Making another stab at mule duty, and the Feed

Well we had another snafu for grocery shopping yesterday as Mrs. the Poet had to go with a friend to the vet when her friend’s cat had to be put down. This was a cat that we gave to the friend when he was just a tiny kitten full of mischief and kitten hijinks. He had some kind of kidney problems that developed about 4 years ago and got worse and worse. He passed a kidney stone a few days ago then started bleeding yesterday and the vet couldn’t stop the bleeding so he was going to be dead at the end of the day no matter what course of treatment our friend decided on. RIP Boots.

I have been getting lots of response to the contest from artists of varying degrees of fame and ability, and those attributes are only slightly linked. I have had some submissions that were from a well-established artist, but who could not work outside their established style and sent some really bad tattoos, and I have gotten stuff from unknown artists that looks really good. I have also gotten stuff from established artists that looks really good too, even way outside their established styles. Keep those submissions coming, you have through the end of May.

A cyclist is hit twice by cars in NYC. Cyclist killed after being struck twice and Bicyclist Struck Twice, Killed On New Utrecht Avenue At this time nobody knows exactly what happened but given that the first vehicle that struck the cyclist was on an intersecting road, and the second vehicle was going the opposite direction on the same road as the cyclist it seems highly likely that the first weapon vehicle was disregarding a traffic control ran a red light.

SF is still 100% in prosecuting cyclists that kill pedestrians. San Francisco Cyclist Must Stand Trial in Pedestrian’s Death In the meantime there were 20 pedestrians killed by motor vehicles in the same year with zero prosecution, more than 50 since the first cyclist killed a pedestrian with maybe 4 prosecutions for the drivers involved and no felony charges, more than a hundred since the turn of the century with less than 10% charged and almost none brought to trial. I’m not saying the cyclist shouldn’t have been tried, I’m saying a whole lot more driver should have been. Of the pedestrian deaths where charges have been brought only 2 deaths involved vehicle operators who were not impaired, the two cyclists.

From the UK a cyclist is hit by road junk off another vehicle. Cyclist injured by flying debris in Normandy Forty minutes waiting in line to get told to make a U-turn? And how big a piece/what kind of road junk could fly up from a car and send a cyclist to hospital? I had a piece of rebar break the crankshaft of my last car, so it’s not like I haven’t seen similar circumstances myself.

Infrastructure! news from L.A. A tax on bikes? Hit the road, some cyclists say As was pointed out in the article a tax based on the demands placed on the roads in terms of both space and wear by bicycles would not even be a rounding error in most road projects, and cyclists already pay disproportionately without another tax. But given that alternative fuels and electric cars are going to bypass the largest source of roads funding outside of the general fund, something needs to be done, and I have no qualms about an equitable share of the sourcing coming from bike owners. The key word in that sentence is “equitable” as cars use 10 or more times the space on the roads compared to bikes (you could easily get 6 bike lanes in the space required to have 2 lanes for cars, and put more bikes per lane), and cars chew up the roads at a rate at least 1000 times faster (a Smart car does 1100 times the damage as a moderately loaded cargo bike), so capital recovery (building bike lanes and paths) would be 1/10 of a similarly priced car and maintenance would be scant pennies compared to motor vehicle taxes. And if bikes are taxed then no more piddling stripes painted on existing roads with little or nothing else to show for it, we would need real bike facilities (see: Dutch cycling infrastructure). As I see it the existing roads would be just fine if it wasn’t for the cars making the roads so dangerous, Bike infrastructure is mostly to get bikes out of the way of cars in this country, not to improve bike safety. The fact that good bike lanes do both is a happy circumstance for traffic planners. But good bike lanes are crappy design by Dutch standards, so there you go.

Infrastructure in MI. Michigan To Wisconsin Trail, Proposed 924-Mile Bike and Hiking Route, Moves Forward There is a significant section of the proposed trail that is currently closed to bikes, a bike trail that is closed to bikes? Are changes planned for those existing portions of the trail?

Infrastructure in Israel. Nir Ben Natan exclusively invited to imagine bicycle bridge for Givat Shumel, Israel The bridge would allow cyclists to cross the busy highway where it enters the town, I’m assuming because there isn’t anything in the way of bikeable infrastructure outside of town.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Lots of fun today, and the Feed

I have lots of running around to do today after the blog post is done, with checks to deposit, bills to pay, people to catch up on… So there will be as little extraneous verbage as possible in the post today.

A Canuckistani cyclist confirms anti-cyclist bias. Cyclist injured after running red light Intersection protocols apply the most applicable one being to NOT RUN RED LIGHTS! And in most cases like this infrastructure would help if the cyclist could follow traffic signals.

