old Bronx Cyclist, “No Criminality Suspected” The investigation hasn’t even been completed before the driver is exonerated by NYPD (Never Yet Prosecuted a Driver).

LifeStyle from Houston. Watch the road: Friday is Bike to Work Day in Houston You couldn’t pay me enough to ride a bike in Houston, and this from a giy that has more than 12K miles commuting in Dallas County.

LifeStyle from Oz. What got you on a bike? What got me on a bike was taking off the training wheels.

Infrastructure! from Seattle. Judge tosses out bicyclists’ lawsuit over SLU streetcar tracks OK under WA state laws the right lane is now obstructed and unusable for cycling because of the streetcar, so bikes may now legally take the left lane in that stretch of road… And the city really should post signs alerting drivers to that.

Infrastructure from S.F. CA. Traffic School For Cyclists On The Way, Says SFPD At least now cyclists have a way to avoid those ridiculous fines.

More Infrastructure. Five Things Drivers Need to Understand About Sharing the Road with Cyclists We know this, but drivers are for the most part clueless about it.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Planning another service, and the Feed

Being a ritualist at my church means never being able to say “Done!” We just got done with the April Fool’s service, and now we have a Full Moon service to do Thursday, and another Sunday service to do after that. Now if we had a full-time minister this would be a piece of cake, but we ritualists have jobs to do, yards to mow, gardens to tend, and then we also have to do that same stuff at home. There is always something that the ritualists need to be doing at the church above and beyond just putting on the services.

Up first today is a different kind of bike theft. Tuesday’s Sentinel police log The blurb is well hidden in the link, I will quote it for your assistance: “A bicycle was stolen from a detached garage in the rear of the 100 block of East King Street in Shippensburg between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. March 29. According to police, the bike is described as a girl’s Schwinn mountain bike, bluish-purple and silver color and a black seat. The bike should have a water bottle on it. Police say another bike was left in its place. The found bike is a men’s Magna mountain bike, silver in color with 26 inch wheels and 21 speeds. Police seek information.” So, not so much theft as an unapproved trade. I wonder if the bike left had a flat tire or other mechanical problem.

First wreck is just down the road from WoaB World HQ in the beautiful suburbs of Hell. Local Bicycle Rider Serious Hurt In Collision With Car Note to the “writer” of this headline: adverbs, learn how to use them. This is another intersection wreck where at least one vehicle ran a red light, so it was assumed the cyclist was the one that did it. Anyway, intersection protocols, don’t run red lights and don’t assume that the people in control of 2 tons of death won’t either. I have to say that the one time I rode down there Waco seemed like a nice place to ride a bike, but I was on the road for about 11 hours and suffering a bit from the heat that time. Can you say 90 miles into a headwind? And that was just Day 1 of a 2 day 250 mile ride (planned). Remind me sometime to relate that tale of a broken tail.

First of a series of bike wrecks with teens and almost no information about the wreck. Minor injuries in car-bicycle accident And the article went, where? There was one sentence in that article, not counting the headline, that covered the age of the victim and the location of the wreck.

Another wreck, another young victim, another article that has almost no information in it. Boy on bike suffers arm injury after collision with vehicle OK a tiny bit more information on this one, it appears to be some kind of right of way violation in an intersection, use intersection protocols to avoid, SBR to prevent.

A sidewalk cyclist is injured by a car running a stop sign in AZ. Bicyclist injured after colliding with car in Yuma Again in spite of irrefutable evidence the driver ran the stop sign LEO managed to blame the cyclist on this one. To avoid, ride in the street and use intersection protocols. To prevent demand SBR.

I had to take a break from composing this post because we had a tornado touch down a bit to the south and moving west of WoaB World HQ. It’s a bit difficult to compose a post on a desktop computer when you’re sitting in the bathtub trying to keep two cats from getting away while trying to keep track of flashlights and a blinky locater light in case the house falls down on you. Did I mention the cats tolerate each other at best?

Back to the theme of kids on bikes, a 15 YO is hit-and-run in PA. Police Looking for Hit-and-Run Driver The driver in this wreck hit a cyclist from behind in his lane then crossed over to hit a skateboarder in the opposite lane. That sounds to me like a grumpy old man/woman trying to take out as many “rotten kids” as he/she can get to. I can’t tell you how to avoid a driver like this, but to prevent a situation like this you can’t do any better than SBR.

Another hit-and-run in CA of an elderly cyclist. Police briefs: Monterey bicycle accident victim identified Not much here to help other cyclists avoid a similar wreck with the built environment, but SBR would prevent a wreck like this.

