I feel a breeze, and the Feed

Well as of right now as I type these words the video and pictures of losing more than 5 months of hair and beard growth have not yet been posted, but there is a constant draft in my house and in the rest of the world. I know that is because what used to be covered by a thick coat of hair is now exposed, but it still feels on the emotional level like the whole world has gotten drafty.

Up first, more on the cyclist that died in NC after being hit by a drunk driver. Cyclist Hit By DWI Driver In Lexington Dies This was the cyclist that was hit at a speed of between 50 and 55MPH on the shoulder of the road by a drunk driver who also hit-and-run. The driver had almost double the legal limit for BAC%.

Another NC cyclist death by a drunk driver. Greenwood teen charged in fatal bike crash Drunk driver runs off the road, hitting and killing a cyclist, but they had to mention the cyclist was not wearing a helmet… Anyway intersection protocol might have helped, Breathalyser interlocks on motor vehicle engine controls would have prevented this.

Just a short drive from the previous wreck, a cyclist is killed in a SWCC. Man hit, killed while riding bike Google Maps was unable to locate the intersection where this wreck was supposed to have happened, and I did a manual search for the intersection myself from one side of Sumter county to the other on US15 with no luck either in locating any kind of “Road 404″. The only 404 I found was a 404 error, So either this was a local designation that was not incorporated into Google Maps (and just to be sure I zoomed in to the shows lot boundaries level of zoom) or the intersection was mis-identified, or the wreck never happened and the whole article was a ruse to drive web traffic and gather eyeballs for the ads. Assuming the wreck really did happen as described it had to have been at an uncontrolled intersection where the cyclist must determine that there is a big enough gap in traffic before attempting to cross. I didn’t see many intersections where the speed limit would have made it impossible to see a car coming at night before you could cross on a bike. But the wreck supposedly happened @ 0545, still deep dark in the early morning. Anyway, intersection protocols to avoid, SBR to prevent.

In Eastern WA, a motorcycle hits a bicycle killing both riders. Neighors not surprised by deadly motorcycle, bike crash Nothing on the mode of the wreck, but locals say that motor vehicle traffic was routinely too fast for conditions there. There was an intersection mentioned in the article I read (which may be different from the one there when you click the link) so I’m going to suggest intersection protocols to avoid the wreck, and SBR to prevent it completely.

Another link to that smelly ball of goo that NYPD wreck investigation has become. A Push For More NYPD Accountability For Fatal Cyclist Crashes Yep, this one is turning into a hold-your-nose kind of deal.

Speaking of hold-your-nose, the killer of an RAF officer in the UK is sentenced. Delivery driver hit and killed RAF officer who served as Queen’s aide – but escapes jail as he was ‘blinded by the sun’ Apparently it is peachy keen to continue at speed when you can’t see past the front end of your vehicle, even if it kills someone.

Another UK killer of cyclists is actually sent to jail. Learner driver from Rainham jailed for killing schoolboy Thomas Stone Well, this driver was not even fully allowed to drive alone, was not insured, and at the time of the wreck was alone in the car…

LifeStyle! ALEXANDER: Disabled athletes should inspire us Handcycling can be fun, and is a great form of low-impact cross-training. It would be better if the vehicles didn’t cost as much as a decent used car, but given the production volumes and the fact that they’re subsidised by insurance for most of the people that need one, I don’t see prices coming down in the near future.

Last link is to an article on possible post-lithium developments in battery technology. Supercharged! Battery Power for the Future In case you wonder why this is important in a bicycle blog, one of my passions is e-assist bikes, and one of the stumbling blocks for those is a lack of both power- and energy-dense batteries at a reasonable price, that can be recharged as fast as filling a tank on an ICE-assist bike. Also the lack of good batteries are the major impediment to electric cars, for pretty much the same reason. And electric cars will be much easier to live with than ICE cars because drivers will have to drive slower to conserve what energy they can get in the car unless they want to have to charge every time they stop. IOW unless there is a major change in battery physics that makes batteries equal to gasoline I don’t see e-cars being driven as hard or as fast as ICE cars, because they will be stuck away from the charging point. I don’t see an easy way to bring a few Wh of electricity to a stranded e-car that has depleted the battery, like you can bring a jerry-can of gas to a car…

And last thought, Yehuda Moon is coming out from behind the paywall for a week, if you haven’t read it, or haven’t read it for a while, you should click the link in the sidebar and go there…

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Read the comments to my last post, and the Feed

If you read my last post you know I announced that Rick Smith had found a way to actually turn a profit from Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery. Well you should read the comments to that post, and thank you whoever you are. That sentence will make sense after you read the comments.

