Another cyclist hit in the bike lane, plus more stuff that will make you mad (crazy) and other stuff that will make you mad (angry)

I hate finding out that another cyclist was hit in the bike lane, and I hate having to post about it in my blog, but if people don’t know about it how can change be made? If you don’t know that drivers are killing cyclists where cars and trucks should not be, how can you do anything about it? And what can I do about it except tell you about the carnage?

Getting to that story first, a woman drives into the bike lane and kills a cyclist. Names released in cyclist-vs-car crash and Woman accused of felony hit and run “Authorities said Murphy was following bicycle safety laws and was wearing a helmet as he rode northbound on Jamboree Road along the easterly curb. Izquieta hit him and didn’t stop to help him, police said.” and “Izquieta had made an “unsafe turning maneuver” before hitting Murphy” Now it appears that “unsafe turning maneuver” was driving in the bike lane. The cyclist’s bicycle was dragged over 300 feet according to one report, so there’s no way the driver could not have known they hit something. Mr. Murphy was riding with a group of cyclists when he was hit, so it was probably just chance that he was the one hit instead of someone else. For you to avoid this kind of wreck, use the hit-from-behind protocol I mentioned a couple of months ago in this post .

No bicycles involved in this one, it’s just a demonstration of why I think that large vehicles need to have special permits to be on the roads with much higher standards of licensing. SUV slams into building in Mechanicsburg The SUV in this case had barely 100 feet to reach a speed that almost took out a concrete block building, and would have killed someone had they been inside the blast radius of the debris that sprayed from the wall at impact, or been crushed by the shelving unit that was knocked from the wall.

The rest of the wrecks were outside North America.

From the charges filed it appears that someone drove a bus over a cyclist, literally in this case as the bus had to be lifted off the cyclist. Birmingham city centre bus crash: Cyclist named This makes this report unusual for a UK wreck report, in that the mode of the wreck can be inferred from the report. Using my incredible powers of deduction I can hazard the statement that the cyclist was waiting at the stop light and the bus turned left over him, causing him to be trapped under the bus. Check back in 6-18 months when the court case is concluded and the real story is released, if that ever makes the news.

From Enn Zed comes a story of an injured cyclist whose ID went elsewhere in the wreck. Police Seek To Identify Injured Cyclist If the description of the cyclist, his kit and his bike ring a bell ring up the LEO contact mentioned in the article and let them know who you think it might be. The Witch on a Bicycle says it’s your civic duty.

More lawyer talk about the change in injury severity and type as more commuters go by bike. Can Cars and Bikes Co-Exist?

Infrastructure for pedestrians gets slammed because it’s ugly?! Safety vs. eyesore? Signs at Oceanfront draw complaints

Get a bike fit as a first step in fixing painful cycling. Enjoy the Ride Or you could just get a recumbent.

Aaaannnd, that’s a wrap.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Again few wrecks from the US and Canada, much consternation here and abroad

I’m back from the Lab Rat Keeper, still percolating right along. My BP is better than it has been in decades (since before they lowered the definition of high blood pressure down to 120/80 in fact) my rest pulse is akin to a Zen elephant’s (very slow) and my weight is down, after Thanksgiving no less! They are double-checking the Red Cross on my Hgb levels, the RC had it as 11.8 when I tried to donate a couple weeks ago, but back in the summer when I was testing a new med and getting that stuff tested every couple of weeks my Hgb and Hcrit were both good. But I wasn’t taking Azor during the test, I was on a different med. So, maybe I have found a new side effect for Azor when taken over an extended period of time. On the blood donation front I still haven’t been able to donate since my last donation in 7/2007. I might as well go ahead and get that tattoo now while I work on getting my Hcrit and Hgb levels back up, this looks like it might take a while…

Up first because something has to be, a report on a head-on crash between a cyclist and a cab on the wrong side of the street in DC. Crash Last Night at 31st and M, NW What can I say? The cab was driving on the wrong side of the street. Given that DC streets have danged high curbs to prevent sidewalk flooding (or so I was told back in the dark ages before Clinton, or even Carter) a cyclist doesn’t have any escape route should a motor vehicle do something as stupid as driving on the wrong side of the street unless the cyclist is extremely skilled in the “bunny hop” to clear the curbs and not wreck. The wrong-way vehicle would prevent any escape to the left (where the motor vehicle would be if it was on the correct side of the street), and you can’t hop the curb, the only other option would be to abandon the bike and accept road rash over broken bones and massive internal trauma, and hope the bike does some major damage as it goes under the motor vehicle.

