It’s been a long hot Summer, and the Feed

Looking at the stats for what the Weather Service calls “summer” here and Wow! it has been hot. Not just the usual Oh Gawd Why Do I Live Here? kind of hot with 30 days of 100°F highs out of 90 and an average temperature in the low 80s, but a Summer that had an average temperature that was nearly 87 with a series of record high morning lows and record high highs, sometimes both in the same day. Of course that is mostly theoretical because we still have a great deal of “summer” left to go here in the suburbs of Hell, where our 4 seasons are Cold, Hot, Melt Your Tennies, and Still Damn Hot. Most places would call our Spring and Fall temperatures their “Summer”, much as our Summer lows were higher than their highs. Why do I live here still when I have the option of leaving? Well because I like having something to complain about, the heat really isn’t that bad compared to some places I have lived (hello, Morocco?), and because I have something here I have wanted all my life, roots and people that I have known longer than 2 years that are not related to me. When you have lived in 47 states and 3 countries by the time you turn 15 having someplace to live with the same address for more than 2 years is an incredible luxury. I’m just glad that the military doesn’t do that to people any more, as the kids I grew up with had many of the symptoms of combat veterans, including very high rates of alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide. But that is fodder for another post…

Up first are updates and reactions to the woman that was run over after being honked at for trying to avoid debris from a construction site 3 days after Irene, in NYC. Erica Abbott Cycling Death Was ‘Totally Preventable’: Hurricane Irene, New Construction to Blame also Relative Of Cyclist Killed In Bushwick Blames Construction Company For Her Death and Cyclist run down on Williamsburg street What we now know: The construction company failed to secure their makeshift fencing prior to the storm and then failed to remove it from the street after the storm, the cyclist was trying to ride around the debris when the driver of the MB honked at her for moving out of the bike lane, which startled her and she fell off in front of the MB which ran over her neck severing her jugular vein, killing her in a few seconds. Some have blamed the cyclist for not doing a shoulder check but from what we now know the cyclist had allowed enough room to get around the debris had the driver not honked at her at close range and startled her with the loud noise. She fell over about 4 feet from her original line of travel which means the MB driver had the required 3 feet to pass if she hadn’t honked and caused the rider to fall. For those of you that ride regularly you already know how loud car horns are when you aren’t in a car. For the rest of you, we know you’re there, for the most part cars make enough noise that unless you are coasting up to us we can hear you about a quarter of a mile behind us. You don’t need to honk.

Another update on the LEO who was injured in a rare bike-on-bike wreck in the DelMarVa area of the East Coast. Bethany police chief’s condition improves Still nothing on the mode of the wreck so I can tell you what to do to avoid a similar wreck. Condolences to both cyclists on their injuries and wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

Infrastructure! in Canuckistan. Does Alberta law do enough to protect cyclists? The writer recognizes that there is a big difference between 2 tons of steel, plastic, and rubber, and a person riding on a bicycle and it isn’t just that motor vehicles move faster.

More infrastructure from Jolly Olde. Worrying number of hit-and-runs down to ‘reduction in traffic police’ Yes LEO are part of the infrastructure that makes cycling possible, or impossible depending on how you look at it and where you live (NYC cyclist ticketing blitz?). But having LEO out there removing bad drivers from the roads is a vital part of the infrastructure. Think about what LA would be like if every driver knew he or she could behave like TTTWLAMWAMD and face no consequences for it. Now my wreck is an example of what happens when the legal infrastructure for cyclists is ignored, the driver went completely unpunished until Karma caught up with him.

I have a very narrow window to get the post out tomorrow, there may not be one.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Another visit to the Lab Rat Keeper, and the Feed

First the good news: I only gained a single pound while visiting friends and family in TN and being the designated garbage disposal for unfinished restaurant meals. I was 207.6 last month and 208.6 this month. The bad news is this is the heaviest I have been in over a year…

The Feed was very large but mostly motorcycle wrecks and stories about people that used to ride bicycles that died while doing something else. Also I have made the editorial decision to defer reporting on bike wrecks in the SoCal area to BikingInLA because he gets notified as much as 24 hours about a link before I do. But if something really big breaks, like the Thompson case, or that guy from India that went nuts and started hitting people at random with his Hummer, then I’ll jump on that bandwagon with both feet.