Up first is a story with multiple links about a man killed s few miles from where I used to live in TN. Cyclist Struck By Vehicle, Seriously Injured and Cyclist struck, seriously injured At this point media and LEO are not blaming the cyclist, which in this case is a strong indication that the driver of the motor vehicle ran the red light at this intersection. I haven’t ridden a bike there, but I have been to this intersection and from what I remember it is a nightmare for a cyclist, with either 8 or 10 lanes to cross whichever street you’re riding, plus a wide median on one of the streets, basically an intersection that a cyclist can’t cross unless they are first or second in line when the light changes or they have reached cruise speed shortly after the light changes, crossing under a stale green would be nearly impossible without spending several seconds still in the intersection after the light goes red. More MPD: Cyclist in ‘critical but stable condition’

A Tulsa sidewalk cyclist is blamed for being there to get hit. Cyclist Injured After Being Hit By A Truck Obviously the driver was not expecting a cyclist on the sidewalk entering the road (or apparently anyone else either) and hit the cyclist because of that. To avoid ride where drivers can see you in the road, but if you are a regular reader of my blog I don’t need to tell you that.

Another story that generated a lot of links was this MIT graduate getting hit near Boston. MIT 2010 alum killed in traffic accident and Bicyclist struck, killed by tractor-trailer in Cambridge also Bicyclist Dies In Cambridge Crash more Cyclist Struck, Killed By Truck In Cambridge another one Cyclist struck, killed by truck in Cambridge Yes that last link was from Louisiana Bicyclist dies after being hit by truck in Cambridge More Bicyclist struck and killed by truck Another one Bicyclist killed by truck was MIT graduate Next to last link MIT graduate is identified as victim in bicycle-truck collision Last one Cyclist killed in Cambridge accident ID’d After reading all the reports this appears to be a right hook, and the final position of the bicycle indicates the truck driver was at fault. The Wicked Local link stated the bicycle was under the rear wheels of the tractor portion of the vehicle, which was a tanker semi-trailer and a tractor. Anyway, if this wreck could have been avoided intersection protocols would have been the way to do it.

A cyclist is hit and killed in AZ. Elderly cyclist struck by car and killed in Oro Valley The bike in the picture looks like it was hit from the side, and the place where it was hit looks like a sharp S-curve from the picture. One way that this wreck makes some kind of sense from a physics point of view is the driver was buzzing the cyclist to “teach him a lesson about riding in the street” and swerved into the cyclist from the side, or the driver was cutting the corner while the cyclist held his line and the driver pushed the cyclist to the side. Same wreck, just one is stupid pretending to be smart, and the other is just oblivious.

And another reason why drivers aren’t worried about hitting a cyclist, Kalifornia Edition. CHP recommends manslaughter for motorist suspected of causing Gilroy cyclist’s death The date in the link stated the cyclist died more than 3 years ago in October 2008, leaving less than 9 months to bring the driver to trial before the statute of limitations expires on these charges.

Infrastructure! news from the UK. Call to change safety mirror rules If I read this article correctly, a Cabinet-level official has to approve these vital bits of infrastructure, each one individually. This sounds like it was intentionally made to make this as difficult as possible so it wouldn’t get done unless the Secretary was in a magnanimous mood.

I wonder how many Interstate highways were financed with bake sales and golf tournaments? Residents vow to raise private funds for Yorkville bike path

And that’s it for today, I can’t take it any more.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Yehuda Moon back up, and the Feed

Yehuda Moon appears to be back in business on a Mon-Fri schedule behind a paywall after the previous 4 years was Kickstarted to dead-tree format. While I’m happy for Rick finding a way to turn a buck at it, I’m going to miss the comics and the comments as I don’t have the money for things like helmets and headlights for my bike, or to keep working computers in my office. So as much as I enjoyed the comic when it was free I won’t be able to read it now that it’s behind a paywall.

Up first an Amish woman is hit-from-behind in OH. Amish woman 1 mile from home when killed The woman was wearing a reflective vest and had a blinking taillight, so it wasn’t like she couldn’t have been seen had the driver been looking. or may she was seen and targeted for riding a bicycle on the road like I was. Anyway, hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, not that I think they would have done much good given all the other measures the cyclist took to avoid getting hit. Interesting side note, the comments on this link are disabled.

One driver hits 2 cyclists with the right of way in Phoenix AZ, no charges filed. Two Cyclists hit in Cave Creek AFAIK this was a right-hook of cyclists who were using the bike trail where it crossed this road right where it intersected a road parallel to the bike trail. I can’t see the video, but the picture I could pull up seemed to show the cyclists ended up in the wrong lane for a right hook or a left cross, the driver would have had to be pulling into the wrong lane for the cyclists to end up where they did. So at this point I don’t know exactly what is going on on this one, but it looks like it might have been an assault on the cyclists who were crossing the road.

Infrastructure! news from GA as drought conditions are tearing apart a bike trail. Safety concerns for cyclists on Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail This is exactly the same kind of destruction the drought is inflicting on the roads here in the suburbs of Hell.

