A respite from dead cyclists, the Feed

Except for another report on the cyclist that died because she couldn’t unclip from her pedals there was only one new death in today’s Feed. This is good as I hate seeing dead cyclists even virtual ones on the Internet. This job can be emotionally taxing, and days with few wrecks and fewer deaths ease up on that strain.

Getting to the new report on the old wreck, nothing really new here axcept the outlet. Calgary cyclist killed in Oregon She still failed to unclip and fell over into traffic directly in front of a car that hit her, that hasn’t changed. I have thought it over for the last few days and the only way to avoid a similar wreck and still use clipless pedals is to stop so that no matter which way you fall over you don’t fall in front of traffic, which when you think about it is usually impossible. But that’s the best I can come up with.

The new death was a red light runner in MI. Woman bicyclist seriously injured in collision with car in downtown Muskegon After the headline was posted the woman died from her injuries. Back channel tells me that the signal would frequently not detect and change for bicycles which may have lulled the cyclist who rode that route almost daily into ignoring the red light, but she still should have treated it as a stop sign and taken a look to make sure there was no traffic. Michigan isn’t quite that dead yet, recession not withstanding.

Another sidewalk rider is hit in MI. Bicyclist’s foot injured in accident Ride slow on sidewalks and be ready to stop because drivers are not looking for you.

In Portland OR a popular bike route is “traffic calmed” because cyclists were going too fast. New speed bumps on popular cemetery route: Necessarily dangerous? OK guys, blasting through funeral processions and swearing at mourners? Way to win friends and influence people.

Another person drags out the tired old argument for bicycle licenses and registration. Reader says bicycle riders must be regulated If you tax you have to tax at the same rate as you tax motor vehicles. If you tax an Escalade at $X then you have to tax my bicycle at $X/5000 because of the relative impact on the infrastructure.

And finally a ride that honors a long time cyclist who was a worker and planner for the ride. 40th annual Octoginta ride dedicated to late KU Athletic Director Bob Frederick

Now get out there and ride your bikes.

Billed @$.02, Opus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Local cyclist injured in drive-by shooting, and the Feed

Wow, things are not looking good in the relations between cyclists and drivers in the North TX area this week. Yesterday i gave you a bunch of links to the story of the driver that hit a cyclist head on on the opposite shoulder of the road and drove home with the body sticking out of the back of the car. today one of my readers tells me he was hit by a drive-by shooter. On top of the other things, I also get a note inviting me to be an honorary Canadian citizen for my coverage of bike wrecks from all over Canada, but I have to quit calling the western provinces “Canuckistan”. So, all you Manitobans, Albertans, British Columbians, and I know there are 2 more but right at the moment I can’t remember what to call people that live in the Northwest Territories or the Yukon what do you want? Do you want me to continue to differentiate between eastern (Canadia) and western (Canuckistan) Canada, or would you prefer me to call you all “Canada”? Leave a comment and Saturday I will announce the winner.

Up first because it is local and also happened to a loyal reader of my blog, Chip Seal relates his experience with a drive-by shooter. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way Home Fortunately the injury did not penetrate the skin, all he mainly has to be concerned about is a thrombosis forming and blocking and artery, but still…DAAAANG! Getting shot for being out on a country road, “That ain’t right.”

Our wreck with the most links happened in Seattle, where I hear you can find a decent cup of coffee at a decent price, made by a person making a living wage… Police looking for witnesses in Delridge bicycle crash had it first Bicyclist critically injured in accident has the most comments at the time of this posting Cyclist Seriously Injured In West Seattle Most likely to be the truth. I seriously can’t understand why SPD can’t figure out this was a hit-and-run. A car can hit and kill a cyclist without ever touching the bicycle or leaving any other evidence behind, re: the wreck that killed Larry Shwartz a bus mirror hit him in the back of the head and shattered his skull inside his helmet, but did not break the mirror. LEO only found out about it when the bus operator told them about it. As for how to avoid, standard hit from behind measures, watch your mirror and be ready to take your escape route at any time, or even to jump off the bike and let the bike take the hit. As an added note a steel bike frame that isn’t protected by the rider’s body can do significant amounts of damage to a car or SUV to the point of rendering the vehicle undriveable. So let the bike take the hit for you it can do a lot more damage than you can.

They only injured a rider in the deadliest state in the US. Bicyclist injured in Cape hit-and-run Another hit-from-behind wreck, these used to be rare things, but not any more. I don’t know if angry drivers are targeting cyclists, or if the collective IQ has gone through the floor and drivers are just too stupid to control their vehicles around cyclists. I do know one thing, it needs to be much harder to get a license, and much easier to lose one, and penalties for driving without one need to be raised by orders of magnitude. Driving without a license needs to have the same penalty as unlawful possession of a firearm, because possessing a firearm is a right guaranteed by the 2^nd Amendment to the Constitution, but there is no right to drive. Walking is a right as specified in the 4^th Amendment, and by extension riding a human powered vehicle, but motor vehicles are a different kettle of fish entirely.

A scumbucket DUI driver gets hit while riding a bicycle, but just because he had a DUI does not excuse the other scumbucket driver from fleeing the scene after hitting him, especially since the vehicle was previously involved in a crime (street fight) Bicyclist killed in hit and run I don’t see what the problem is, you have a rental vehicle, you have someone that rented that vehicle, that person is responsible for that vehicle unless reported stolen prior to the wreck. If the vehicle was reported stolen prior to the wreck then you have to do some CSI work to find out the last driver and then they have to prove they were not at the wheel during the wreck. Same same as with a gun, the person last in control of the murder weapon is considered to be the perp unless they can establish an alibi for the time of the assault.