From the UK a cyclist is injured when a car leaves the road. Cyclist injured after car mounts curb in Walker When the motor vehicle takes all the road and a chunk of the sidewalk (pavement in the UK) there isn’t much option for a cyclist to avoid a wreck.

And in VA the last bill in their legislature intended to protect cyclists an other vulnerable users dies a lonely death. Last bicycle tailgating bill dies in Virginia House A simple bill that makes riding the backside of a cyclist as illegal as riding the backside of a farmer on a tractor can’t pass in VA.

A PA bike shop has a special sales area and staff dedicated to the female cyclist, and special events for them as well. Pink Mechanic opens options for female cyclists

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Forgot to mention we had another visit from the snow fairy yesterday, and the Feed

I didn’t think much of it yesterday because by the time we got out the roads were clear, but there was a major winter weather event here in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell yesterday. I didn’t find out how bad it got until I read the paper this morning and saw the pictures of all the wrecked cars as bridges and overpasses turned from roads to ice rinks in minutes. And did I mention that Texas drivers have no concept of reduced traction in inclement weather? Well most don’t, and they get the chance to experience it so infrequently that when they do get the lesson it doesn’t get a chance to stick. I used to race cars on ice in Utah, and used those skills to deliver pizza in conditions that had local police stuck when I lived in TN (it was funny driving my little FWD econobox past Jeeps stuck in ditches while delivering pizza) so I understand the concept of the traction circle and the need to drive according to conditions and use smooth control inputs as traction is reduced. When I mention those concepts to most locals I get glazed expressions to go with the glazed streets.

Up first and only slightly bicycle-related, a woman in Belgium drives 900 miles and several international borders out of her way to a friend’s house because of a wrong turn from her GPS. Sabine Moreau, Belgian Woman, Drives 900 Miles Off 90-Mile Route Because Of GPS Error How this story relates to bicycles is that people get so fixated on following the damned GPS that they forget their common sense, sometimes including paying attention to the road. This woman was following a round-the-world course from her GPS instead of pushing the button for a new course that made more sense. People will fixate on their GPS instead of looking out the windshield to see where they are going and in the process run over cyclists that should have been plainly visible in front of them.

A CA wreck with very little in the way of information at the moment. Female Cyclist Seriously Injured in Long Beach Crash I’ll keep tracking this one to see if I can find out more. And here’s more Bicyclist killed in collision with car in Long Beach and Bicyclist Hit, Killed By Minivan In Long Beach also East Long Beach Traffic Accident Kills Bicyclist Right now this is being reported as a cyclist runs a red light wreck, but the only witness as to who had the red or green was the driver of the minivan… Intersection wreck, use the protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Update on the hit-and-run in NYC. Cyclist In Critical Condition From Hit & Run Is Construction Worker Who Builds Bikes OK this just became personal for me because the victim and I share a common hobby/business. And I like the comment made by “edgie” that explains so much about the lackluster investigations performed by NYPD when people are killed with motor vehicles.

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike, a killer driver faces sentencing. Driver in Rickenbacker Causeway cyclist death to be sentenced Pity that hanging, drawing and quartering were not on the table as punishment.

From one of my FB friends an article on riding in weather Texans wouldn’t drive in. (Yes, that’s another dig at TX) Ride On Layers, and warm gloves. Keep warm and you’ll find that many days you thought were not ridable are just fine. Icy roads are a different matter, I’m making some studded tires to mount on a spare wheel for that situation.

And those are all the links I could find today, I hope you enjoyed them or found something worth while.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Finally able to focus, and the Feed

I have had a decent night’s sleep, the right amount and kinds of food, some human companionship and there is an almost full pot of coffee sitting in the kitchen. I think I’m ready to get focused on the blog and do some writing.

Up first, a single FL city is killing more pedestrians and cyclists than any of the bottom 5 states in the NHTSA 2011 traffic statistics. 28 pedestrians, 9 bicyclists killed in Jacksonville in 2012 There has to be something in the water as only 20% of the pedestrians killed are at fault, while previous studies showed that drivers were at fault in 60% of the cyclists killed. This is a combination of poor infrastructure and bad drivers creating a perfect storm of deadly conditions for people not in cars, and it’s even worse for pedestrians than it is for those of us riding bicycles. I see 2 possible solutions to this situation: fix the infrastructure, or drastically raise the minimum standards for drivers with no grandfathering allowed. Neither is going to be popular, and in the short run it’s a tossup as to which will cost more. Long term fixing and maintaining the infrastructure will be more expensive, but if you just keep bad drivers from driving then you have to provide alternate means for those people to get around which gets back to infrastructure again.