Up first because that’s where I found it is this SWCC wreck in CT. Bicyclist hit by car This variation on the SWCC narrative has the cyclist riding off the sidewalk in front of the car with no mention of direction of travel for the bicycle or point of impact except the bicycle hit the right front of the car. There are several different scenarios where a bicycle could come in contact with the right front corner of a moving vehicle, so I can’t tell you how to avoid this wreck except to say not to ride on the sidewalk. I’m not saying the cyclist was riding on the sidewalk, I’m saying that you are almost invisible to drivers if you do ride on the sidewalk, so don’t.

A man is hit-and-run in Indianapolis. Police: Cyclist Dies After Hit-And-Run Crash Aside from the bicycle there is almost nothing I can say about this wreck to tell you how to avoid it. He was riding a bicycle and then he got hit.

Another hit-and-run against a cyclist by a drunk driver in SC. New details emerge in deadly bicyclist hit and run This one was a hit-from-behind wreck with no place for the cyclist to use as an escape route.

And this NC wreck report was almost totally useless. BREAKING NEWS: Cyclist killed in accident One killed and another transported to hospital and the only thing we know is that at least one of them was riding a bicycle. Maybe.

Remember what I said about bike wreck in SoCal? This one gets mentioned here. Davis Bicyclist, 71, Killed After Hit by Two Cars This has happened before, not too far from this wreck site, where a second car hit a downed cyclist before anyone could get to the body to check how badly injured he was. The bike was so badly damaged that police were unable to determine if the bicycle lights found at the scene were for the front or rear of the bike or if they were working at the time of the wreck. This is one reason why some authorities are saying that a bicycle needs 2 rear lights mounted vertically from each other, one flashing and the other steady. If the driver happens to glance at the bike during a dark phase of the flashing light there will still be the steady one to show the bike is in the road.

A left cross in Canuckistan, followed up with a hit-and-run. Cyclist taken to hospital following hit-and-run This is one of the least-avoidable types of wrecks there is because of the potential lack of reaction time depending on when the driver makes that turn. Intersection wreck protocols with emphasis on the quick-turn to the right to lessen the angle of impact and reduce the energy taken during the wreck. Remember avoid the wreck if humanly possible, but do it in such a way that if you don’t avoid the wreck you reduce the energy transfer from the other vehicle into yours (and you!).

Another GWN wreck involving a teen-aged cyclist. Cyclist, 14, killed after being hit by vehicle and 14 Year Old Cyclist Killed in Collision Not much to go on this time except that from the time of the wreck we know that lights and reflectors would not have made a difference in this wreck.

A real tear-jerker from Oz. Driver cries in court over cyclist’s death If the driver feels so bad about killing the cyclist why didn’t he drive with greater care about how he drove? And does anyone believe the bit about only going 15 km/hr (9 MPH) at the moment of impact? Apparently the judge didn’t as he found guilty on the aggravated charge rather than the lesser driving without due care.

And that’s all I can stand today, it didn’t take long to wear off my vacation.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

I hope you had a happy Massive Consumption day, and the Feed

OK so I’m a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to the secular celebration of Christmas, so sue me (or buy my silence with products). Anyway, the drunk (and otherwise intoxicated) drivers have exacted their toll on the cycling public this year (with the totals still not complete). As I type this out I haven’t even opened the folder for the Feed, but my witchy senses (and half a century of experience) tells me there will be drunks killing working stiffs riding their bikes home from menial jobs late at night. I really hope I’m wrong.

Up first is a report on why some (many?) people believe we need separate infrastructure from cars for bicycles, as a rider looking not to get hit by cars runs over road debris and gets injured in CA. Cyclist Injured After Hitting Debris On Road I love the final sentence in the article “Police said even though the cyclist was wearing a helmet at the time, the impact was strong enough to inflict head injuries that required a trip to the hospital.” The Magic Plastic Hat failed to save this man from harm, he must be a non-believer in the power of the Magic Plastic Hat. Or maybe, the Magic Plastic Hat was designed to protect when you stop and fall over, not when you fall at speed or get hit by a vehicle.