Kill a cyclist, go to jail… Hit-and-Run Driver Sent to Jail “Lipe pleaded no conest to felony hit and run, and a judge ordered him to spend the next year in jail and four years on probation.” But not for very long in jail. From the limited details of the wreck in the article it appears the cyclist could not have avoided this wreck that took him into the canal. I don’t know if the cyclist drowned or was dead prior to being in the canal.

In the City of Brotherly Love there ain’t much love between the various modes of transport: drivers hate pedestrians and especially cyclists, cyclists hate pedestrians and especially drivers, and pedestrians just hate anything that can hit them hard enough to hurt including cars, cyclists, and joggers (other pedestrians). Readers Write: We don’t need your stinking traffic rules And apparently everybody hates the traffic laws…

From my examiner.com colleague in Toronto, jurisprudence reports from the Great White North. Toronto Goes To Court – Bryant and Kenk Trials Both Begin Bryant is scum, but Kenk is in a class by himself. Of course from what I know Kenk never killed anyone to obtain any of the bicycles he had, they were all stolen after the owner had left them to go do something else, much like someone stealing a parked car. Bryant killed a cyclist, that much has been determined, all that’s left is did the cyclist do anything that would warrant a response of deadly force? It is known that Darcy Sheppard had been drinking, but my back-channel report was that toxicology on Sheppard found that he was not drunk, considerably under the legal limit, and that Bryant was never tested for drugs or alcohol.

A huge WMD almost takes out a building and a cyclist nearby as a driver apparently has a seizure at the controls of a large truck. Two hurt as lorry ploughs into pub Fortunately the only injury was to the cyclist, as normally the front of the pub and the sidewalk in front are packed with people during operating hours. This is why there should be a physical exam requirement on a driver’s license, like there is for a pilot’s license. Bi-annual exams would have caught the physical issues that led to the driver having a seizure, and a psych evaluation would prevent people like TTTWLAMWAMD and Bryant from having access to the WMD that motor vehicles have become. Anyway, there was no way for the cyclist to have avoided this wreck except clairvoyance, so just look sharp out there.

And another incident involving a truck in the UK. Cyclist seriously injured after being hit by lorry And in this case they know even less than the typical UK wreck report.

Finally something (slightly) less lethal than a big truck, I hope. Cyclist from Godalming killed in collision with car $&(% no, still lethal, still nothing I can point to and say “Do this, don’t do that” and you can avoid a similar wreck.

I love the UK’s media sometimes, where they can advocate a point of view without fear of court for creating a false impression. Sign of the times: The cycle path with a painted symbol every few feet (and still someone is going the wrong way) so the photographer stands in front of the cyclist, facing away from him and when the cyclist passes in the oncoming lane, the photographer takes his picture to “prove” that cyclists can’t even follow the laws in their own protected places, with markings on the pavement every few feet (probably at every intersection with a driveway).

Another working cyclist in South Africa is hit by a truck. PIC: Cyclist pinned under truck nothing yet known about what caused the wreck, “It is thought that the bicycle delivery man had entered Mitchell Road and the driver of the truck was unable to avoid him.” Typical car-head thinking on display.

A police blotter from a Chinese newspaper reports, you have to scroll down a good bit to find the bicycle wreck. Cyclist killed in hit-and-run

A lawyer tries to explain that cyclists belong on the roads and that people in cars should respect that. Finding equilibrium

The DCist finds lots of interesting infrastructure news. Go Home Already: Making Friends Lots of interesting things in the report.