A blind driver hits 2 cyclists from behind in MI. Man seriously injured when car hits his bike The driver claimed to have the sun in his eyes when he hit the cyclists @1945 yesterday. This is a major danger to cyclists, as drivers try to maintain their speed even though they can’t see the road in front of them. To prevent we need to have SBR or severe restrictions on motor vehicles so that drivers are at fault when they continue to drive in conditions like this.

A celebrity delivers a door prize to a cyclist in NYC. Tracy Morgan Bike Bust-Up: Cyclist Crashes Into Comedian’s Open Car Door To avoid, ride far enough into the street to be outside the door zone. To prevent, get bikes away from the door zone via infrastructure since SBR are pretty much impossible with the existing environment.

A cyclist is apparently murdered in CA. Police investigate hit-and-run fatality The reason I’m calling this one a “murder” is the weapon vehicle was obviously trying to not be seen, driving without lights, and did not stop after hitting the victim. If I wanted to kill someone, that’s the way I would do it…

Also in CA a driver gets 2 years. Hit-and-Run Driver who Killed Bicyclist Zachary Parke Gets Two Years in Jail and Hit and Run Suspect Sentenced and Santa Cruz area man jailed for two years for hit and run that killed cyclist on Empire Grade Road also Live Oak man jailed for two years for killing cyclist on Empire Grade Road last link Driver sentenced for crash that killed Zachary Parke Apparently killing a cyclist is no big deal in CA, Michael Vick got more time for killing dogs.

A cyclist is killed in far west CanuckistanCyclist involved in collision with car succumbs to injuries and Vancouver police investigating the death of a woman cyclist in collision and Female cyclist dies from injuries after colliding with car in east Vancouver also Cyclist hit at 12th Avenue succumbs to injuries This is the cyclist where they still haven’t determined which one was running the red light.

Moving to the UK, a cyclist is assaulted with a non-lethal projectile weapon from a moving car. Wiltshire cyclist injured in drive-by paintball attack The cyclist took one shot to the face and 2 more to the torso. To avoid, ain’t going to happen, there’s no way to avoid someone out hunting cyclists with a weapon carried in a car. To prevent, well start with confiscation and destruction of the vehicle live on national TV, then a firing squad of paintball guns on a naked perpetrator, also on live TV. Follow up with restitution to the injured victim and a prison sentence, then permanent loss of driving privilege, with mandatory prison if caught driving.

Also in the UK, a hit-and-run victim was a LEO. Injured cyclist found under flyover is police sergeant There is at least a fighting chance that this wreck will be properly investigated. Unfortunately that is only because the victim was LEO.
A wreck in Oz kills a cyclist. Man killed in bike, ute collision and Man killed in bike and ute collision At this point the only news that can be verified is that both vehicles were travelling in the same direction and the cyclist was hit from behind… hit from behind protocols to avoid, there were unconfirmed reports that the cyclist was trying to access a SBR when he was hit.

LifeStyle from NYC. On the trail of ‘ghost bikes,’ families and friends of cyclists killed on the streets of New York rally for more police action

And those are all the links that gave me fits today. Sorry this was so late, but I spent most of the day watching tornadoes tracking through the area on the TV and grabbing the cats to hide in the “safe area” of our house.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Why no 04/01 joke, and the Feed

With as much as I like to be funny I’m sure some people are wondering why I didn’t do April Fools this year. Well, I did, I just did it with such a straight face that nobody noticed. Look at yesterday’s post. I was quoting from a Heinlein novel Job, A Comedy of Justice, not a funky Biblical translation from the 1970s. But the rest of what I wrote, and throwing in the Chuck Jones cartoon, so mis-directed everyone that nobody got the joke. The joke being “Why is a ritualist in an openly Pagan UU church even mentioning a secondary deity from Christianity? Much less devoting an entire service to his change in status from the beginning of the Bible to the end.” Well I did get a few zingers in during the homily and one during the closing, so it wasn’t a total loss.

The big story today is the SWSS death of a respected college professor. WOU Professor Killed In Hit And Run Accident later WOU professor killed in bicycle accident and WOU professor hit and killed while riding his bike also Western Oregon professor dies in collision last link Bike crash kills Western Oregon University professor of special education north of Monmouth The one thing that struck me about the crime scene pictures was what was not there: skid marks from the weapon vehicle trying to avoid the collision. During this encounter the driver of the weapon vehicle never used the controls in such a way that limits of traction were even approached, much less exceeded. If the wreck went the way the driver described it there should be tire marks on the road from the frantic swerve to the left. Anyway, hit-from-behind wreck, to avoid use the protocols, to prevent SBR needs to be built. Real Separate Bicycle Roads, not MUP in parks that don’t actually go anywhere.