They seem to have a love/hate relationship with bicycles in IA. UPDATE: Rider identified in fatal Highway 71 crash Another hit-from-behind [sigh]. The LEO in this case have already determined the cyclist was not at fault in this wreck, but are waiting on the tox screen before doing anything. Hey! LEO! this was a hit from behind wreck, the driver behind is required to ensure that he can pass safely without interfering with the vehicle in front of him. The driver of the vehicle that hit from behind is at fault. Use the same logic for bike/car wrecks as you would for car/car wrecks.

Only bicycles run red lights, except for state legislators. Lawmaker Involved in Car-Bicyclist Accident Someone in the comments section asked why it wasn’t an accident, well the running the red light on the part of the driver of the car kind of makes this no longer an accident but a crime…

More reports on the cyclist killed during the Covered Bridge Metric Century in PA. Manheim Bicyclist Thrown Off Bike, Dies Of Injuries and this report Bicyclist killed during ride through rural Pa. The cyclist was wearing a helmet and still died from traumatic head injury in a single vehicle wreck… You should still wear a helmet, just don’t expect miracles…

More dead around Chi-town. Joliet cyclist killed by hit-and-run driver Some days I just have to wonder. I have lost count, how many hit from behind wrecks does this make for today?

Until I get some results from my request this still happened in Canuckistan Cyclist injured at Portage intersection You have to be especially alert at intersections because threats are coming from multiple directions. Why there was a parked car at an intersection, and what caused a cyclist to “brush against” it that caused the cyclist to lose control are subject to speculation. You can speculate, there isn’t enough information for me to.

A protest ride is planned for a SoCal town. Riding for Rights I see the current situation like the civil rights movement at about 1967 or -8. We have rights de jure, by law, we are just trying to make those rights de facto or recognized by those with the legal authority to enforce them.

To wit on the previous paragraph comes this report from NC. Bicyclists and Motorists Reminded to Share Road The DOT reminds everyone that bicycles have a right to the road, and then takes that right away by saying cyclists have to be on the far right of the lane and telling cyclists to not ride at night…

A writer (?) from the NYT remarks that used bikes in Portland and other cities with high bike usage tend to cost more than in cities like Houston or Dallas. Bicycle Inflation in Paradise? I guess the concept of supply and demand is hard to grasp sometimes. It works like this: There are a lot of people riding bikes in some places, and they tend to keep their bikes for a long time, making used bikes relatively rare. On the converse of this is the bike consuming public in those areas won’t settle for BSO from Wally World, because they tend to wear out in less than a year. The BSO I got from Wally World was almost completely replaced except for the frame, in less than a year from purchase. I have a stack of worn out suspension forks from that period of my life to show for it. So, with a limited supply of used bikes and a high demand, local used bike prices tens to be higher. Also there is the local to Portland trend to pay people enough to live on locally with health insurance, including people like bicycle mechanics…

And while this is not bicycle related directly, I do some EV work, mostly in making assisted bicycles and I thought this was neat. Local man converts car to electric Take a worn-out econobox, strip the gas engine and paraphernalia, add a bunch of deep discharge batteries an electric motor and a controller, and voila! an environmentally sensitive commute vehicle.

And that’s all I have for you today. I’m going to go to Arlington for the Bike/Ped Advisory Committee meeting at NCTCOG this afternoon, if I don’t make it back I was fighting for your rights as a cyclist…

Billed @$.02, Opus

Vile wickedness, and the usual “stuff” in the Feed

Yes we had vile wickedness just a few miles down the road from me in our Feed this morning, plus more “normal” wrecks and some lifestyle articles as well.

The wreck just down the road from me was in Grand Prairie, and to be honest “vile wickedness” just doesn’t even come close to the kind of depraved indifference displayed in this wreck. Hang on because there are lots of links on this one, that hopefully will not be consolidated or removed before this post gets published. Grand Prairie police arrest man who had mortally injured bicyclist lodged in back seat of his car and Driver hits cyclist, left lodged in car window also Dead Cyclist Found Lodged in Back Seat more at Texas Bicyclist Found Dying In Back Seat Of Car That Struck Him and also Motorist drove home with fatally injured Grand Prairie bicyclist in back seat, police say still more Grand Prairie police say man hit cyclist left him for dead in car and still more Police: Bicyclist Gets Stuck In Car Window & Dies which makes it sound like it was the cyclist’s fault, and finally from my colleague at examiner.com Dying bike rider found in back seat of car that allegedly hit him The depravity of hitting a cyclist head on on the opposite side of the street and if the wreck site given in the articles is correct that is a street that is 2 lanes in each direction with a center turn lane, and the cyclist was hit on the opposite shoulder to the car’s direction of travel. In other words the driver went over 3 lanes from where he was supposed to be to hit this cyclist head on, never touching the brakes and then drove home with the cyclist either hanging through the back window or crumpled upside down in the back seat after coming through the back window, depending on which report you want to believe, or that he stopped and pulled the cyclist the rest of the way through the window, then drove home according to another report. A, B, or C any of the reports shows a depraved indifference to human life and suffering as the cyclist was still alive when paramedics got to the scene, and might have pulled through had he not spent more than an hour bleeding into this waste of skin’s car before medical attention arrived. I say charge him with Capital Murder and send him away forever, or just give him to me for a few hours and then let him find his own way to medical attention after I get through with him. He was drunk, driving on the wrong side of the road, and he removed the victim from the scene without taking him to medical attention. I think a few hours with a baseball bat and a stun gun while he hears what a piece of trash he is, constantly, would be suitable punishment for the crimes he committed.