Hit-and-run with a possible drunk in NJ. Police seek information in Millburn hit-and-run Not much to go on with this one, black vehicle, possibly a Lexus, with debris left at the scene. Hit-from-behind protocols would have been appropriate in this case.

Another story on the female cyclist hit by the left side of a right turning truck that was passing on the right in the same lane. Cyclist’s Family Sues Truck Driver for Mom’s Death The more I read about this wreck the less I believe the CHP’s version of the story, because their physics just don’t match the real world to explain how the cyclist ended under the wheels of the truck. And I still don’t see how the truck driver passing on the right in the same lane was not found to be at least partially at fault, when passing a bicycle in the same lane the motor vehicle must be to the left of the bicycle, not the right. To pass a bicycle on the right the motor vehicle must be in a separate lane.

A rather large chunk of the rest of the post is from Jolly Olde. First from there is a report on a cyclist’s killer getting 4 years after being found high on pot at the scene of the crime. Driver locked up after he killed a cyclist while high on cannabis and Driver who killed cyclist while under influence of cannabis gets four years While the fact that the driver got any prison time for killing a cyclist is heartening, the driver would have gotten a higher sentence had he killed a dog with a chain. There was a story a few weeks back about a UK citizen that had abused a dog getting a 10 year sentence…

Still in the UK, the killer of a cyclist hit from behind on a straight stretch of road is sentenced. Cost of cyclist’s life – just £110 Yes, you read that right, less than $200 in costs and 200 hours of community service for homicide, because the victim was a cyclist…

A UK cyclist is injured by a hit-and-run driver in Spain, caution gory details. Cyclist Alan’s Spanish nightmare Not much information even when the wreck happened in another jurisdiction, it’s hard to do things differently in the UK even when the UK media laws don’t apply. Habits and all that.

Aftermath of a UK cyclist killed by a hit-and-run driver. Chris’ death will be hard to bear for family I am filled with such anger at people that do things like this. Hit-and-run should be treated like any other assault with a deadly weapon, not just swept under the rug.

Another report on the teenager that was left-hooked by a garbage truck in Oz. Christmas tragedy: teen cyclist killed Again this is a sad story that was entirely the fault of the driver of the truck that was passing the cyclist and turned left (mirror image of a right hook in the US) without clearing his left side for traffic.

Updates on the story from 2009 where a cycling lawyer was hit by another lawyer driving a car. The Explainer: The doctor, the lawyer and the forgiving soul

And that’s all I have for you this Christmas Day. Have a cup of cheer but don’t drive after it, and be as merry as is possible in these harsh economic times.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

I know it’s late, but it’s still a Feed

Yeah, sorry about being so late tonight, but I had Real Life^tm that had to be dealt with first, including obligations to my church. You will live, which is more than I can say about some of the subjects of the Feed. So just count yourself lucky if the worst thing you have to face is not having my blog post ready to read when you think it should have been there.

Up first because I still can’t believe it. The LAPD will actually do the jobs they are paid to do. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck vows to better protect cyclists Stay with me here, even though 90% of this article was linked to yesterday, this one is slightly different and has more words. But the implication that until there was a protest in the rain that hitting a cyclist was OK but now that cyclists came and lined up at the microphone in front of people charged with regulating the budget of the LAPD, now they will enforce the law when someone does something illegal to a cyclist. The thing that makes this really annoying is that until this happened you couldhit a cyclist deliberately and nothing would come of it.

Another case of hit-and-run that became attempted murder. Man suspected of deliberate bicycle accident put in jail I mean, stop and think for a moment, had he deliberately rammed another motor vehicle, there would have been no question that it was an assault or attempted murder. But in this case the man was allowed to roam around freely for over 3 months before he was arrested. How many more people could he have killed or maimed in the interim? BTW this was another one of those kinds of wrecks that you might have been able to avoid by being Superman, with super hearing and super quick reflexes, but if you were Superman why would you be riding a bicycle?

Here’s another one that makes you go “Hmmm…”Missoula man gets prison time for fleeing Reserve Street crash that killed cyclist He gets 3 years out of a 10 year prison sentence, not for killing the cyclist, that was just dandy. The sentence was for fleeing the scene. The implications again just floor me. The fact that the driver had pot in his blood at the time of his wreck and admitted being high, and had a previous wreck that killed a bystander, neither of which figured into the sentence, makes me slightly nauseous.