Next biggest story is Levi Leipheimer getting hit by a car in Spain. American cyclist Leipheimer ‘lucky to be alive’ after being hit by car in training in Spain and Levi Leipheimer Hit by Car on Training Ride This just goes to show that even an experienced cyclist in a fairly bicycle-friendly country can still get hit and hurt without SBR. I know Levi knows the protocols and applies them on every ride when he isn’t racing, but it still wasn’t enough to keep him from getting hit. It probably did keep him from getting killed though.

Another report on that bike/car wreck in MO I told you about Saturday. Bicycle rider injured in collision with car in Hannibal Still nothing more solid about the actual wreck.

A cyclist is hit from behind by a drunk driver driving without a license in CA. Bicyclist injured after collision with car on Market Street in Santa Cruz Anyway, hit-from-behind protocols would not have helped in this case as the cyclist was already off the road in a bike lane when he was hit and lacked any other place to escape the wreck. SBR with a barrier that could prevent a drunk or determined driver from reaching the cyclist would do the job.

In the same area of CA as the previous wreck a cyclist loses control of her bike and suffers injuries requiring transport to a hospital. Woman hurt in bike crash on Soquel San Jose Road No word on what caused the loss of control, so just keep your SA up and your speed in control to avoid a similar wreck.

Judges in the UK continue to get it wrong in cyclists’ death cases. Motorist spared prison after he admits error in crash that killed cyclist The driver ran into a cyclist covered in HiViz and flashing lights, says “Ooopsie” and gets off with the gentlest taps on the wrist possible under the circumstance. There was nothing obstructing the driver’s vision but his own stupidity when he hit the cyclist from behind on a clear day. To get community service and less than $5000 in restitution is a travesty.

A wreck in Oz. Cyclist killed at Magenta Just another SWCC, nothing more to see here, move along!

Infrastructure! news from WI. Appleton police focus on reducing bicyclist, pedestrian injuries Naturally the majority of the enforcement attention is given to the victims and next to none is applied to the potential killers in this scenario.

And last link, something so stupid I’m not even going to add anything here. Helmets key to safe biking, officials say

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Got my tax return check, and the Feed

The tax return showed up in the mailbox yesterday instead of the Debit card account I had set up so I could buy things on the Internet as well as spend my money IRL. The IRS said in so many words that when they tried to make the deposit there was no account there to deposit into, so basically all the money I put in there previously and allowed to go to the “maintenance fees” has vanished, leaving me with nothing. And now I’m back to trying to find a way to buy the things I want that I can only get online, without exposing every penny I have to hackers and just plain thieves. Thanks for nothing PayPower .

Up first, an update on the wreck in Eastern WA between the bicycle and the motorcycle. 2 killed in bicycle-motorcycle crash identified After looking at the Google Street View of the wreck location I noticed that the cyclist’s view to the south where the motorcycle was coming from was restricted by a tree that was almost in the road. I also noted that the cyclist was observed to have stopped at the stop sign and then was hit as he crossed the road that did not have a stop sign. The cyclist had a good enough sight line to see and avoid a vehicle moving at the posted speed limit for the area, and to cross the road in sufficient time to avoid getting hit by a vehicle that was beyond his sight line at the time he began crossing the road. The area is known for having speeding vehicles on that street, so I conclude that the motorcyclist was in fact speeding when he hit the bicyclist. Both victims are being tested to determine if chemical impairment may have been a factor.

And closer to WoaB World HQ in the beautiful suburbs of Hell, LEO have found and arrested the drinver in the hit-and-run fatality of a cyclist. Arrest Made in Brownlee Fatal Hit & Run Cyclist had no chance of avoiding this one, usual rants about hit-and-run drivers, I hope he’s allergic to kittens etc… Congratulations are due to the LEO involved in this investigation.