Among those interesting things was a parking enforcement vehicle parked in a bike lane. Oh Look: A Parking Enforcement Car Blocking a Bike Lane They are allowed to use the bike lane as they write tickets for vehicles parked in the bike lane, but it is still annoying to find a car in the bike lane.

And that’s all I have tonight.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Bicycle zombies take over the news, people still getting killed by cars, the Feed

Yes, “zombies” are all the rage now, and have spread from the UK to the US. In the meantime cars are still killing people at a rate of nearly 110 people a day in the US, and nobody is saying anything about that (except me and a few other bicycle fanatics). I feel a rant coming on, and I don’t think it is going to be pretty.

Up first is another report on the waste of human skin that had 20 beers before going out and driving into 2 cyclists, killing one. Driver who downed 20 beers, killed cyclist gets 25-40 years in prison This is the guy that in a previously linked report the victim’s mother gave him a Bible and said he was going to heaven. I hope she’s wrong about that, because if there was ever a guy that deserved to suffer, this is the guy. Interesting that the previous reports said the disgusting piece of filth got 45 years determinate sentence, but this report has him as serving 25-40. I wonder who’s right.

In other court news the driver that dragged a cyclist 860 feet under her car while the man was screaming and beating on the car (that part was new information), is facing undisclosed criminal charges in the case. Driver of car that dragged bicyclist in Natick to face criminal charge The complaint was filed Nov. 25 in Framingham District Court against Lorraine Peterson, 61, of 359 Berlin Road, though police redacted the specific charge. Apparently public records are not public for certain people.

More on the wreck that killed the driver while only slightly injuring the cyclist he hit. Vehicle crashes kill 4, injure 5 Not a good day to have been driving a car, or riding a bicycle for that matter. If I’m reading the report right the vehicle hit the cyclist on the north side of the street and then crossed the road to hit a tree on the south side of the street. That ain’t normal. Hitting a cyclist isn’t what I would call “normal” but the circumstances of the wreck speak to me of a person who was dieing before they hit the cyclist, and the tree just finished the job. This sounds like a stroke or heart attack in progress when he left the road the first time and grazed the cyclist and then tried to stay on the road and pulled left on the wheel, then died. I know that’s an awful lot to pull from a tiny report…

Another hit-and-run in LA CA. Cyclist struck in West Hollywood hit-and-run Not much to go on in this report, but it appears to be a typical right hook wreck, good that the cyclist survived.

In Scotland a cyclist has a run in with a bus and survives. Cyclist in serious condition after accident with bus and from the Beeb Cyclist injured in bus accident It’s good to know that you won’t get hurt driving a bus into a woman riding a bicycle [/sarcasm]. For those who live on my side of the pond, it appears the woman was trying to turn across traffic when she got hit. They drive on the wrong side of the roads in Scotland so you have to turn right to cross traffic, not left.

Someone driving a silver Mercedes is going to have a rough time of it when he gets caught. Cyclist seriously injured in hit-and-run As per usual in UK wreck reports I can’t say anything about how to avoid a similar wreck, other then to always be alert, this cyclist being able to say make and color may very well result in the miscreant being brought to justice.

And what seems obvious as the nose on your face is debated in the UK. Cyclists are not a menace, Spectator debate decides In the end the argument was mass times velocity, would you rather get hit by 200 pounds going 20 MPH, or 4000 pounds going 35 and up? In the overall scheme of things it was like getting hit in a rugby game versus getting hit by an artillery shell. Every once in a while someone will die in a rugby game, but not often, but get hit by a car and you stand a good chance of dying or being permanently injured.

A cyclist is injured in a left hook wreck in Oz. Cyclist injured after collision with car I noticed the cyclist got a few licks in on the car as he was hit, tearing off the passenger side mirror and crumpling the hood a bit and only sustaining minor injuries in the process. As they say “Good on ya!” for returning fire in the face of the enemy

Still trying to figure out if the guy that hit a cyclist in South Africa was just stupid or culpable. Cops hunt for evidence in cyclist death Hit from behind in the cycle lane, and there’s a question of culpability? Did these guys get their training from AZ LEO?