And after that the rest of the Feed will seem like a walk in the park. A very dark and dangerous park, but a walk in a park nonetheless.

Drivers on the wrong side of the road seems to be a theme this week. Rider Killed When Bicycle, Minivan Collide I don’t know what can be done in cases like this. As a cyclist you really can’t avoid these kinds of wrecks because there is no predicting where the motor vehicle is going to end up, further on your side or attempt to return to his own side. The best you can do is bail for the edge of the road or off of the road if that is a possibility and hope the driver doesn’t keep on coming.

Another reason to not run red lights unless you stop and look. Bicyclist injured in downtown collision with Jeep This one turned out not so bad, but others that have run red lights have died…

LEO still haven’t charged the driver in a wreck that has left a cyclist in a coma for over a week. Investigation continues in wreck that injured bicyclist in Auburn What is taking so long? And why are they waiting for the cyclist to come out of his coma? Do they wait for the Second Coming before charging someone with murder so they know the intentions of the victim? I reported on how to avoid wrecks like this in my initial post on the wreck.

Some jocks do the right thing and get (justifiable) praise. Police praise CU athletes for helping seriously injured cyclist They single out the QB of the football team, but several varsity sports contributed in this effort. The volleyball player was the one that called 911, and one of the other football players went up the hill to get a trainer that was also trained in treating traumatic injuries. as for the wreck itself, it appears to be a hit-from-behind hit-and-run. The usual applies have a mirror and use it to keep cars from sneaking up on you, have an escape route at all times.

They are taking care of the cyclists involved in that horrible wreck in Canadia last month. Fundraiser to help buy bikes for injured cyclists The reason funds must be raised for this is the driver’s insurance doesn’t pay in cases of deliberate action, and it appears the insurance company is throwing the driver under the figurative bus on this one.

The Mayor of Louisville is celebrating non-motorized modes of transportation. Mayor Abramson reveals plans for Hike and Bike This sounds like a fun event, the Poet says do it if you have the time and are near enough.

If anyone ever needed a proof for the “safety in numbers” hypothesis, here it is. Graph of the Day: Bike Ridership and Casualties The number of cyclists went up more than 80% while the number of bike wrecks went down by almost half, meaning that there is now only 1/4^th the risk of getting hit while riding as there was 10 years ago. Still too high of a risk, but much, much better.

Anyone that knows me personally knows I don’t do the “e” word, “exercise”. I just ride my bike to get places, and if I happen to burn a few calories and have a little fun well we all have to make sacrifices for the greater good. Fitness: Bicycling benefits go beyond fitness We could all use a little of this kind of sacrifice…

And that’s the whole thing, lifestyle and wrecks.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Another low signal to noise ratio Feed

What appeared to be a large Feed turned out to be rather low on articles pertaining to this blog’s mission as the place to go for bicycle information not about racing. I mean one article in the Feed was about a transit strike in San Francisco, back in 1908. Interesting but not pertinent to what I do here, and there were a lot of articles like that (well not exactly like that) in the Feed.

One article I found was this good news about the cyclist hit by 2 crashing vehicles in pinball fashion in Edmonton AB, central Canuckistan. Injured cyclist showing signs of improvement Note that the report the cyclist wasn’t wearing a helmet has been refuted, he was hit so hard the helmet was removed from his head during the wreck (in pieces). At this point whatever additional injuries he has will have to wait until he regains some level of consciousness to evaluate if he has any spinal cord injuries. The ironic thing is they now know the SUV was traveling at an excessive rate of speed when he ran the red light and hit the other 2 vehicles, the full-sized Lincoln and the bicycle. Note that the impact was so violent that the Lincoln was actually the first vehicle that hit the cyclist, which then knocked the cyclist into the path of the SUV. It is unclear at what point in the wreck the cyclist’s helmet came off, but my back-channel contacts tell me that it was gone when he hit the SUV with his bare head. It should be also noted that neither occupant of the other 2 vehicles was wearing a helmet.

A case of assault with a deadly weapon in Portland OR. Bicyclist injured after vehicle drags him down NE Portland street This was initially reported as the cyclist assaulting the driver until actual witnesses reported things the LEO making the initial report made up from whole cloth. Why this happens, I don’t know. Why do cops make “stuff” up to make the victim of a violent crime look like a perpetrator of a violent crime?

A “driver” with no license or insurance hits a cyclist in MN. Bike rider injured This was another of those wrecks that the cyclist can’t avoid because the car driver doesn’t move until the cyclist is directly in front of him/her. The best you can do is just be aware of drivers in driveways and be ready to sacrifice the bike to save your life.

A cyclist in MI gets hit in a SWSS. Bicyclist Injured After Being Hit By Pickup Truck I still don’t know why they continue to believe this “stuff” over and over again. Where was the bicyclist before he was hit if he was moving in front of the truck suddenly? Or is this yet another inattentive driver saying “He came outta nowhere!” ? To avoid a similar wreck, usual hit from behind cautions and advice.