The city that WoaB is in a suburb of has placed an ordinance making it a crime to threaten or intimidate cyclists with a motor vehicle up for final vote. New protections for bicyclists on Dallas roads should win council’s OK today OK if Dallas (aka “Hell”) can do this, any city can do this. Can, should, and MUST do this. The good part is they made it a violation that kicks in regardless of intention, drivers don’t have to intend to make life dangerous for cyclists for it to be a violation of this law, just like there is no need to show intent to speed for it to be a violation.

A right hook in Boston. It looks like there will be more links tacked on the end of this paragraph as I get farther into the feed. BU Student On Bike Killed In Crash With Tractor Trailer The truck made a right turn from the left lane crossing the bike lane while the cyclist was riding in it. This was another wreck that would take supernatural reflexes to avoid and one that I place 100% of the cause on the driver of the semi. Intersection protocols might have saved the cyclist’s life, getting the infrastructure right would have prevented the wreck. More Fatally Injured Cyclist was 23-Year-Old BU Student and Cyclist killed in collision with truck in Boston Also BU student killed in crash on Commonwealth Ave. in Allston; fifth biker killed in Boston this year more Boston University student killed in bicycle accident

Another hit-and-run in UT. Bicyclist killed in hit-and-run accident in Salt Lake City No mode given, but it is a fair guess that this was an intersection wreck of some kind given the location. Making hit-and-run a major felony with penalties equal to DUI manslaughter or DUI homicide (depending on the state) would go a long way to preventing the driver leaving the scene, getting the infrastructure right to keep cyclists separated from motor vehicles in both time and space (Dutch model) would prevent the wreck in the first place.

A CA hit-and-run. Cyclist Injured in Hit and Run Hit-from-behind in the most literal sense, this should be treated as an attempted murder for the investigation phase. Protocols to avoid, infrastructure to prevent, including strict laws that make hit-and-run a serious felony on a par with DUI manslaughter or homicide (see previous paragraph).

Still in CA, a single-vehicle bike wreck. Update: Newark Man Killed in Bicycle Crash Near Fremont The cause of the wreck remains unknown at this posting. More Niles Canyon Road cyclist killed when bike hits rock

A cyclist is hit from behind in NYC, “no criminality suspected”. Bicyclist Killed at Aqueduct Racetrack: Police Not much to go on here except the failure to list an intersection makes this an almost-sure hit-from-behind wreck. First and foremost to prevent a similar wreck is to make the NYPD actually investigate wrecks as required by NY state laws so that exactly what caused the wreck can be fixed.

Another wreck in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike now for 9 years running. Bicyclist hit by SUV, seriously hurt Again with the “witnesses” saying the cyclist ran a red, and I wonder how many of them were not in the SUV that hit the cyclist… Intersection wreck, use the protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Update on a cyclist who was hit head on by a car that crossed the centerline and several lanes of traffic to hit the cyclist riding on the shoulder of the road in WA. Driver who killed cyclist may have been texting Texting is as bad as driving drunk, and much easier to prevent, IMHO. Just stop texting when you drive. If people can’t do that on their own then a technological fix needs to be implemented that prevents texts from being sent or read when the phone is moving faster than a quick jog. With GPS now being required an all new phones this should be a quick software update propagated by the same system used to make phones unreliable after 2 years…

A cyclist in far West Canuckistan gets left crossed. Cyclist injured in Colwood intersection crash this morning I don’t see what investigating is required, the cyclist was riding through on a green light, the car turned left violating his right of way, very simple and un-complicated. Intersection protocols to avoid, infrastructure to prevent.

An Enn Zed wreck story reaches closure, but not the end. Cyclist still mending months after accident The driver was 10 weeks pregnant at the time of the wreck, and had a 6 week old baby at the trial.

More death in Enn Zed. Elderly cyclist killed in Taupo From what was published, this appears to be a SWSS wreck. Hit-from-behind protocol to avoid, get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A rare link from the UK as a killer driver gets banned from driving for a year… Driver killed A1 cyclist “Both prosecution and defence debated whether Mr Warrington should have been on the A1 in the dark at 4am, but concluded that the law allowed him to be.” And we still have a very long way to go… >sigh<

Also from the UK, a driver is charged with manslaughter after giving a cyclist the "door prize". Driver ‘killed cyclist, Sam Harding, by recklessly opening door’

Infrastructure! news from OK. Bicycle riders want a share in the next Fix Our Streets campaign The nerve of cyclists wanting a safe place to ride!