And the “bicycle zombies” meme makes its way to these shores. ‘iPod zombies’ blamed for UK road deaths Note that in this article from the people that actually make the iPod, using one on any vehicle that one is in control of is not a good idea. Bicycles because you might get hit by a car you didn’t hear, cars because they distract you from your environment, and you already have way too many distractions while driving a car anyway.

An opinion about the ruckus over the recent pedestrian deaths by bicycle in the City of Brotherly Love. Road Rage at Philly Newspapers Why are Ronnie and Stu whipping up fear when cars and trucks pose a bigger threat? Because they don’t like bicycles in their streets, and making then out to be a danger to pedestrians arouses fears that they can use to get them legislated away from their city…

On the same subject but from a different direction. Registering bicycles will not prevent any accidents If there was just some way we could easily identify cars so that when the hit someone and drive off the owner could be brought to justice… and pedestrians they just wander around like they own the place, we need some way of identifying pedestrians too…

I hope NY has a better time of it than TX when they pass their 3 foot passing law. NYS Assemblymember to Introduce Safe Passage Law for Cyclists This is desperately needed legal infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians.

And SF finally gets to build bicycle infrastructure again. Eyes On the Street: SF Gets Its First New Bike Lane in Three Years The paint was barely dry before people started using the new bike lane, who had been trying to ride vehicularly but because of driver attitudes were not having a good go of it.

And that’s all I have today, but there will be a rant later, I still haven’t figured out how I’m going to phrase it yet.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Bicycle zombies and even scarier things, The Feed

Yes, the UK has been overrun with bicycle zombies wearing iPods, the horrors! In the US there were so many wrecks in one city in one day that the guy getting hit riding a bicycle didn’t even get a full sentence, much less his own article. and even scarier things than that, if you can imagine.

Getting to the really scary stuff first comes 2 reports on the sentencing of a man that was caught driving drunk 5 times, killing a person on a bicycle the last time. Mother of 19-year-old killed by drunk driver offers driver Bible and place in heaven and Man convicted of fifth drunken driving offense, killing bicylist unable to answer judge’s question: How to stop repeat drunken-driving offenders? I can answer the judge’s question for the brain-dead drunk: Take away their cars and crush them (cars or drunks either one). If you remove access to cars you prevent drunk driving, if getting caught driving drunk means you lose your car, well that ain’t gonna happen twice. Also require a valid driver’s license to purchase a car to prevent wealthy drunks from going out and buying a cheap car to replace their crushed one. This bozo earned the “waste of human skin” tag for this post.

The city of Chicago had so many wrecks that hitting a cyclist didn’t even merit a full sentence in an article in the paper. 6 dead, more injured in holiday weekend crashes I feel sorry for the guy that got hit, near death experience and didn’t even get his name in the paper. From the level of detail in the article about this one I can tell you that one vehicle was definitely a bicycle, if the guy had just been walking they would not have called him a cyclist. But to be fair to the paper when there are 6 people killed in separate wrecks in one day and one wreck requires 5 ambulances to transport the victims, one guy getting hit riding a bike is just a blip on the radar.

A cyclist in NoCal is hit by a passing pickup truck yesterday. Injured Hwy 49 Bike Rider Identified What struck me was the ages of the participants, the 70 YO driver failed to safely pass the 50 YO cyclist with the full length of his vehicle and hit him with the trailer. Another interesting thing was the driver was from AZ, a place known for drivers that don’t think bicycles belong on the roads. As for avoiding a similar wreck, unless you’re Superman or the Flash with superhuman levels of reaction time it ain’t gonna happen. The initial pass was at a safe distance, but the driver started pulling over before the full length of the vehicle and the trailer had cleared the cyclist. Even knowing the vehicle was there you would have to be watching it and ready to bail to an escape route or off the bike when the vehicle started getting too close. This is one of those cases where to be safe everybody has to be playing the game to ensure cyclists’ safety. This is another example of scarier things than bicycle zombies.