From the UK LEO are appealing for witnesses to a bicycle crash. Appeal made over injured cyclist If you’re one of my UK readers and you know something, call the contact in the report.

A drunk driver that killed a cyclist gets all but 2 years of his sentence suspended. Driver gets 2 years for cyclist’s death I really don’t know what the judge was thinking, except to blame the victim.

An editorial on reducing the number of dead and injured cyclists on the roads. EDITORIAL: Bicyclists, car drivers can steer to safety At least they didn’t mention getting bicycles off the roads, mostly just asking everybody to follow the rules of the road. They even mentioned that helmets will not prevent wrecks or prevent all head injury, just some head injury.

Bicycle infrastructure for people that don’t own bicycles where they need to ride bicycles. Need to make a quick trip? City trying out rent-a-bikes This is a needed addition to the infrastructure, needed as badly as rental cars.

My colleague at examiner.com calls the mayor of Baltimore out on bicycle safety. Politicycle: Baltimore’s Sheila Dixon Bicycle safety starts with the political will to accommodate bicycles on the road, which has been partially demonstrated in this case.

The legal infrastructure for bicycles gets a boost in LA. New laws — 293 of them — go into effect Saturday in Louisiana I wonder about 293 new laws, but the 3-foot passing law has been needed for a long time…

And that’s all I have today, now I’m going to watch Late Model Dirt cars and Outlaw Sprints on dirt, ’cause that’s the way I roll.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Heavy on the updates and irony, the Feed

Today’s Feed was extremely heavy on irony today, and pretty good with updates to previous wrecks. And as always I’m going to try to figure out how you can reasonably avoid some of the wrecks, and then keep it a secret. No, really I’m going to post it in the same paragraph as the link to the wreck in question. Most of the wrecks in today’s Feed are from north of the 42nd parallel (that’s in Canada) for some reason.

One wreck that wasn’t was a hit from behind wreck in OK. Phone distraction may be to blame in Shawnee cyclist death Now is there any question of why I turned down a free cell phone when I bought a cable, internet, and land line package, besides the fact that most of the time when I’m away from the house I don’t want to be contacted. Cell phones are evil when mixed with transportation, EEEVIIILLLLL. Hang up and drive, if you text don’t drive. Pay attention to things on the road when you drive. And for cyclists, pull over before you answer that phone. As to how to avoid, the standard advice on hit-from-behind wrecks applies here: watch your mirror, leave yourself an escape route and be ready to use it in an instant. And if you don’t have a mirror, Lady Ghisallo why not?! You wouldn’t drive a car without one why ride a bike that way? If cost is an issue try a Beer View Mirror

An off-road crash, and an example of why you should never ride off-road by yourself. Bicyclist hurt in fall down ravine in Chatham Twp. Always ride with a buddy while off-road, and both of you should have cell phones, but turned off while you ride.

I’m not sure at this point if being on a bicycle had anything to do with this death. Coroner’s officials identify bicyclist killed in shooting in El Monte If this was because of him being on a bicycle, that makes this similar to the shooting of a cyclist in Asheville last month. You remember that one where the firefighter shot a man in the helmet because he was carrying his 3 YO on a child’s seat on the back of his bike? Like I posted earlier, I don’t know if the victim being on a bicycle had anything to do with this, but as for how to avoid, shoot first, aim center mass of the shooter and repeat until he drops his weapon. If you wait until someone shoots first you will be too late. But you do have to wait until the shooter displays a weapon, just saying “I’m gonna pop a cap in yo’ ass” is not sufficient cause to fire. But to be honest try to avoid situations where someone has a gun.

Speaking of the devil, here’s a link on the subject of crazy people shooting at cyclists, from that very same city and referencing the incident. Mean streets

Going into the Great White North, Edmonton has its third bike wreck in less than 2 weeks. Cyclist injured in collision with van No details posted in the link at the time I created this post so if they update it you’ll know more than I do, most of the article was about the earlier wrecks.

Speking about the earlier wrecks, one of them had updates. Cyclist fighting for life And somewhat less respectful Injured Edmonton cyclist wasn’t wearing a helmet No, you are not going insane (well you might be but this is not a symptom) they really did blame the guy hit by two motor vehicles bouncing around after one ran a red light and hit the other, because he wasn’t wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle in the crosswalk. Not the guy speeding and running a red light, but the guy hit in the crosswalk. TANJ!

Another SWSS, not even Toronto LEO are immune from the disease. Cyclist, 20, injured in vehicle crash I get so tired of drivers hitting a cyclist from behind and then blaming the victim for being there. Standard hit-from-behind advice applies… over and over again… I looked the street up on Google maps, and the thing is a residential loop that is less than a quarter mile long going the entire length of the street, what was the driver going so fast for, to get to the stop sign at the end of the street first?

Still in the Great White North, a cyclist was hit from behind in Abbotsford, and another SWSS. Cyclist killed in Abbotsford crash “The information we’re getting so far is that [the cyclist] may have attempted to make a left turn not at an intersection, but immediately in front of the car.” The very definition of a SWSS. LEO are also saying that the driver was in a situation of impaired visibility, because of rain and pre-dawn darkness. The cyclist was also blamed for not having a blinky light or wearing a helmet. No word on what injuries the cyclist died from.