A 15 YO in NJ is hit when he went from riding normally to salmon, crossing in front of a moving vehicle. Fanwood Driver Crashes into 15-year-old Bike Rider Ordinarily I would discount a report like this, but they claim that several outside witnesses saw the youth change sides of the street just before he was hit. Obviously the way to avoid a wreck like this is to 1) not be a 15 YO boy, and 2) not to suddenly ride into traffic from the other side of the street…

Near my old stomping grounds in TN they solved another hit-and-run killing of a cyclist. UPDATED: 2 bikers hit by trucks within a week The rider that died in this wreck was riding salmon but the driver left the scene claiming that she thought she had hit a deer. In the second wreck mentioned the driver took the cyclist and bike away from the wreck and neither has been heard from since…

A possibly drunk cyclist runs into a car in CA. Bicyclist Seriously Injured In Accident This was another wreck that had more than one outside witness, and another one where there was a suspicion of alcohol use by the cyclist, who is expected to survive. I hate drunk cyclists almost as much as I hate drunk drivers, but still well below hit-and-run drivers.

Elsewhere in CA two cyclists run into each other, minor injury reported. From the Police Log: Cyclist Injured in Crash, Petty Theft Reported There was nothing in the report that could be used to tell you how to avoid the wreck, I just included it because it was a rare report of a cyclist injury wreck on the road that did not involve a motor vehicle.

A cyclist is severely injured by a booby trap across a bike path in CO. Bicyclist seriously injured by booby trap I could not believe this act of terrorism was not even being investigated by LEO. Had someone done anything of a similar level of lethality on a street or highway, there would have been “20 cop cars with all kinds of cop equipment, and helicopters taking pictures from every angle, the northern approach, the southern approach, the eastern approach…” (thanks to Arlo Guthrie for that memorable quote from Alice’s Restaurant). I think it is interesting that when I opened the comments section the 2 comments that were already there were invisible as was the ability to add comments.

Another link to the death of a cyclist at the wheels of a drunk driver in NC. Ohio Bicyclist Dies From Crash Injuries I have said all I can or care to say about that wreck in this blog.

Cyclists in Oz are in open revolution about bike helmets. Bike-riding girls ditch helmets

Infrastructure! in Las Vegas. Bicycling takes off in Las Vegas. Are you ready to pedal? In spite of the terrible infrastructure conditions in Sin City, people are riding bikes for exercise and transportation. The comments at the bottom of the article indicate just how far we have to go yet to make Vegas a bike-friendly city.

And while I’m stuck in the house unable to do the BikeMS because as Mrs. the Poet says “We be P’” as in too poor to buy a vowel (we used to be just po’ too poor to afford the last 2 letters in the word “poor”, now we’re p’) riders in IA plan on their ride for MS. Bike ride allows cyclists to cuise cornfields while supporting multiple sclerosis research I’m so jealous…

And those are all the links that gave me fits this morning.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

I had to cancel a ride, and the Feed

I had someplace I needed to be last night, but I bailed because of the weather forecast. Now before you rag me about getting a little wet, let me tell you what the forecast was: 3-6″ of rain per hour, high winds (gusts of up to 50 MPH), and golf ball sized hail. I would have destroyed my new helmet, ruined my rain gear, and quite possibly been blown into a wreck, had the forecast been accurate, which it mostly was. The only thing that didn’t make it to my side of the Metromess was the golf ball sized hail which had diminished to pea sized by the time it made it here. Torrential rain, check. Howling winds, check and double check, both the sustained winds and the gusts were strong enough to be dangerous to a person riding a bike. I may be a crazy, brain-damaged blogger, but I still retain a majority of my intelligence from before, and my judgement was that this was not a good chance to take on a bike without a sturdy roof over my head. I haven’t built that bike yet, so I stayed home. Today’s weather is lovely if damp and a bit chilly, so I may throw some tights and a long-sleeved jersey on and go for a look around later.

Not many actual bike story links in the Feed today, but one that stands out is a drunken cyclist unable to maintain lane discipline. Bicyclist suffers major injuries in collision and Injured Bicyclist Arrested for DUI To avoid, don’t ride drunk, and stay in your lane. SBR would alleviate most of the problems with BUI (Bicycling Under the Influence) by keeping the drunks away from the most deadly things they would normally encounter, but I still would not recommend BUI, unless it was a choice of BUI or DUI in which case I would definitely advise a bicycle over a motor vehicle, any motor vehicle more powerful than a handicap scooter.

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike 6 years running, a reported SWSS. Bicyclist injured after collision with van in Seminole Not much to say here, classic SWSS narrative, cyclist severely injured and transported, driver claims swerving in front of him. Hit-from-behind protocols, and tickets for drivers that fail to pass cyclists with the required legal clearance as demonstrated by running into them, might prevent wrecks like this with the built environment, changing the built environment to include Separated Bicycle Roads would definitely prevent future SWSS.