Another example of why I don’t ride off-road trails. Cyclist airlifted out of Crystal Cove The cyclist was less than a mile from an elementary school when he had his wreck, but they had to use a helicopter to get him out because the only other ways in were bike or foot. When I’m less than a mile from a school I want to be where an ambulance can get to me without VTOL capability. Heck I want that no matter how far I am from a school.

I have been mentioning bicycle zombies all during this post, and now I shall deliver. Sunday Times and Daily Mail blame ‘iPod zombie cyclists’ for rise in deaths OMGWTF ZOMBIES!! Yeah, as this article points out the other guys are conflating 2 things without correlation, an increase in quarterly bike wrecks with injury statistics and people wearing headphones and earbuds. There were no statistics on how many cyclists were using music players in wrecks, so there was no way to correlate their use to increased numbers of wrecks. This is a common logical fallacy and even when statistics are taken for two things, unless there is also a statistic for those 2 things happening at the same time you can’t draw conclusions especially about causality. For instance the Australian study that showed when bike helmets were made mandatory head injury went down, failed to make correlations with did people with head injury have a helmet or not. Using other data from the same study you could also say that wearing a helmet reduced broken legs because that number also went down, because the helmet law didn’t reduce head injury it reduced the number of people riding bicycles drastically, which indirectly reduced the number of people with head injuries. Beware of people quoting statistics at you without stating their sources or any other data that might refute their conclusions.

And an article about a SD LEO honoring one of their own by making a bike ride. ‘Tour De Force’ Donates To Mechels Family I have my disagreements with LEO about interpretation and enforcement of the laws, but when it all comes down to it at the end of the day they are on the business end of preventing chaos from breaking out.

And that’s all I have today, more later if anything big breaks.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Sturgeon’s Law applies to the population in general, too, and the Feed

I know that the pronouncement in the headline will go right over the heads of many of my readers, but I don’t care. For those of you interested you can look up Theodore Sturgeon in the Wikipedia. If you’re really interested you can do a follow-up on Kilgore Trout and Kurt Vonnegut. That literary journey of discovery will place you square in the middle of Wonderland, enjoy.

Up first because it’s closest is a wreck in Houston. Cyclist, 68, struck by car in fatal NW Harris crash I noticed that many papers have disabled their comments sections when reporting a bicycle wreck in their online editions. That saves a lot of agita for me. This wreck seems very well defined, the car ignored a traffic control and hit the cyclist in the intersection, the driver is expected to be charged after the grand jury hears the case. I fully expect this case will not languish because of the close relationship between the decedent and a member of the 4^th estate.

In ID a driver is jailed for hitting a cyclist while driving drunk, before he sobered up. Caldwell man charged after car hits, injures cyclist The driver was jailed on charges of aggravated driving under the influence until his case can be heard and bound over for bail/bond. Why can’t TX do that? Why can’t AZ do that?

Another trial over injury to a cyclist that took even longer than TTTWLAMWAMD to come to trial. It’s been a long road to trial in cyclist’s death This was a homicide, the other case was a simple case of assault with a deadly weapon, and yet in spite of the evidence in this case it still has taken more than a year to come to trial. The wait must have been terrible for the family of the victim.

In UT a cyclist asks that drivers hang up and drive. Bicyclist’s instruction Don’t read the comments section, while there is some sentience in there the babbling of the semi-sentient will drive you insane.

In Enn Zed they are cranking up their warm months campaign to alert drivers that there are other people on the roads besides people driving cars. Share the road this Summer Equally, cyclists are very vulnerable and the road can be a scary place if you don’t have the protective shell of a car body. Amen Brutha’! Also, as cyclists we need to obey traffic controls, even when they don’t make a lot of sense for bicycles, and work on legislators to get traffic rules that make sense for cyclists and drivers, even if that will require making different rules for drivers and cyclists.