While we are discussing the situation in Canada, be aware of a recall on Burley trailers sold there. Kids’ bicycle trailers recalled over defective wheel You wouldn’t want your kids dumped in the road because of a defective wheel, would you?

Bus route changes force the move of a bike race that raises money for charity. Delaware’s longest running cycling event relocates to Claymont

Another article on the Peletonia ride. What Pelotonia aspires to be And this paper also compared the new ride to the PMC. Strange… And while we are on the subject just where did the word “peleton” used to describe a cooperative pack of cyclists come from?

Infrastructure news! The good kind, Yay! Four Years After Crash, a Cyclist Paves a Legacy According to Streetsblog, the facility isn’t finished, but it is usable now…

Opinions and *ssholes, we have a large supply of both in today’s Feed

A thousand pardons for the rude headline, but I’m in a bad mood today. My wife was at a wedding in NY over the weekend and was supposed to call me Sunday night and didn’t and I had heard about the helicopter that went down in the Hudson with a wedding party on board, and the wedding my wife was attending was right on the Hudson, you can see it from the front door of the facility. So naturally I was worried that I had lost my wife in a plane crash, only to discover that she had forgotten to call when I called her mother’s house this morning to find out what had happened. I get p*ssy when I get worried for no good reason. But on a happier note, Tony Stewart won in Watkins Glen, and I like Tony. I used to work for some of the drivers in what is now the Sprint Cup, and some of them are still active so I stay up on what goes down in that series. In case you were wondering why a car free guy like me follows car racing, well I wasn’t always car free. I like cars, and I like racing cars. I like racing cars a lot more than I like driving cars on the street, which became just another job I had to do back in the last decade of the 20^th century. I eventually decided that I could live without cars after learning how to get to work by bus. When my car quit running 5000 or so miles after hitting a chunk of rebar that had fallen in the road (broken crankshaft) and the cost to repair was more than the car was worth in trade with a working motor, I quit driving. Five years later I got a new bike and started using it to get to work, and started having fun commuting again. It wasn’t that I didn’t love cars any more, but rather that driving on the street was not fun, and riding the bike was fun. Fun>Not Fun.

We are having a lot of lifestyle stories in the middle of the week for some reason, so they are the bulk of today’s blog post, BikeJournal.com readers will only get the wrecks and will have to read the blog post to find the lifestyle stuff

A non-impaired driver wanders off the road, hits a cyclist and then a tree. Driver, bicyclist both injured He may not have been chemically or medically impaired, but something diminished his driving skills. Typical hit-from-behind except that because the driver continued off the road he cut off the cyclist’s escape route. There wasn’t anything in the article to suggest the cyclist tried to avoid the wreck except by his lane position, but even if he had been actively avoiding the wreck by diving for the ditch as I posted earlier this was not an avoidable wreck.

This was a bad week for pinball wrecks, first the one in LI NY, now one in Canuckistan. Edmonton cyclist critically injured after crashing cars plow into him Pinball wrecks are another class of wreck that can’t be avoided by mere mortals. It requires that the cyclist not be there to be hit, a level of ESP that most humans can only wonder about. The pictures from the wreck scene show where the cyclist hit the windshield of the Mazda that ran the red light. It also showed the red light was run a considerable period of time after it had changed as the cyclist was hit well out into the street in the crosswalk.

In Canadia a man wanders out of the bike lane and is nearly killed for the transgression. ETOBICOKE: Cyclist critically injured The man was trying to see a child behind him on another bicycle and failed to keep his own bike under control. This is another reason to have a rear view mirror on glasses or your helmet should you not need glasses.

A man goes on a long bike ride from FL and winds up in OH. Man’s great bicycle adventure stops here The man crossed the southernmost extent of the Appalachian Mountains, which apparently are much less severe than the more northerly sections. Geologically the extreme southern end of the Appalachians are the FL Keys, and we all know about the “hills” in FL.

Some people want cyclists to be role models. Role models wanted Apparently nobody told him that most cyclists obey most if not all traffic laws that apply to them, and nobody ever sees them. Cyclists obeying the laws are invisible until struck by a motor vehicle, but break a law and everybody can suddenly see you ride a bike.

Someone in Dallas “gets” it. Share the road with cyclists We all pay for the roads, and bicycles do no damage to them, especially compared to semi tractor trailers. It would take 160 million bicycles to do the same damage to a road as a single semi loaded to the legal maximum, if the bicycles weighed 50 pounds and were being ridden by 300 pound tubs o’ lard, or conversely were loaded to the gills for a bike tour with a “normal” sized rider.

They’re having bike problems in Canadia. A bad week for bicycles: ‘We need to tell people, smarten up’ Hey, I say that all the time… Plagarists

A comparison between a new charity ride and a well-established one. What Pelotonia aspires to be: the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Pelotonia is a new ride this year, the PMC is a 30 year old event.

And someone needs to actually go out and try to buy this before telling the cyclists we need to get it. Insurance 101: Why bicycle insurance is necessary Bicycle insurance without a car is impossible to get in TX, if you have car insurance you can get a rider that covers you on your bike, but for the car free, there’s nothing.

And that’s everything today, now I have to do some more work on Gigi to make her work better.

Billed @$.02, Opus

And the holiday bike wrecks are in, from the UK?

The expected big Feed from the Fourth of July holiday is coming in, but the wrecks are mostly UK (!?) Why would people in the UK be out on the roads in large numbers besides it just being summer with (relatively) warm weather? There are still no more wreck reports from the US than any “normal” summer weekend.