A child is run over in front of his home in NC. Lillington boy killed while riding bike At this point nothing is really known about this wreck aside from the location.

Two more cyclists display poor lane discipline , this time in NJ. Bicyclists airlifted after Kinnelon crash The cyclists were conscious after the wreck and backed up the report of poor lane discipline on their part during a high-speed downhill run. To avoid, stay in your lane. Learn better bike handling skills to keep a tighter line in right turns or a wider one on left turns, but stay in your lane. In extreme cases you may have to feather the brakes a bit on corner entry. A tiny bit of rear brake (TINY!!) can help induce turning.

The cyclist who was critically injured in Canuckistan after a collision with a jogger has finally been identified. Identify of cyclist injured in collision with jogger sought Aaannnd apparently not as the article I clicked on was taken down, and replaced with an earlier article at the same URL as I was creating the link. I think the story that was taken down indicated the cyclist was a 57 YO, but since it isn’t there any more I can’t actually verify what it said. So, they thought they knew who he was, but now they don’t.

Infrastructure! news from Oz. Where do cyclists belong? The synopsis, cyclists have far fewer injuries when they have a place to ride that excludes pedestrians and motor vehicles and allows cyclists to ride at a comfortable pace, has room to pass slower cyclists and some degree of protection from incursions from motor vehicles. IOW Dutch infrastructure with Separated Bike Roads. Throw in a most vulnerable to least vulnerable hierarchy of ROW at intersections with Peds>bicycles>motor vehicles (and those should be read as “Greater Than” symbols) and you have Paradise. At least until you get where you’re going, after that the transportation system loses all control over your happiness.

And that’s it, all the links that stayed up long enough for me to post it in my blog.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

I finally got to mow the lawn, and the Feed

The planets finally got in proper alignment, or whatever it was because the lawnmower started on the second pull yesterday and on a single pull every other time I had to re-start it, after doing nothing more than putting fresh gas in the tank and letting the thing sit for a few days while the yard became walkable (barely) for me again. So the lawn is mowed and I have enough gas to do it again in a week or 2 as needed, assuming cooperation with the weather. Tonight I’m going to pedal my bike Blue over to the church for our bi-weekly game of Dungeons and Dragons 3.5. I have enough bonus points on my normal attack of Eldritch Blast that I can usually get some damage as this particular magic attack completely bypasses whatever armor the victim is wearing and attacks as if the victim was nude, with pretty devastating effect. This is especially true since I’m now getting 2d6 of damage. Also I have gained the feat of Rapid Fire which allows me to use the attack twice per round with a -2 from my regular bonuses to attack. This makes my character very effective in a fight now, and I’m taking out almost as many NPC as the barbarian in our party while taking much less damage (which is good as I have only 16 HP compared to his 42). The Eldritch Lesser Pantsing blast is still being approved by the DM (who thinks it might be a little advanced for my level character).

The big story today is update on the wreck I had an initial report on yesterday of a cyclist hit in MS. Pass cyclist killed in Bay St. Louis Now we know this was a SWSS wreck, great… Pass woman hit, killed on morning bike ride and Cyclist Killed In Bay St. Louis and Cyclist killed in Bay St. Louis I was looking at the crime scene pictures and there is no shoulder on that road for the cyclist to have swerved from. For the narrative to have been true the cyclist would have had to been riding in the ditch, not on the paved surface at all. Another thing I noticed was the cyclist was hit from the left front according to the damage to the bike. That could have been tumble damage after the impact with the cyclist’s body. This is a very confusing wreck.

Next wreck a firefighter commuting to work is hit and killed. Firefighter Dies Riding Bike To Work and Aurora firefighter killed in bicycle accident Comments were shut off for that link Aurora firefighter dies after being hit by vehicle and Aurora firefighter hit, killed while on way to work still more Aurora firefighter dies after bicycle accident and Aurora Firefighter Dies After Getting Stuck By Car While Riding Bike and Aurora Firefighter On Bike Killed In Accident last link Aurora firefighter hit, killed while on way to work I flagged several comments on the links that allowed comments that blamed the cyclist for being there to get hit instead of the driver that ran the red light and hit him. There was even one that blamed Obama for the wreck… I blame the driver that could not see that there was a red light in his direction of travel and hit a human in a school crossing. There would be no way to avoid a wreck like this even with SBR, as you can’t fix stupid. And driving blind and hitting someone while running a red light qualifies as “stupid”.