Infrastructure news from the UK. Renewed calls for action after Cyclist killed on one of Britain’s most dangerous roads This road has been on the radar as a dangerous place to drive or ride a bike for years with a 2010 report making this officially a “black spot”, and they are just now getting around to doing something about it after it killed a cyclist? I think this qualifies as “corporate manslaughter” if anything in the UK does.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Not sure if I’m crying because of allergies or what, and the Feed

I’m experiencing something I never did before. My eyes will start watering uncontrollably, but I’m not experiencing any particularly strong emotion at the time. I have all the physical manifestations of crying, but none of the emotional ones. It’s really weird, I get tears or something like them, runny nose, red eyes. and I’m just not doing much of anything real emotional. Last night it happened while I was working with Mentor’s Circle to help get next Sunday’s morning and evening services assembled on the subject of “thankfulness”. It also happened a couple times while I was composing yesterday’s blog post. The closest I came to any strong emotion when I was doing the blog post is Righteous Anger, which for me is about a 3 on a scale of 10 as far as my emotions go. Someone at Mentor’s Circle last night asked if it might be a reaction to stress, which is a good possibility as things have been very stressful lately. Dad dying is only the most recent and most public of the stressors I have been facing. Incidentally the only time I ever hit 10 on the emotional scale of intensity was the time I was hit by the pickup truck passing me on the right as I rolled to a red light.

Up first and the only non-UK link so far today is a report on a cyclist that ran a red light in CA. Injured Bicyclist I trust this reporter assuming this is the same Urban Hikers that regularly comments on Streetsblog. The report is the cyclist entered the intersection after the light had changed, as recorded on video from a nearby store camera that had a clear view of the intersection and the lights. Obviously to avoid a wreck like this use intersection protocols, especially the one about not running the red or yellow. I’m not sure infrastructure could fix this one, as what would be in place in this location would be a cycle track with a separate light phase for bicycle traffic. This cyclist ignored the red light when there were cars coming, I don’t think that a separate light phase for bicycles would garner any more compliance.

Grim statistics from just down the road in Austin. Auto-pedestrian deaths in Austin reach a record high They’re mowing down pedestrian and cyclists at rates not seen since the Great Depression. As I keep telling people, the reason that driver and passenger deaths are going down is because of better cars, the drivers are still wrecking as much as always but the cars make what had been deadly wrecks something you can walk away from now.

A fatal wreck that is still under investigation in the Great White North. Cyclist Killed in St. Clair Township Many local LEO are still woefully unprepared for investigating a bicycle/motor vehicle wreck. As of now they still don’t know the direction of travel for the cyclist, and so don’t know the mode of the wreck. Until they get that figured out I can’t tell you how to avoid this kind of wreck.

Another mass batch of links to the cyclist hit by a truck in Enn Zed. Dunedin cyclist named and Uni lecturer killed in Dunedin also Cyclist killed in Dunedin named more Students mourn lecturer killed on bike and finally Cyclist killed outside Dunedin Hospital named Nothing new on the wreck, but tons of info on the victim.

A link that I still don’t understand how it got in the Feed but is pertinent to this blog because it is about a major fuel source for cyclists on the roads. Twinkies Good, Unions Bad, The Whole Story Yes those little lard bombs are vital for a long-distance cyclist to maintain energy levels at a minimum of digestive issues (but more digestive issues since they started using HFCS as a sweetener instead of pure sucrose), and I have consumed many a Twinkie as I crossed the highways of north central and far north Texas.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

My new piece of winter gear is almost finished, and the Feed

I have been building a piece of gear that will both keep my face warm and keep my glasses clear when I’m riding this winter. Since I be P’ (too impoverished to buy a vowel to be po’) I only had one shot at making this right. I think I have a workable device now, or will have as soon as I find something to use to install the baffles into the mask. One of the people at church has a cement that supposedly sticks to plastic and PU foam and has a fairly good bond strength and long life so that should work for keeping the baffles in place. What I was doing last night was adding some color to the mask to make it less frightening. Mrs. the Poet said I look like a low-rent version of Darth Vader, while some of the people at church said it makes me look like Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs. So to dispel any more movie villain comparisons, I added some simple painted decorations to the severe-looking solid black. I went with a flame motif, that I was so warm that I was breathing fire, and had flames from where my mouth and nose are under the mask. The nose flames I made look like a wild moustache, while the mouth flame looks more like a goatee. From a few feet away they look quite nice and not at all like Mike Meyers, Hannibal Lecter, or Darth Vader. After I get the mask finished I will get some pictures made and posted in a Sunday post.