A 90 YO CA cyclist is still alive after being hit by a pickup truck. UPDATE: Visalia bicycle rider, 90, still listed in criticial condition in Fresno hospital after being struck by pickup truck in north Visalia Good for the guy still being active at the age of 90, not so good for apparently cutting the guy in the pickup truck off. Since I don’t know the area I can’t say anything about the sight lines at the intersection or traffic signals at the intersection, but looking at Google Street View tells me there wasn’t a stop sign on Collins although I couldn’t get the pan up function to work to show me a stop light. I didn’t see anything in the Street View that would make me think there was a stop light at the intersection. So at this point there is nothing I could find out about the actual wreck that would make me think the cyclist was solely at fault.

A cyclist is hit-and-run in the deadliest state for cyclists and police say “no big deal”. Bicyclist Injured In Hit-And-Run Actually the quote was “If he would have stopped, troopers said he would not face any charges.” because hitting a cyclist in FL is mostly a matter of getting the paperwork right. And there must be some kind of issue with Google Maps because now I can’t see anything on Street View. Zooming in on the intersection I do see a bike lane on the west bound side of Americana but nothing but 3 lanes in each direction for the other street. And because the only witnesses for the wreck are semi-conscious or on the lam, police are saying the wreck was the fault of the cyclist, except for the fact that the driver abandoned the vehicle at the wreck and fled on foot.

Another kid hit with a car, this time in CT. Eight-Year-Old Boy in Serious Condition After Bicycle Accident “Branford Police Department accident re-constructionists have conducted an investigation with the assistance of East Haven Police Department and determined that the injured boy was not wearing a bicycle helmet.” So therefore the wreck was the kid’s fault? I’m not following the logic on this one. Nothing on who had the right of way in the intersection, just the kid was not wearing a helmet. TANJ! Unfortunately there were trees in the Google Maps images that prevented me from seeing if there was a stop sign in either direction.

A cyclist is killed by a woman wielding a motor vehicle, and LEO call it a “tragic accident”. Bicyclist, 60, killed by car in Blaine I’m sure if the woman had been using any other kind of weapon to kill someone besides a motor vehicle it would not have been a “tragic accident”. This was another report on the Blaine man killed last week.

Another report on the left cross wreck that killed a man in Bremerton WA. A 69 YEAR OLD BICYCLIST WAS FATALLY INJURED IN A COLLISION AT A RURAL INTERSECTION This report completely absolves the driver of any blame for turning in to the cyclist and killing him. This thing makes me so angry, because if the driver had turned her car in to another car and killed the driver it would have been her fault without a doubt, but because the victim was riding a bicycle it was just another “accident”.

The 4th of July wrecks in VA included one of us as this summary reveals. 10 Reported Deaths Resulting from Holiday Traffic Crashes Nothing usable here except statistics, if you need statistics. Notice they talk a lot about seat belts and helmets…

A cyclist injured in Canadia isn’t dead (insert Monty Python skit from Holy Grail) “I feel happy!” Injured cyclist not dead; police correct misinformation Not to make light, but any halfway good news about a cyclist getting hit by or with a motor vehicle makes me a bit Giddy. And that’s all I can say about this one, except the guy that got hit must be as ornery a cuss as I am to survive being hit by what is basically a bus-sized vehicle. I took a look at the intersection with my favorite forensic tool and found there is a traffic signal on the street, but since there was no report that the cyclist was running the red light I’m going to go with the RV being at fault here until more evidence is brought forth.

The rest of the wrecks are from the UK with all the attending levels of detail. You know how much I love the UK media laws.

A man is killed in a hit from behind. Updated: Police name cyclist killed in crash There are advantages in having gone through close to 4000 reports on bicycle wrecks and also being psychic, I can recognize a hit from behind wreck when the evidence presents itself, even evidence as sparse as this. Because the report is so sparse I can’t tell you specifically how to avoid this type of wreck other than the standard, “Keep your attention split front and rear and always leave yourself an escape route.”

Another hit-and-run on another cyclist. Cyclist injured in hit and run Unfortunately not enough information because of lack of evidence at the scene of the crime. Other than this being another hit from behind, there was nothing on the vehicle involved or even the color. As before standard admonishments about hit from behind wrecks apply.

A pop-up gate with a little too much “pop” injures a cyclist. Injured cyclist taking Yorkshire Water to court I love a country where “sovereign immunity” is just a phrase of language, not a criminal defense. Now how to avoid a similar wreck, well that’s what the lawsuit is about.

Another typical UK wreck report. Woman cyclist killed in Stanwell is named Other than the fact that the deceased cyclist was American, there really isn’t much to hold the interest here. Did I mention that I loathe UK media laws? I did? As long as you know then.

And another elderly UK cyclist is hit. Cyclist killed in Belbroughton named Apparently LEO has little to go on in this case and request any witnesses that saw anything before the actual impact please come forward. I find it interesting that so many adult cyclists are getting hit in the UK, even more than the US.