And this article is so full of omissions that I just can’t begin to name them all. Motorists and bicyclists – finding a happy median Yep only quoting the first part of the law and then ignoring the several paragraphs of exceptions that follow, and ignoring case law and substituting their own biases for facts in interpreting the parts they did put in…

That UK cyclist killed in a roundabout by a Lithuanian driving a white Mercedes semi has been named. Cyclist killed in crash with lorry named as Marc Dunk This was a terrible wreck, getting run over from behind by any kind of vehicle is every cyclist’s worst fear because these wrecks are so frequently fatal. BTW I didn’t find this out from any one article, UK media laws are very strict and I had to piece together bits of information from several articles on the same wreck to come to this conclusion. Unfortunately while I know how, I still don’t know the cyclist’s lane position yet so I can’t say if my standard hit-from-behind protocol would have helped. May the cyclist RIP.

More on the Julia Moore crash trial. Witness was first to speak to driver after fatal crash The more I read about Moore, the more disgusted of her I am. There was just no place for the cyclist to go to avoid this woman. Who expects a car to come through a red light after the cars have already started to go through in the other lane?

The father of a cyclist injured by a hit-and-run driver wonders how he got such a small fine. Dad calls for change to driving laws A £185 fine works out to be about $300US for a hit-and-run with injury. TANJ!

In South Africa where thousands of cyclists are preparing for the largest competitive cycling event in the world, discussion of why so many are getting killed or injured beforehand. Death on the roads My favorite line from the article: “[M]otorists bitch about cyclists riding abreast yet the cyclists who are killed are usually riding alone. “

They finally named the cyclist found dead in a creek in Enn Zed. Woman killed in bike accident named See, this is why I say to have a form of ID that won’t fall out of your pocket in a wreck, why you should use the link in the bikejournal.com store to buy RoadID or just some dogtags from a local Army/Navy store.

This is another reason why I don’t think that changes are going to come soon. Cycling Safety Campaign On Hold The safety campaign got put on hold because they spent the money on something else instead. Saving lives is something they can do some other time.

Because so many of their bike lanes were built before standards were instated SF has many miles of bike lanes that place cyclists in the most dangerous place to be on the roads. Saving Life and Limb By Avoiding the Door Zone Good information in this article, read and remember what you read. You don’t want to fail the pop quiz, there won’t be any opportunity for a retest.

A benefit was held for the cyclist victim of a crash, who is now relearning how to walk. Benefit held for injured cyclist My injury wasn’t as severe as this lady’s, but here insurance is much better than mine and she’s getting much more rehab than I got. I say good for her, anyone hurt in a wreck deserves better treatment from their insurance than I got. If you’re in the area, drop a donation into the bucket for her, and don’t worry about me.

A recall notice on a cyclocross bike. Bicycles and framesets If you bought a 2010 Redline Conquest Pro bike or frameset, the carbon fork can separate from the aluminum steertube, leaving you with a faceplant situation if you’re lucky. This is similar to what happened to Hincapie in the Paris-Roubaix a few years back.

And people were racing my favorite kind of bicycle in Florida’s sunny climes last weekend. Recumbent bikes flash speed on velodrome Lots of fun was had, you should be there next year, you don’t need a recumbent, just a bike or trike and a helmet.

And that’s all I have tonight. Come back in the morning for more.

Billed @$0.02, 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

Making baguettes, writing about bike wrecks and trying to find a ride to rehearsal

I’m making bread, creating a post, and trying to chase down a ride to rehearsal tonight for the SolstiCelebration. I only got a notice about the rehearsal late last night with almost no time to arrange a ride that could haul Gigi down to the Cathedral of Hope. And I’m doing this all at the same time, of course.

Once again almost all of the links are from outside the US, with most from the UK and Enn Zed, and only a total of 7 links even from the North American continent. Very few of the US and Canadian links are about specific wrecks, except for the ones about jurisprudence of course.