Final link is infrastructure from Montreal up in the Great White North. Clear bike paths of snow and ice, study says More people would ride if the bike lanes and paths were kept clear after snow falls. I wonder if they did a similar study of drivers staying in if roads were not cleared (ow! I sprained my tongue sticking it too far in my cheek).

And that’s it and I’m out of here as I go get more things to make my new taillight more awesome. With the new stuff this light will actually exceed the output of the Honkin’ Huge Taillight^tm, while using less power from the more powerful but physically smaller and lighter battery, which means longer burn time, 17.5 hours theoretical based on the rating of the cells. And there is room to add even more light to the bracket should I desire it at a later date…

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Yehuda Moon packs it in again

It pains me to relate that Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery (see link to the right) has once again ceased publishing new comics. I’m not privy to the reasons other than burnout and the need to get something going that made more money, but that was in the posting about Rick quitting in the comic.

As a (former) bike builder I have a little of most of the characters in the comic (yes, even a little bit of Kevlar Bead), but I wouldn’t be doing this blog if there wasn’t a lot of Yehuda in my personality. I want to use the power of bicycles to build a better world, just like he does, and I get angry at cagers for not sharing the roads then acting like I’m the selfish one. We could solve so many of the problems facing this country just by switching our transportation away from private motor vehicles using fossil fuels towards bicycles and electric rail to move people and goods with trucks used for the last mile problem i.e. local deliveries only. Our highways would last for hundreds of years if we take out the millions of cars and the heavy trucks, we could take a lane in either direction for rail (or just make one side for rail) and reconnect our towns with rail that we now connect exclusively by trucks… and pollution would drop because it is so much easier to remove the bad stuff out of a stationary source than it is to clean up a mobile source like a car or truck. We could move our butts with bicycles and our goods with trains, as well as moving people long distances by rail (with bicycle cars to get the bikes from one place to another when going long distances). Obesity would disappear practically overnight, pollution would take a little longer, global warming will take more than my mind can come up with but bicycles will end up being part of the solution eventually…

Well at this point I don’t know if Rick ever intends to resume comics or if he’s going to leave the story hanging with Yehuda on the way to Interbike inside a cargo container bound for Las Vegas, but if he does I hope in the Yehudaverse they get the whole street for bikes with a cars keep to a single lane on the far right no faster than walking speed. Maybe something nice will happen to Yehuda in Vegas and he’ll come back with a booth girl on each arm (and riding a triplet when not hanging on his arms). Bon voyage Yehuda! This is not goodbye but farewell until we meet again.

PSA, Opus

Riding the virtual alleycat, and the Feed

It’s an “Interesting day” so far today, got up and immediately got on the computer to “ride” the Yehuda Moon “Virtual Alleycat” race and got on a site and couldn’t find teh checkpoint, so I bookmarked the site and got to filtering the Feed and making the post.

Up first for no particular reason is a very brief article from Seattle. Bicyclist Seriously Injured In Collision With Car I don’t see what the problem is with LEO in this case. The cyclist was riding as required in the outside lane, the driver changed from the inside lane to the outside lane and hit the cyclist from behind. The charge is attempted murder with aggravating circumstances, life without parole , go to prison and stay there forever. To avoid as a cyclist, use the hit-from-behind protocols, as a driver maybe some anger-management classes to deal with displaced anger issues because there is nothing the cyclist in the other lane is or has done to you that in any way justifies this behavior.

Still on the West Coast but moving a little south to CA, a lawsuit over an unsafe and unmarked road condition. Council To Hash Out Million-Dollar Lawsuit Filed By Injured Cyclist Apparently there were metal plates left in the road that were the same color as the pavement instead of being marked with red paint on the edges and also raised up on the leading edge of the plate that if you didn’t hit the plate just right you would lose control of the front wheel and crash like the plaintiff. The problem is if you have to be constantly watching for people in motor vehicles trying to kill you you can’t also keep an eye out for slick metal plates at an angle to your path. I really don’t know how you can avoid wrecking on a hazard like this.

A cyclist who was killed is remembered for another one of the things he loved. A new legacy for the man who loved music and life “Last week, the symphony announced the Shermans’ $40,000 gift will create an endowed chair in David’s name.” That will certainly make people remember you for being something other than a guy that got killed riding a bike.

A story that I’m sure those of you who don’t strictly use this site as your cycling news source have heard of by now. Driver who killed eight cyclists in horror road smash was high on marijuana Usually pot mellows you out and you don’t drive angry (or so I’m told, I never knowingly consume mind-altering substances stronger than caffeine and then operate a motor vehicle), but this driver was under a ban for dangerous driving in Italy so there might have been some other issues that had nothing to do with smoking pot.