Back in the US a large number of Jewish professionals get together at the crack of dawn to go for a bike ride. Their life cycles And I’m not being anti-Semitic, that’s just the makeup of the group riding their bikes. Me, personally, I don’t care what color you are, or what religion, or your dietary restrictions, so long as you ride a bicycle, you are one of my brothers, except when you’re a sister

And the deadliest state in the US for cyclists ponders why cyclists ride scared? Two wheels vs. four After reading the comments section it’s no wonder that FL kills more cyclists per capita than any other state in the country. One thing that is a problem was that FL was one of the states that made wrong-way cycling the law back 30-40 years ago, and many people did not get the message that the law requires riding with traffic now, and that includes most of the drivers who resent the presence of cyclists on “their” roads. I would say from reading the comments that drivers that don’t know bicycles have the right to the roads, unlike the limited and revocable privilege of motor vehicle drivers.

And that’s the whole mess.

Billed @$.02, Opus

After a fruitless search for fireworks, the Feed

I went out on a search for fireworks within easy cycling distance, but was unable to locate any displays. The economy is such this year that rather than fire some cops that desperately needed firing the city decided to cancel the fireworks display. You might think I hold animosity towards the men in blue, but that isn’t true. I only despise the ones that have personally caused me harm by failure to follow the law and investigate the guy that tried to kill me. Fortunately for them my brain damage plus previous psychological harm caused in my childhood has prevented me from remembering the names of the officers that caused me harm, which prevents me from cursing their lines to the 7th generation. So until somebody reminds me of their names, they and their descendants are safe from disfiguring skin diseases, humpback, halitosis, and speech impediments. But I really miss going to see fireworks.

Up first is an infrastructure story related to the cyclists killed last week in Ocean City MD. Route 50 Bridge Biking Questions Raised Apparently the anglers don’t want to share with the pedestrians, who don’t want to share with the cyclists, who are scared to death to share with the motor vehicles and can’t get around the anglers in the protected part of the bridge. Everybody wants their own separate part of the bridge and doesn’t want to share it with anyone else, and cyclists are getting killed because of it.

A Portland civil rights activist is killed while attending a conference in VA. UPDATED: Bicyclist killed on Virginia Tech campus identified and Friends remember bicyclist killed on Virginia Tech’s campus also Cyclist killed at Virginia Tech remembered for devotion to activism Still nothing certain about the wreck except that it happened. Nothing about any stop signs, who they might have affected, speed limits (apparently this was an area where the speed limit was low enough and the road steep enough to make exceeding the speed limit on a bicycle possible) or anything else except the sight line was known to be clear.

We are finding out more about the victim of an impaired driver in Lost Wages. Fatal bicycle crash victim identified He was a retired military man, and was operating his cycle with all legally required lights and reflectors, even though it was still light out at the time of the wreck. For those who might have a hard time placing this one, the driver was so intoxicated they had to hold his head up to take his mug shot. Preliminary reports say he may have had multiple drugs and alcohol in his system when he killed the cyclist.

Another reason to ride out in the traffic lane where people can see you. Bicyclist killed in Fayetteville wreck The cyclist was struck by 2 vehicles while hugging the curb. If there ever was an endorsement of Vehicular Cycling, this is it.

The cyclist killed this week in Seattle touched many lives and had a positive effect on many more. More on the cyclist killed Wednesday in Seattle and Friend: Cyclist killed in Seattle ‘would know and touch every life’ also Bicyclist killed Wednesday night is identified and video of the wreck investigation Raw: Seattle cyclist struck and killed The video is very disturbing with clear pictures of the victim’s bicycle crushed under the car that killed him.

An OR cyclist on a trans-continental bike ride is the victim of a hit-and-run in ND. Cyclist injured in hit and run Actually from the victims’ descriptions I wouldn’t call it hit-and-run but assault with a deadly weapon and attempted homicide. The vehicle swerved from the far inside lane to the shoulder of the road to hit 2 of the group.

A LI NY teen is hit by a drunk driver. Alcohol Blamed in Crash That Injured Teen Bicyclist Apparently the driver of the SUV hit the cyclist from behind and was under the influence of alcohol. Which seems to be a common thread in many of the other headlines in today’s paper…

We lost another LEO on a bike, and we need all that we can get. Bicyclist killed in Pompey crash and Veteran state trooper killed in Pompey car-bicycle crash The second link was consolidated from a number of different links when I first filtered the Feed, when I got to this story, they were all the same report. The driver went off the road and hit the State Trooper riding on the side of the road, cell phone use suspected. I don’t know that LEO suspect cell phone usage but a large number of the people making comments sure did.

Another Tucson rider killed. Tucson police identify cyclist killed Thursday From the description the cyclist was getting ready to make a left turn and was hit from behind.

Bakersfield CA riders are up in arms about losing one of their own to a drunk driver. Bike Riders Remember Fallen Friend Killed By Alleged Drunk Driver and Dozens participate in memorial ride for cyclist and finally Is Bakersfield a safe place to ride a bicycle? If you look at it rationally there is no city that is truly safe to ride a bicycle, until you either get rid of all the drunks or get rid of all the cars. We have had drunks since the discovery of fermented beverages, back in the earliest days of agriculture, but we have only had cars a little over 100 years. I think it will be easier to get rid of the cars than drunks, but I hold little hope on either front in my lifetime. But even if we somehow manage to get rids of all the drunks but keep the cars cyclists will still be in peril until and unless there is a way to screen out psychotics and sociopaths from ever driving, because of the destructive potential of the motor vehicle.

A Canuckistan cyclist is killed. Elderly cyclist killed on Barton That’s another thing, even when you get rid of the psycho- and sociopaths, you still have people that get killed because someone didn’t pay attention.