Up first because it’s a gripping story, the only person in North America that can make TTTWLAMWAMD look relatively good as a driver, Michael Bryant goes to court yesterday. Bryant case back in court Monday I’m hoping Mr. Bryant doesn’t get long to work at his new job, linked here yesterday, before he has to spend a lengthy stretch of time behind bars as a guest of the Crown. For those who have been living in a cave without newspapers or Internet access Bryant is accused of being the driver recorded on several security cameras hitting a cyclist from behind and knocking him from his bike, only to have the cyclist get back up to “discuss” the matter. Bryant then proceeded to run into the cyclist and drive on the wrong side of the street and up on to the sidewalk, hitting trees and lamp poles and eventually putting the cyclist against a mailbox that was bolted to the sidewalk where the cyclist, Darcy Sheppard, died from massive blunt trauma.

Also above the 49^th parallel is this story of a serial motor vehicle offender that killed a cyclist a few years back with a stolen vehicle stealing another vehicle and leading police on a high speed chase. Accused in high-speed chase was driver in fatal crash The excuse given for the first theft, the one that killed the cyclist, was lame to the extreme, “he stole the truck because he didn’t feel like walking“. Well he won’t be doing much walking in prison, but I think making him hike there wearing shackles and under armed guard, in public with maybe TV coverage, will remind him that driving a motor vehicle is a privilege that he will never ever get to enjoy for the rest of his life.

Another report on charges being brought against the killer of a UK LEO while he was riding a bicycle. Man charged over death of cyclist Jim Fleming on A413 Not as much information in this article as there was in yesterday’s.

And a cyclist is injured in, I think, the north of England. Cyclist hurt in Sticklepath road accident Again the UK media laws prevented any actual information about the wreck from being given, but the fact that at one point it was necessary to perform CPR on the cyclist indicates that this was a pretty bad crash.

A similar wreck in the south of England. Teenager injured in Southsea Again nothing useful, but the cyclist was removed from the scene on a backboard, indicating a possible spinal injury.

A road “defect” that has injured cyclists before the public transit that requires it can even be put into service in Scotland. Edinburgh tram lines throw cyclists off track Bless the Beeb for bringing this case of infrastructure for one group imperiling another.

More on UK infrastructure. The Mayor needs short term transport targets to keep him on track Boris has great long-term goals, but nothing in the short term that will take London there.

And in a story to rival Dutch police giving helmets and hugs, UK police give out HiViz vests to cyclists wearing dark clothing. Cyclists in dark clothing stopped by Hampshire police – and given free hi-viz gear While this is nice, why are they stopping legal cyclists over this issue?

From Enn Zed, more about the woman that turned in to a group of cyclists after running a stop sign. Sentence delay as police assess cyclist’s injuries Yes, it will be a while until they can communicate with the worst of the victims to determine how this female waste of human skin can be properly punished.

Back to North America for the first of the infrastructure articles, a woman in Canadia finds a way to keep cyclists and pedestrians from winding up under a snow plow. N.L. woman making snow removal safer Jeanette Holman-Price began lobbying for side guards, which run from the front wheel to the rear wheel, to be placed on trucks after her daughter was killed in 2006 by a snow-removal truck in Montreal. This is one of those things that is dangerous but has to be done or even more people are in danger, so they are always looking for things to make it less dangerous.

And back in the US a cyclist speaks about riding in the streets of Philly. Injured cyclist stresses bike safety After being hit by a car while biking, student Robert Stillwagon says he’ll keep riding as safely as possible. Yeah, how about doing something about the reasons why cyclists sometimes ride on the sidewalks, instead of punishing everyone for the transgressions of a tiny minority?

In CA they are starting to recognize that education has a place in cyclist safety. It’s time to stop killing cyclists I love the thought, I would like to see something behind it. The LAC defensive cycling course is a great start. This is another article that it would be a good idea not to read the comments.

Another lawmaker that “gets” it. Paulin drafting a safe-passing bill for cyclers Three feet is nice, but making hitting a vulnerable user a crime with some bite is required to really protect cyclists and pedestrians. That and LEO that do their jobs and actually enforce the laws as written, not as they think they should be.