Another “Share the roads” event, in Oz this time. Riders pedal message to share the road Again the comments section ruins a perfectly good article.

Even in South Africa they are having issues with drivers that don’t want to give up an inch of their precious pavement to other road users. Appeal over Tour training as cyclist killed You have to do a couple of page downs to get to the actual article as there is some kind of issue with the layout in FF or Opera. I don’t have IE because I have a Linux system so I can’t tell you how it looks on that browser. The fact that cycling clubs are leasing race tracks to train because the roads are too dangerous should be a wake up call to the politicians that something needs to be done, ASAP if not sooner.

A motorcycle/bicycle wreck in Nepal kills the motorcycle rider and severely injures his passenger and the cyclist. One killed in Saptari This is one of the few wreck modes where the cyclist is on even terms with a motor vehicle operator in terms of relative injury. In the long run that makes motorcycle operators our allies in the battle to make roads safer.

And an article about something very close to the author of this blog, brain injury. Changed in a moment: Inside the lives of those living with brain injury Yes I have a brain injury, no you can’t tell from my blog. I have a permanent limp, that I try very hard to disguise and mostly succeed in doing so. I have aphasia when I speak, so sometimes my speech is slow and halting. I have anger issues and poor anger control; if you make me mad I will let you know about it in no uncertain terms if I can get the words to come out.

And that’s all I have for today, it’s such a nice day out I think I’ll go for a ride with Gigi.

Billed @$.02, Opus

This just in, driver hits cyclist and dies, cyclist not seriously injured

Just in from CA, a driver hit a cyclist then a tree and died from the injuries at the scene. Driver Dies After Colliding with Bike The cyclist sustained minor injuries.

OK that raises the drivers killed by cyclists world wide total to 3.5, giving the tree half credit on the kill, and the US total is 1.5. The ratio is still 700 : 1.5, with almost all the drivers killed also killing the cyclists except for the guy that hit the tree. Either we need to figure out how to kill these homicidal drivers without having deceased cyclists go through the windshield (the “normal” way for a cyclist to kill a driver) or we need to figure out how to prevent drivers from killing cyclists. I vote for the latter, less dead people is always better than killing people that killed other people.

PSA Opus

If I had any money I could have gone to the Black Friday sales, a Sunday weak Feed

Fortunately the nature of the US Thanksgiving holiday makes for very few drivers on the roads, which makes for very few cyclists getting hit yesterday.

From the US we don’t have anything, only one North American report on a cyclist rear ended in the fog in Toronto. Deadly week on GTA roads includes four fatalities Interestingly enough the cyclist that was rear-ended was not among the fatalities from that day, but I don’t know if he’s still alive today.

And from Jolly Olde, they killed another woman with a large vehicle, a bus this time. Cyclist in bus collision dies When I read about this wreck back when it first happened I was hopeful that we had a survivor, one of the few heavy vehicle/bicycle wrecks in London that didn’t kill the female victim. Unfortunately, she didn’t survive. I have nothing on this particular wreck, but what I know about the other wrecks is the majority are from heavy vehicles making left turns through the cyclist’s path, a Limey left hook (because they drive on the wrong side of the road) when the cyclist is stationary while waiting for a stop light. I don’t know how to fix that kind of wreck except to make turning across a cycle lane illegal, which will bollux up the works no end. That would be the equivalent in the US of making right on red illegal, and all right turns where there is a bike lane illegal. Think about how that will fly.

And that’s all there was today, yay! I like days that don’t have many killed or injured cyclists.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Running late due to trying to donate blood and Thanksgiving perparations, the Feed

I’m officially out of the blood donating business for a long time, I’m still anemic. That would explain the lack of legs on long rides and especially on hills, and the low cruise speeds. I’m still as strong as ever in sprints and up short hills where oxygen-carrying capacity is not the limiting factor, so the strength training has been working, I just lack the oxygen-carrying capacity to go the distance at tempo. meh. For people who have followed my blog from MySpace you know this problem first reared its ugly head summer of 2007 and made my ride at the HHH that year a fiasco, as little girls on BSO MTB with knobby tires passed me any time the road made a slight inclination against me and I had to SAG out at the first rest stop as my pulse wouldn’t come down and my BP went up drastically. Up until them I had been donating every 8-9 weeks, but I haven’t been able to get my counts up high enough since June of ‘07. I guess this would be a good time to get that tattoo.