A CT woman is hit in a crosswalk with her bike. Bicyclist hospitalized after being hit by car on River Road I don’t see what the cyclist could have done to prevent this as she was already in the crossing when the other vehicle made a left turn into her right of way. And as this was an intersection between a SBR and regular roads there wasn’t anything that changing the infrastructure would have done about this wreck. The only thing that could have prevented this wreck would be for the driver to watch where they drive and make sure the way is clear before making a turn.

Update on the condition of the ID cyclist hit in NC this week. Cyclist still listed in critical condition I managed to look up the wreck site in Google Maps Street View, and this was not a road that falls under the types of roads where bikes would be banned, it is a surface street with a median and uncontrolled intersections. IOW the cyclist had a right to be there. and it was 100% the drunk driver’s fault for leaving the road to hit him.

A strange bike wreck in the Great White North. Cyclist, 20, dies after falling into Lake Ontario near Yonge St. At this point LEO know he was riding a bike, and somehow ended up face down in the lake. What happened between those 2 events is unknown. His Bici bike was found undamaged near the body.

There have been a lot of cyclists hit-and-run in Oz recently. Cyclists left ‘like roadkill’ With all the casualties cyclists are getting a little edgy there. More Vicious cycle

Same song, different city, still in Oz. Cyclist injured in hit-run crash This one was in Adelaide instead of Canberra, but it’s still a hit-and-run against a cyclist that could have ended up dead.

LifeStyle in NYC. “Unnamed” Ghost Bike Memorial To Be Installed Outside 90th Precinct Station In Williamsburg Sunday Would that this would be the last Ghost Bike needed in the entire city…

Infrastructure! news from DC. Drivers, Cyclists and Walkers: Keep Those Heads Up, Eyes Open and Ears Clear, Please Try to stay alert out there people, especially the people guiding the WMD that can kill dozens at a single strike.

And those are all the links that gave me fits while composing this.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Trying not to explode, and the Feed

As you may know this blog is posted from Texas. Recently our Governor Rick “I have good hair” Perry, declared Planned Parenthood not acceptable as a provider for the low-income Women’s Health Program system. The Feds disagreed, as they did every other time this was brought up under 2 presidents. Previously TX dropped the idea of excluding PP as a provider, because Federal funds pay for 90% of the $40M program, which would basically cease to exist without the Federal funds. Well the Feds called Perry’s bluff on this one and pulled their money, and the 130K+ women that depended on this program for access to basic health care as well as reproductive care are now up the proverbial unsanitary tributary without visible means of locomotion. I have also heard rumblings that those women are now members of a class-action lawsuit against Perry and the State of Texas. Personally I would like to see as a provision of that lawsuit that Goodhair be required to ride his bike to every member of the class and apologize in person, that would make him re-consider his 2009 veto of the Vulnerable Road Users bill as well as force him to put a face on the pain he caused to thousands of women. I realize this is not specifically a bicycle issue, but rather a human rights issue, but I live here and this abuse of my tax dollars really aggravates me.

Up first, people in Oz are outraged that a woman carried a baby on a bike without a helmet. Cyclist snapped with baby causes outrage Oh, the horror! If that woman was to be hit by a car while her baby was unprotected by a helmet… a helmet would do next to no good in protecting the child from harm. I don’t have the statistics from Oz, but in the US the second most common way for children under 5 to die is from sitting in a parent’s car, with head injury being the primary cause of death in those cases. I don’t see a big uproar about helmets for babies in cars, but that’s where a lot of them die. More Picture of female cyclist on a St Kilda road with baby attached causes outrage among road safety experts

First wreck link is a kid from CA hit in a crosswalk. Boy in Critical Condition After Being Hit By Car While Riding Bike In this case there was no other way for the child to get to/from his school except on this dangerous road, and cyclists have right-of-way in a crosswalk just like pedestrians. There was no way to avoid this wreck except to not be there to get hit, or for the driver to not violate the right-of-way of the cyclist, with the built environment. What would be needed to prevent wrecks like this is a safe way to get around the Interstate highway. More Bicyclist Hit By Vehicle Near Bollinger Canyon Road On-Ramp The cyclist had a helmet on prior to the wreck but was either not wearing it at the time of the wreck or it was knocked off in the wreck.

A woman in MS is killed riding her bike. UPDATE: Bicyclist killed in traffic accident Not much aside from the death and the location in that article. I tried doing a search more more links but I couldn’t find any.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today, now to go mow the lawn or at least try to.

Billed @$0.02, Opus