Up first a cyclist is hit-and-run by a dump truck in Seattle. Cyclist critically injured by hit-and-run truck The description of the wreck makes it possible to be either a buzz job or a right hook. Intersection wreck, use the protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right so that a man on a bicycle isn’t forced to contend for road space with a dump truck that weighs more than 10 tons empty. More SPD Detectives Search for Dump Truck That Critically Injured Cyclist This Morning This link makes it quite plain that the cyclist was right-hooked.

Another blind WA driver kills another cyclist. Bicyclist killed in crash with truck in Marysville Cyclist riding legally in the road gets hit from behind by a driver that wasn’t looking where he was going and they don’t even give the driver a ticket? TANJ!

Insult is added to injury as the driver of the vehicle that hit-and-run a cyclist also takes his bike. Cyclist injured in Presidio hit-and-run also loses mountain bike The weapon vehicle is reported to be a black Porsche Cayenne SUV. “If caught, the driver could face felony hit-and-run and theft charges since the bike is still missing“. The irony in this is that the driver could be facing a steeper sentence for driving off with the bicycle than he does for leaving the scene of the wreck.

Also in CA the parents of a 12 YO cyclist who was killed riding in the street are suing to get the infrastructure right. Ratliff family files claim against Novato for daughter’s death What should be a peaceful residential street is filled with road-raging drivers that routinely exceed the speed limit, text, talk on their cell phones, and do other activities than driving while they are supposed to be driving. The family is also suing the driver, the owner of the vehicle, and the company the driver was working for at the time of the wreck as it was on company time. At this time this is the only way to get people to drive like they have a brain, sue them until you hit pocket lint.

As demonstrated by the gentle caress on the wrist given to this killer CA driver. Driver gets probation, community service for death of Pasadena bicyclist Originally charged with manslaughter the driver will never see the inside of a jail cell for this crime, ever, and will have to endure no loss of driving privileges either. TANJ! TANJ! There Ain’t No Justice!!

A NJ cyclist is left-crossed. Asbury bicyclist badly injured in Greenwich collision The cyclist had a reflective vest but no light, so some responsibility there is on the cyclist as the vehicle was not properly equipped. At this point I don’t know if the cyclist would have been in the lights of the weapon vehicle before it started to make the left turn as the cyclist’s lane position has not been reported. Anyway intersection wreck, use the protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent, with special attention to the infrastructure as the road the cyclist was riding used to be one of those quiet low-speed country roads that cyclists are “supposed” to be restricted to, that was changed to a highway without accommodation for other than motorized transport many years ago.

A PA cyclist is hit in what may have been a deliberate assault. Bicyclist Hit By Truck, Injured In Squirrel Hill “We saw the red truck swerve to actually intentionally hit this biker,” said Walko. “There was plenty of room for both the bike and the car to be traveling through the intersection.” Not to mention a serious violation of the PA 4-foot passing law.The only thing I can say that would have avoided this wreck or prevented it would be to get the infrastructure right, including getting the idiots driving motor vehicles off the roads and riding bicycles where they can do relatively little damage. More Injured Bicyclist: No Way It Was An Accident

Many links to the cyclist hit by a bus outside Boston story. BU student riding bike killed by MBTA bus OK this was just a smear piece on cyclists, there was no indication that the cyclist killed was running a red light since the impact seemed to be from behind. If he did then the bus was running the same light. BU student riding bicycle, struck, killed by T bus also BU student hit, killed in Allston This was the wreck that I had previously described as a buzz job after looking at the victim’s bicycle and seeing almost no damage to the bike except a few scuffs. The bike could have been ridden away from the scene. Infrastructure, infrastructure, INFRASTRUCTURE! Get the infrastructure right and there won’t be any wrecks like these. Oh and the majority of the comments to the last link were left by congenital idiots apparently pounding their keyboards at random.

A cyclist in the Great White north is severely injured just a short distance from where bike lanes are being removed. Woman seriously injured in collision with garbage truck and Cyclist critically injured after collision with garbage truck at Yonge and Gerrard I hesitate to call this a right hook because the weapon vehicle ran over the cyclist from behind, judging by the reported damage to the weapon vehicle and the damage visible on the victim’s bicycle. What made this similar to a right hook was the cyclist proceeding straight through the intersection and the weapon vehicle turning right. I doubt intersection protocols would have helped much in this wreck as there was no escape route for the cyclist because of tall curbs and the width of the weapon vehicle. I’m going to tag this one with the “blind driver” tag because of hitting the cyclist squarely from behind while the driver was supposed to be slowing for the right turn. To prevent a wreck like this in the future get the infrastructure right instead of tearing out what little infrastructure you have.