Up first because something has to be, and because this was appropriate for the season, a bike race/food drive. An Outlaw Street Race, for a Good Cause Basically it’s a race, but to win the race you have to buy the major makings to a Thanksgiving dinner for donating to a food bank. The Witch on a Bicycle blog heartily supports such an endeavor. We’re real big on food around here.

The other US story was about a month old, but still has lessons to be learned. Bicyclist seriously injured in Bybee Blvd. collision Yeppers, it was a left cross wreck, one of the most common but fortunately one that is usually survivable, if you turn with the car to reduce the impact. that assumes of course you have time to recognize the impending wreck and decide if you can stop in time or need to turn, then institute the turning movements to reduce the angle of impact with the car. I’m not too good with that, but fortunately I don’t get that kind of wreck very often and so don’t have to make those decisions very often.

More on the cop v bicycle wreck in SD CA. ‘Ghost Bike’ Honors Cyclist I would really like to see that report from the CHP given all the facts that have come to light since the wreck, the years of experience of the cyclist, the safety gear worn by the cyclist, the lack of flashing lights or siren used by the cop on the way to assist a fellow officer, claims that the officer was at least keeping up with other motor vehicles in the near vicinity contrary to the claim the LEO was driving under the speed limit…

Cyclists are suing the city of Toronto for failing to keep the streets safe for their cycling employees, the bicycle police patrol and the bicycle paramedic squad, total of about 530 employees working the streets on bicycles. Law backs cyclist’s quest for safe roads If you can’t get then to do right by you as a taxpayer, make do right for their employees, and then they also do right for the taxpayers.

On a similar note, the family of a UK cyclist killed in London asks for better infrastructure for cyclists. Family of cyclist killed in crash call for improved safety Really it isn’t all that hard, you just have to decide that too many people are getting killed, and build the infrastructure to prevent that.

And the last story is from Oz, as a man riding home from work is run over by a co-worker (not the legendary cow orker). Cyclist injured At least they charged the driver with something more serious than failure to maintain lane position.

And that’s all I got tonight. Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy your meal tomorrow. Best wishes to our servicemen and women who are having Thanksgiving dinner in the chow hall or out in bivouac in the boonies. I’m thinking about you, and glad I’m not doing that anymore.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Meet the new boss NASCAR, same as the old boss, and the Feed

As for what I do when I’m not battling for your (and my) rights to the roads, well I watch motorsports. Yesterday I watched Denny Hamlin win the race at Homestead Miami, while Jimmie Johnson won his 4^th straight championship, a Cup record and I think a NASCAR record. Now why do I watch stock car racing? Well for one thing, there are a lot of people in that line of work that I know personally, having lived in the South all my adult life. But I was a fan of Cup since they called it Grand National, before Winston ever graced the series’ name. Even when I was living in Hawaii I knew Fireball Roberts and Junior Johnson (no relation to Jimmie) were race car drivers, and I would build models of race cars. When I was a young father I would race my Honda CVCC in SCCA Solo II competition because that was safe and also as much as I could afford. Then I built a few cars for the Modified Category in that type of competition. Then I moved away from having a place to work on cars, started working 60 hour weeks in a factory, and had to give all that up. But enough of ancient history, we have a Feed to get through.

Up first is another report on the pellet gun drive-by shooting of a cyclist in Austin, from my examiner.com colleague. Cyclist assaulted with pellet gun Notice that even though they know the location of the perp, no mention has been made of an arrest, just charges. It was just a cyclist, don’t want to go to too much trouble. If the perp comes back to TX before the statute of limitations on the charge runs out he might get arrested and tried. Don’t hold your breath.