And finally some people are really nice. Bicyclists find hospitality during cross-country adventure A tire blows out on your bicycle while you’re eating dinner and Good Samaritans come out of the woodwork, there are times when I love MO.

Sorry it was so late.

Billed @$.02, Opus

More death and destruction, the Feed

I’m having a hard time coming up with a suitable opening paragraph for today, because my Inner Cynic is trying to take over. I keep coming up with lines like “Large numbers of humans are stupid and proved it today.” Or “The bottom of the bell curve came through again today.” Or ” Safety innovations have only increased the number of stupid people.” That last one wasn’t original with me, there’s a study out there somewhere on the Web that “proves” the introduction of passive passenger protection has lowered the IQ of the nation perceptibly. It has a plausible premise, in that active safety that requires thought and planning, like seat belts and shoulder harnesses, will weed out people that are too stupid to use them, but passive safety that only requires the passenger be in a car equipped with the devices allows stupid and bright people both to survive, especially when they are required by law to be installed on the vehicles. Any way, today’s Feed has put me in a bad mood and I hope the advice and commentary does not suffer for it.

Up first is a wreck in the UK, notable not because of the wreck but because the decedent was an experienced cyclist and continues a puzzling trend in London of killing female cyclists. Cyclist killed by lorry at Oval Tube named as Catriona Cockburn Seven cyclists have been killed by semis in London this year, and six of those were women. Given the statistical breakdown in London cyclists it should have been the other way around, if 7 cyclists were killed then 5 of them should have been male. And this is not just a blip in the results, last year had a similar ratio of female cyclists killed by “HGV”, even as far back as 2004 female cyclists were over-represented in fatalities. I have no answer for that as I was not the first to notice, and have no suggestions on how to fix it. All I can do is bring it to people’s attention, which I have just done. Now one of you readers have been given a challenge: “Why are female cyclists so drastically over-represented in fatal wrecks in London? What can be done to correct this?”

A cyclist was hit and killed with a motor vehicle in Blaine, MN. Bicyclist killed in Blaine and Bicyclist killed in Blaine I can’t figure out if the cyclist cut the car driver off or if the driver got impatient and hit the cyclist from behind while trying to pass. From the articles either conclusion is valid.

A teen-age cyclist weaving through traffic gets clobbered but will survive. Bicyclist injured in accident WI is in the same general area as MN right? Close enough. Anyway, what this kid did wrong was to not be predictable while riding, and not making himself visible. cutting in between trucks hides you from view much of the time, except maybe to the truck driver stuck in traffic while you dodge around him. Ride a straight a path as the road will allow and stay in your lane. It’s boring, but it will keep you alive. If you need exciting, go to a velodrome, or some tight technical singletrack mountain bike trail. Don’t get your adrenaline rush out on the roads.

Apparently this report on a Seattle wreck was outsourced to a UK media firm. Seattle bike rider struck and killed and with a little more information Bicyclist killed in collision in Seattle Well it seems at least the driver was thought to be at fault here, as police transported him for testing for DUI. But beyond that I can’t tell you how to avoid a similar wreck.

More on the AK rider killed this week. Police identify bicyclist killed in wreck and also Bicyclist killed in accident may have been using cell phone A person that claimed to be a witness to the wreck posted the cyclist was hopping up and down on the bike and just took off into the traffic. I don’t know if that’s true, but it is a really good way to get yourself killed. Comments from the second article say he may have been “Special Needs”.

More on the CA rider killed on a double century charity ride. Bear Valley cyclist killed in Malibu during long ride
Suspected DUI driver faces three felonies More information about the wreck and more about the guy that was killed. The guy that hit him and his son is facing 3 felony counts from the wreck.

Another SWCC wreck in SC. Bicyclist killed by car in Ladson Since there were only 2 people that saw the wreck and one of them is dead, it’s kinda hard to say what really happened in this wreck…

A cyclist is killed by a garbage truck driver in a right hook. Bicyclist Killed by Garbage Truck in Fresno [sarcasm]And of course we all know that a cyclist killed by a municipal vehicle while riding next to the roads is responsible for his own death.[/sarcasm] The truck seems to have cut the corner and then the cyclist and his bike were dragged into the intersection before the truck could stop. I don’t know how to avoid something like this when you are not even on the road surface to begin with.

The major peril of sidewalk riding. Cyclist injured in collision Even when you are riding on the sidewalk away from cars, you still have to cross the street. And when you do you are coming from a place where car drivers don’t look.

A request that drivers stop assaulting and verbally harassing cyclists. Drivers: Leave the bike riders alone You can ask nicely all you want, until cops start arresting people for this illegal behavior it won’t stop.

And a “sky is falling” report on allowing small amounts of lead to make brake and shifter cables for bicycles. Lead In Children’s Bicycles OK Rules Consumer Product Safety Commission Really, allowing small amounts of lead in the brake and shifter cables is going to cause widespread lead poisoning? These people need to get a life, and then find something useful to do with it. Of course someone could say the same thing about me, but the lethality of motor vehicles in wrecks with bicycles is well documented. The number of lead poisoning cases caused by contact with the brake cables of a bicycle are documented on the fingers of my left tongue.

And that’s the Feed for today. Biting sarcasm and scathing social commentary are just another of the free services provided by this website.

Billed @$.02, Opus