A “safety” campaign in the UK has resulted in the taking down of at least one web site and one ad company worker going into hiding… Karmarama ‘enormously distressed’ after campaign sparks fury from cyclists The company claimed the ads were the result of a “rogue operator” in the company. Right, and I’m a millionaire.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Our long national nightmare is over, only 2 months until campaigning for the 2016 elections begins, and the Feed

It’s over, for now, but as I indicated in the headline it won’t damned stay over. The truckloads of money required for a political campaign these days requires entering the race early, and most of the first 3 years are going to be begathons going from one rich guy to the next promising to make him even richer if he gives you money to get elected. This has to stop, and it has to stop now before it gets completely out of hand. My personal political beliefs are that government should do what government does best when it comes to public works projects, act as arbitrator on civil disputes to prevent them from becoming escalated, apprehend and punish the guilty to protect the innocent, and stay out of the personal lives of people until there is a case of physical or financial harm inflicted on one by another. If 2 people want to get married, then government has no business deciding on which pairs get to be married and which pairs don’t. I’ll go as far as endorsing polygamy and polyandry for those who desire such an arrangement, so long as all enter the contract willingly and are of age to consent to a contract. If 2 people (or more) want to have sex, then as long as they don’t hurt each other (blood, broken bones, unwanted pregnancy…) then it isn’t any business of the government who or how many, or which genders are involved. It is the government’s business if you are polluting, because that harms many people and depending on what you are polluting and what pollutant it may harm people that haven’t even been born yet. Paying for this should be a function of disposable income. I have little personal experience with the actual concept of “disposable” income. Most of my life my income has been pretty much spent on keeping alive and the means to earn that money to keep alive, doing something non-essential just didn’t happen very often. The one exception to that was when I took flying lessons and started to build an airplane, but even then the airplane was designed to carry passengers and cargo and be capable of flying between TN and TX so I could visit my friends and family more frequently. So even my “frivolous” spending was still mostly based in practicalities, but I digress. Taxation should be based on how much you make after you have made enough to be able to survive and develop a measure of comfort. At our income level having enough to eat and shelter and clothing is 99% of our spending, spending frivolously for us is a Starbucks or dinner out a couple times a year on our dime, Mittens Romney spends more keeping his fleet gassed up that we make in a year so obviously Mittens should pay much more in taxes than the brain-damaged bicycle blogger’s family. The recent furor has been that Mittens doesn’t want to give up any of his comfort so that I can continue to eat and have clothes…

Up first is an update on the CO cyclist that was buzzed and fell under a truck. Bicyclist hit by truck in Cherry Creek North area dies of injuries The suggestion that the traffic was giving the cyclist enough room was made ludicrous by the “hit the curb” statement from LEO. You don’t “hit the curb” when drivers are passing with 3 or more feet of clearance. To avoid a wreck like this TAKE THE LANE and ride at least 3 feet from the curb so you have “wiggle room” for debris and bad pavement. The law says as practicible not as possible. Possible does not make any allowances for error on the parts of the cyclist or any drivers passing who may be distracted or just too stupid to be allowed to drive but who are allowed to anyway, or for random debris that can cause a bike to fall down. The comments on this one would be amusing if it wasn’t for the fact that they are talking about things that could get me killed, because they don’t want to be delayed by 20-30 seconds. For some crazy reason I think my life is more valuable than 20-30 seconds of your time, but apparently I’m some kind of a Maoist. Another link Truck hits, kills woman on bicycle in Cherry Creek North Only one respectful comment on this link.

An AZ wreck that the narrative makes no sense for. Teen on bike hit by school bus in N. Phoenix Think about the geometry of this wreck, the bus was turning left, and the cyclist was crossing a street. There are only two points of conflict that this collision could take place, one being the crosswalk directly in front of the bus waiting to make the turn with the cyclist coming from the right side of the street, the other being on the cross street. One place has the driver looking in front of the vehicle as the cyclist crossed the street and still pulling out with another vehicle (the bicycle) in front of him, the other place has the cyclist moving in conflict with the moving bus but also has both vehicles moving with the green light. So there isn’t much wiggle room for the driver in this one. If the driver hit the cyclist in the cross street crosswalk then the cyclist was crossing with the light, or if the cyclist was crossing against the light the driver ran over someone in the street in front of the vehicle before it started moving. Either way though the cyclist was partially in the wrong, so lots of blame to go around on this one. Get the infrastructure right to keep buses away from kids riding bicycles.

A MA cyclist is seriously injured. 1 hurt after bicycle struck by pickup truck in Westfield All that blather about the cyclist not wearing a helmet, but nothing on the actual wreck, not even stating if it was in an intersection or mid-block. Without that information about all we can do is the Internet equivalent of holding our hats over our hearts in respect for the fallen.