A specialty license plate helps fund bicycle safety education in KY. Specialty license plate helps fund bike safety classes This is another article that I strongly caution against reading the comments. My mind is pre-exploded and safe from the words of idiots, I can’t assume the same about yours.

And finally someone here on WordPress read a book about bicyles and really liked it. My Favorite Books of the Year The one about bicycles was first on his list.

And that’s all I have today, I have to go finish baking the bread and other things.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Running late again, the Feed

Yes we’re running a bit late again. This time it’s because of trying to get shopping done, and bake some bread for family consumption, plus the creaky antique of a computer I’m using. It would be easier to post the blog if getting the articles to link to didn’t take so long. After about a half-dozen the computer starts to get bogged down and Java and Flash scripts start causing program crashes from running my poor AMD 1 GHz processor at its limit, and it just gets worse the more windows I have to keep open to be able to link the articles from. I currently have 24 windows up, one to compose this post from, 22 containing articles for links, and one that monitors my system use (not what I type or anything like that but resource use like memory and CPU). Right at the moment I’m using 90+% of my CPU resource, but I still have about a third of my memory available.

Up first because it’s the closest thing to being local for me is an update on the cyclist killed in Houston. Honor-guard ride set for late cyclist Campbell The comments were blissfully short and respectful. Still no word on if the car that hit him went through a traffic control or not.

This is the kind of wreck that just makes me sad and angry at the same time. Boy, 9, dies after being hit by pickup The driver admits, no volunteers to driving with impaired vision, why wasn’t an arrest made at the scene? The kid was following traffic rules and waited for the truck to stop before proceeding and then was run over by a bozo driving a truck raised so high he couldn’t see a legal road vehicle crossing in front of him. Why was the driver allowed to drive away from the scene? More 9-year-old killed in bike accident identified

We don’t know what caused this hit from behind wreck in Tempe AZ but I can make a pretty good guess… Tempe PD: Bicyclist seriously injured in collision with car Traffic backed up from a previous fender-bender and a cyclist in the middle because of debris, add in drivers more interested in what’s on the side of the road instead of what is in front of their car, and you get flattened cyclist. The driver in this case went through an intersection where the cyclist was already crossing without paying attention to the cyclist and broadsided the cyclist at a fair rate of knots, causing serious injury to the cyclist and totaling the car.

A teenager riding his bike to school is hit from behind by a bus. Harrisonburg Teen Injured When Hit by Bus The bus driver was charged with reckless driving for not slowing the vehicle when sun glare diminished her vision. And I soooo relieved that none of the bus passengers was injured when a 10 ton bus ran over a bike and rider that weighed less than 200 pounds.

And while the bus driver is facing jail time, a driver that ran several cyclists off the road and threatened them with a gun gets probation> Driver who targeted cyclists gets probationary sentence Some people are just real slow to learn, or maybe because he was threatening cyclists instead of “real people” the sentence was so lenient. Whatever the reason, someone needs to invite this guy for a beer and then alert his probation officer so his probation can get revoked.

In a similar vein, the sentencing of TTTWLAMWAMD has been delayed because of the swine flu. Breaking News: Christopher Thompson sentencing delayed Apparently because H1N1 was detected in the cellblock the former Dr. Thompson was unable to be interviewed by psychiatrists for his evaluation prior to sentencing, so will have to spend the holidays in the LA County Jail. From what I have been able to determine he is not in general population but in a special jail for rich people, something he won’t get when he gets transferred to regular prison. The next hearing date is 1/8/10, but i don’t know what courtroom it will be heard in, I assume the same one as it has been for the trial.

While I usually trust the Motley Fool for investment advice, I don’t extend the same deference about their take on traffic safety. Be careful on your bikes, trikes, and unicycles! The same old car-head thinking, why are cyclists on the road when there’s a perfectly good bike path in the park? Well besides the fact that some people ride to get places instead of for {shudder} exercise, there is the corollary rebuttal about why you aren’t driving on the highway instead of surface streets?

Another report on the LA cyclist injured by a hit-and-run driver. Hit and Run Driver Critically Injures NoHo Bicyclist The cyclist was listed in “critical” condition the last I heard from my back-channel informants. I hope they catch the humanoid that did this.