A cyclist is hit while not riding on the road and is charged for the wreck? Teen bike rider hurt in crash with pickup I don’t know if this is a result of him being a cyclist or having an Islamic-sounding surname, or if he might be a person of color, any of which would explain why he was charged with a traffic offense in spite of not being on the road when he was hit. The only thing I can say about this wreck was the cyclist was riding against traffic direction when he was not on the road but near it.

A similar incident to the Austin TX shooting except multiple victims and no known perp yet, in Enn Zed. Drive-by paintball gun shootings probed The main difference between the weapons used is a paintball gun has a lower muzzle velocity and a much heavier projectile that normally doesn’t penetrate but instead produces blunt force trauma in a very confined area.

Also in Enn Zed is a protest over cyclists’ rights and a memorial ride. Cyclists hold memorial ride for killed colleague

Finally, an infrastructure article from CA. Protecting California Bicyclists No matter where you ride infrastructure both real and legal is important, especially the legal infrastructure. Having roads to ride on won’t matter a hill of beans if there is no legal protection on those roads. And of course laws are useless without law enforcement to back them up.

And that’s all I have for you today. I hope you had a nice weekend and I hope you have a magnificent Thanksgiving feast for my USAian readers, the rest of you have a nice week, too.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Another potential Gigi public appearance, and the Feed

My friends(?) at the Dallas Winter Solstice celebration (SolstiCelebration) have asked if I can ride my bicycle as part of the opening festivities. I have already been asked to wear a penguin costume (Opus, the comic strip character) so I guess I’m supposed to ride Gigi indoors, surrounded by people, while I wear a penguin costume. This could get interesting. Well at least this time I was asked to come first, then Gigi was requested. Last time it was Gigi that was requested and since it was my bike I could ride it her.

Up first because it is a sign of the Apocalypse. Police charge woman in death of Va. Beach cyclist That’s right, a cyclist was killed and the driver wasn’t drunk, on a cell phone, texting, or otherwise distracted, and still charges were filed against the driver. I wonder what the end of the world will be like… The cyclist in this case was wearing a helmet and hi-visibility garb.

Another report on the drug-dealing driver that hit a cyclist while texting a drug deal negotiation. Personal Injury Accident Notice: Texting driver strikes cyclist in N.J. Lawyer blather, but the interesting thing in this wreck was now we know the cyclist was wearing some kind of body armor when hit besides the helmet and reflective vest. “She had been wearing protective gear and a reflective vest and helmet when she was struck by the car.” Still didn’t prevent broken bones but to be honest even being inside a car doesn’t prevent broken bones when you get hit by a car or truck.

This is the only time I like seeing someone get hit riding a bicycle. Bike thief struck by vehicle during getaway try, police say Unfortunately the thief will most likely survive his close encounter. But given the nature of the injury what little smarts he had will be long gone, so even if he doesn’t go to prison he will get to be housed in an institution.

CHP is trying to work out how the cop hit the cyclist (again?!) in San Diego. Police reenact crash that killed bicyclist in University City I’m willing to bet that if they do a good reenactment they will find the cop was at fault and/or speeding.

Another report on the City of Brotherly Love over-reacting to a statistical blip in bicycle/pedestrian wrecks. Council’s problematic bicycle crackdown For perspective, “The proposed fine for headphones ($300) is almost three times the fine for running a red light“

And another report that just really chaps me off. Former Asheville firefighter pleads guilty in cyclist shooting He pleads guilty to trying to kill the cyclist with a gun, should have been attempted murder, and he gets, wait for it… 120 days in jail. Not years, not A year, not even a full 4 months. one hundred twenty days! I hope the DA can sleep with the knowledge of how badly he has dropped the ball on this case.

And thank the Lady Ghisallo, we are done with today’s article. Reminder unless there is breaking news of great import there will be no post for tomorrow. My sanity is more important than the weak Feeds I get on Sundays any way.

Billed @$.02, Opus