Infrastructure! news from CA. On Cycling: What’s the value of a human life? You get half the fine for killing a cyclist that you get for feeding a wild animal, really? Did anyone stop to, I don’t know, think! about the relative harm of feeding a wild animal against killing a human being?

More infrastructure from CA. Newport’s ‘sharrows’ a sign of concern for bike safety

And those are all the links that gave me fits this morning… Yes I’m that early today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Allergies getting better and worse at the same time, and the Feed

Now about that headline, some of my symptoms have abated, like the dry throat in the morning and the stopped up nose that causes it, and some have gotten way worse, like the eyelids glued shut by dried secretions from my “watery” eyes. I literally had to pry my eyelids open to be able to sorta see this morning, and it hurt to do so (just the once per eye though). I’m still taking the allergy pills at night, 2 before bed, and one every 4 hours during the day. I have felt much worse than this though, and I still manage to ride my bike without much problem so while it’s not ideal it’s survivable for the long term.

Up first by virtue of proximity to WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell, a cyclist is hit during broad daylight in Austin TX. Car hits bicyclist on MLK Boulevard Nothing about the mode except noting that it was in an intersection, also the physical evidence on the bike shows a sideways impact from the front of the bike, possibly from the left of the bike. Intersection wreck, use the protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent. And from some of the comments on this link there possibly should be a ticket issued for not passing with 3 feet of clearance (this may have been a right hook).

A cyclist in OR is hit and LEO can’t tell which one ran the red light. Salem man injured in bike-vs-van crash One thing is certain from looking at the scene in Google Street View is that one of them ran the red, and there are bike lanes on both streets so the driver should have known to be looking for bicycles if the van was the vehicle that ran the red. Intersection protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent. And especially don’t run red lights when there are other vehicles coming on the cross street.

A cyclist riding between the KS and MO sides of KC is hit avoiding a glass strewn bike trail. Cyclist Injured While Crossing HOA Bridge This is an area that needs frequent cleaning and also making throwing glass bottles the same as placing caltrops on the motor vehicle side of the wall. I place most of the blame on this wreck on the infrastructure maintenance and also suggest that hit-from-behind protocols be used to avoid a wreck like this when the segregated infrastructure is not usable by bicycles.

More on the hit-and-run death of a cyclist in KY. One killed in hit and run crash on Grade Lane As before hit-from-behind protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent. The reports from yesterday indicated that there are few routes to take that can avoid this road and still get to the same locations near either end, making this wreck one that screams for infrastructure to keep the fast motor vehicles away from the slower moving bicycles.

From LA a cyclist is hit 4 feet from the road. Local teen hit, killed while riding bike The article looks rather silly for blaming the teen for not having a reflector on a bike that was hit 4 feet from the road. I mean how far off the road do you have to be to not get blamed for being hit?

From Oz a cyclist is just one of many killed this week. Bike-fall death caps horror week on roads Apparently the cyclist got tangled up during a group ride and fell, breaking major bones that eventually led to his demise. I can’t tell you how to avoid a wreck like this except to allow following room and sufficient lateral space when riding in a group, which is kinda useless if you are trying to practice riding in a peloton under close conditions. Even the required-by-Australian-law helmet did not protect this cyclist.

Infrastructure! news from LA. Let’s fight this tragic trend The overall death rate has gone down but the rates for people not in cars has skyrocketed, 45% in the case of bicyclist deaths. The obvious answer is that cars have gotten safer but LA drivers have not, instead of killing themselves and maybe one or two others the bad drivers are surviving but killing people not in cars.

And those are all the links about bicycles that gave me fits. There were lots more links that gave me fits but they weren’t about bicycles, so you won’t see them in this blog.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

California cyclist says the state can just die because that’s what Brown told cyclists, and I have coffee. Also the Feed

That was a very long headline, which I guess means the caffeine is starting to take hold. The first thing Mrs. the Poet brought home after the check cleared was coffee fixings so I could have my coffee and she could have her cuppa tea. I feel almost human now. My head still hurts but that is the grass pollen that has kicked up today because of all the wind. I still feel like my eyes will pop out of my head and roll around on the desk or floor if I blink wrong, and that is with the allergy medicine I’m allowed to take with my BP meds. Just imagine what it would feel like without, on second thought don’t imagine what I would feel like without medication. The thought is too gruesome to bear.

That cyclist’s response to Gov. Brown was sent to BikingInLA and related in this post .