In Canuckistan killer drivers will face trial over the death of a cyclist during a street race. Street racing trial ordered after hearing I find it upsetting that racing on the street is a greater offense than killing someone, riding a bicycle or not. Street racing can get you life in Canada, killing a cyclist about 5 years if the reports on the former elected official who killed a cyclist in Toronto are accurate.

In more jurisprudence news from above the 49^th parallel, a man is fined $2000 CDN for killing a cyclist because the driver wasn’t watching where he was going. Road death brings $2,000 fine “Death always complicates sentencing in any case,” said provincial court Judge Peter Ayotte, who ruled a jail term was not called for. OK, the driver left-hooked a cyclist, resulting in death, so exactly what does call for a jail sentence? and the judge might want to re-read his law books, except for central city areas cyclists are allowed to ride on sidewalks and use crosswalks.

Also from the Great White North is this report on sidewalk cycling. Bikes don’t belong on sidewalks I agree, bicycles don’t belong on sidewalks except to park. The only people that think otherwise are drivers who don’t want bicycles in the street.

I have to go someplace so this post has a “to be continued” addendum to come later.

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

The LA county DA wants (needs) to hear from you, and the Feed

Opening up with a strange request from the LA County DA’s office for cyclist input on the sentencing of TTTWLAMWAMD. You can use this link to get more information and a mailto link for the DA.

Clearing this one out of the queue early because of the heavy Flash content of the site is making my computer slower than I type and causing typos, a texting driver hits a cyclist and when they find him they also find thousands of dollars worth of drugs and other items. Police: Drug-Deal Text Lead To Crash The cyclist will pull through, but good luck on getting any compensation from the driver until after the prison sentence is completed…

Another bicycle wreck in AZ (are they sure they aren’t just FL without the beaches?) Woman killed in motorcycle-bike wreck identified From what I can find out about this one back-channel the cyclist was hearing impaired and went through a red light unable to hear the unmuffled motorcycle approaching. This was a case of not paying attention to surroundings, which in this case was fatal. Aside from not running red lights while you ride the best way to avoid a similar wreck is just to be alert, and don’t impair your hearing when you ride. for those reading that might be hearing-impaired, this means keeping that head moving and looking at more than just the road in front of you. This motorcycle was visible if the cyclist had just looked in that direction before entering the intersection.

And from one of my old stomping grounds in the far NW corner of WA, another Bike Ninja gets clobbered. Bellingham cyclist injured after slamming into side of truck Reflectors would not have helped in this wreck, the only thing that would have made this rider visible was lights. If you’re going to do the Bike Ninja thing, you have to behave as if you’re invisible. Or you could just buy lights and either keep them charged or keep spare batteries around for when the old ones die. I’m a big fan of big lights myself, click on the tag for the Honkin’ Huge Taillight^tm to find out how to make one for yourself. I’m still working on the companion headlight, that is both cheap, energy efficient and powerful without glaring into oncoming road users. I have the low beam “seen by” light, still trying to find a good high beam “see by” light.

Austin area cyclists are annoyed that when things got tight they got banned “for their safety” from a road near the city. Cyclists oppose new road ban in Manor Construction on the road made sharing impossible at the speed limit, so instead of lowering the speed limit to a level that was safe (legal in TX) they just banned bicycles.

Philadelphia thinks they can license bicycles. Bike riders may have to sign up First of all, city bicycle licenses have never worked, second what about people from outside the city that ride their bikes in the city, third how young are they going to go on the license?

Finally an article from Bob Mionske on the violations of the civil rights of cyclists when they get injured by drivers of motor vehicles. Traffic Injustice What can I add to that?

That’s all I have today, more as I get it.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Live in LA CA? You could be semi-famous!

Here’s the deal: I want to be among the first to post a report on TTTWLAMWAMD getting sent to prison and for how long. Contact me here and I’ll give my e-mail addy to you to post the results. I keep a window open to my inbox and a new post ready to go on the day of the sentencing, and when I see your post in my Inbox I read it, do a copy and paste with your name on it and add my own pithy commentary and repeat your name several times as the reporter on scene. You become semi-famous and I get high Google search results driving up my blog traffic and making me more attractive to advertisers should I move to my own web site.

Opus