Our first wreck report, I was alerted to this by the mother of the victim 2 days ago but just got the link to work today. New Mexico man pleads guilty in Ringtown bicyclist’s death And by “pleading guilty” they didn’t mean accepting the state’s version of the story, the driver still insists the cyclist swerved in front of him instead of the weapon vehicle being more than a foot and a half in the shoulder where the cyclist was riding. A blood sample taken about 12 hours after the wreck showed no drugs or alcohol in the driver’s system, but he could have been over the limit drunk at the time of the wreck and still showed dry 12 hours later. Still waiting on the sentence which under the statute he was charged with can’t be much, but I’m hoping they throw the book at him and make him serve every day possible.

Another NM wreck “justice” story. Woman who hit, killed cyclist is sentenced The “maximum” the judge was allowed to administer was not very “maximum”, 90 days and $300. TANJ!

More from CA, as a teen cyclist is seriously injured on his way home from school. Teen bicyclist hit by car, seriously injured Looking at the geometry of the wreck from Google Maps, the cyclist had 2 lanes and a median to cross to get to where he was hit, with his vision obscured by the large bush planted in the median that prevented him from seeing cars entering the street at the traffic signal a short block away. He could have entered an empty street, and been completely unaware of the weapon vehicle and vice versa for the driver, until just before impact. I place blame on this one on the infrastructure, specifically that bush/small tree in the median. So either way this becomes an infrastructure fix to avoid and prevent.

Justice as the parents of a killed cyclist sue his killer. Santa Cruz: Cops and Courts: Oct. 25, 2012 The driver is denying the very charges he plead guilty to a few months ago in the criminal case. This one won’t take long to adjudicate as they admit the testimony from the criminal case.

A wreck in MA not too far from where I used to live in RI. Fall River police investigate bike crash that injured two girls The level of damage to the car and cyclists indicates a wreck at a high rate of speed, and two victims and nobody knowing about a second bike indicates an overloaded bike that may have exceeded the ability of the brakes to slow the bike (or they could have just not bothered to use the brakes because going fast is fun). Infrastructure to prevent, but I don’t know how to make kids not be kids so they can avoid a wreck like this, except perhaps education?

Update on a “red light running” MO cyclist death. Police: Bicyclist who died ran red light Now that I know the geometry of this wreck there is a high probability that the cyclist entered under a stale green or even as the amber phase began, as the truck driver started up when the light changed to green on his direction and the cyclist would have had to cross several lanes to get to where he was killed. More “Ghost Bike” Honors Springfield Cyclist Killed This Week

Real justice in the Great White North. Apology ‘means a lot,’ widow says after SUV driver pleads guilty in cyclist fatality The cyclist was hit from behind by a sleeping driver. The cyclist’s widow says she’s not looking for a stiff sentence and the prosecutor is only looking for the max fine and no jail time.

From Kenya comes the first serious sentence for the killing of a cyclist. Lorry driver to spend life in jail for causing cyclist’s death And by “serious” I mean on a par with other means of killing people.

LifeStyle from WV as one university comes to the aid of a student from another university. MUCC hosts spin-a-thon for injured local teen The teen in question was run over by a dump truck at Ohio State last month, and suffered devastating injuries as a result. Most of him will live but he lost a leg at the hip and will be a long time recovering to a “New Normal” which will be a long way from what he was before the wreck.

A “duh” infrastructure story. Study: Separated Bike Lanes Reduce Injury By 90% There not being much actual separated bike infrastructure in North America to study the data set is rather small but still the findings are significant.

What passes for legal infrastructure in NYC is crap at best, and this wasn’t “best”. NYPD Snafu Means No Justice for Bronx Cyclist Left to Die in the Street I don’t think that the point can be driven home too firmly that NYPD sucks at prosecuting drivers that kill. No matter what mode of transport the victim was using, even hit by a car while walking down the sidewalk, NYPD is like the honey badger: “honey badger don’t care”. And neither does NYPD.

Infrastructure from CA. Menlo Park Funds Bike Lane Improvements This road was one where a cyclist died after getting hit by with a semi truck a few years back. The improvements don’t go as far as where the cyclist was hit.

More infrastructure from the Great White North. Cyclist killed on Bronson Avenue, Street design comes into question in wake of Krista Johnson’s death No place to cross for a kilometer in the wrong direction, high speeds and a lack of space on the road, all combined in a “perfect storm” of boondoggle to kill this cyclist. To place this in context for my metric challenged readers the cyclist would have to ride a mile and a quarter just to get back to where sh was but on the correct side of the road for the direction she wanted to go.

And those are all the links that gave me fits that were bicycle-related. You don’t want to see the ones that gave me non bicycle-related fits.

Billed @$0.02, Opus