Another cyclist is killed in India by a speeding car. Five people killed in road accidents in Faizabad The driver was going too fast but in trying to not hit the cyclist with his entire family on the bike he ran head on into a bus and still killed the cyclist and his entire family. There were entirely too many variables in this one to tell you how to avoid a wreck like this. From the story it sounds like there was severely impaired sight lines in both directions. Add vehicles travelling too fast for conditions and you get mayhem.

The widower of a cyclist that was killed by a head-on driver in Enn Zed shows compassion for the driver. Widower says driver ‘a victim too’ I still can’t see what she was a victim of other than her own bad judgement in driving too fast, but I will acknowledge the man for his compassion.

And that is all the news that fits today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Another trip to the Lab Rat Keeper, and the Feed

I made another trip to the LRK today to monitor my vitals and check to see that I have been a good boy and taking my meds. I had a new nurse taking my vitals which is always funny to watch, a little less so now that they started warning the new hires about my rest pulse. I was really working the old cardiac muscle hard 46 times a minute with an average BP of 121/79. This is what happens when I don’t get to finish my coffee before leaving the house, with a “normal” dose of caffeine my rest pulse is up around 50-55…

Up first from the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike we get another DUI hit-and-run murder… Fla. man charged in death of cyclist As of the moment the charge is DUI manslaughter, but I’m sure a more appropriate murder charge will be filed eventually. As for how to avoid, fat chance. The cyclist was killed well off the road on the shoulder and was hit from behind, to have gotten any further over the cyclist would have had to be riding in the loose gravel and broken glass on the unimproved portion of the shoulder. The cyclist had already done as much as any rider could to prevent his own death, but there isn’t much you can do about drunks aside from installing a breathalyser interlock on cars as they come off the assembly line.

On the other side of the country a doped-up driver with a kid in the car hits a cyclist and leaves the scene, but witnesses recall the distinctive paint job on her car and she’s caught within hours. PD: Hit-And-Run Driver Caught On drugs, carrying drugs, with a baby in the car, runs a red light and t-bones a cyclist, yep, they’re digging a new basement for her to live in under the jail. Shame about the boy losing his mommy, but I think CPS (or the CA equivalent) will be able to find him a much better parent that will take care of him and make sure he takes his meds to control the “issues” his mother left him with…

Ghost bike in the PGH. Ghost Bikes: Rough memorials honor cyclists killed while riding When I think how close I came to “earning” a ghost bike of my very own…

A Canadian cyclist is honored by the formation of… a hockey team? Tribute to fallen cyclist It’s a cute jersey, and I don’t know how big a hockey fan the cyclist was before he was killed, he might have been a huge Leafs fan. The important part is that something came out of this for the good of many if it couldn’t be good for all.

In Jolly Olde a truck driver that killed a cyclist gets jail. Ten months in jail for lorry driver who killed Margate cyclist The driver was looking for “boy racers” that used the area as a racetrack instead of paying attention to the cyclist he hit at a pedestrian crossing (the cyclist wasn’t in the pedestrian crossing, he and the truck were going the same way).

From Oz, someone booby-trapped a popular cycling route with a live electrical wire. Prank puts cyclists’ lives at risk The wire would have caught anyone riding a bike taller than a recumbent low-racer, hitting an adult on a DF bike about stomach height.

Still in Oz, the widow of a cyclist wants to speak with the board deciding the professional fate of his killer. Cyclist’s widow wants legal board reform The driver was a douche, and the widow wants to put a face on the victim for the board debating the killer’s punishment.

In news from fictional universes, the man that attempted to kill Yehuda Moon was arrested today and charged with multiple counts including attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon as well as felony littering. Confessions

And that’s all folks!

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Thud, we keep bringing you the hits with the Feed

Yes, there were a lot of articles about cyclists getting hit by motor vehicles over the weekend, and a few actually made sense (the narrative, not the wrecks).

Up first is another update on the cyclist who was riding across the country to raise money for the victims of the BP oil spill. Funeral set for cyclist killed on fundraising ride So this seemed like it was helping out people whose lives have been devastated by the spill and that’s probably what the cyclist intended, but what it is really is charity for BP because money raised for immediate meeds is money BP doesn’t have to spend later. Or maybe that money could be then spent on a memorial to the people that were harmed but who didn’t work for BP. First take care of the people, then figure out the money. But BP has to pay for everything eventually.

And an update on the cyclist killed by a bus in San Francisco CA. Muni Head Expresses Condolences To Family, Friends Of Cyclist Killed In Collision With Bus Now they say it was a SWSS? I’m sure the video from the bus will show the driver didn’t move far enough left to make a clean pass, if anyone outside the bus company sees that video…

A new wreck in Upstate NY. Cyclist in “satisfactory” condition after Wednesday crash in Canandaigua LEO is sitting on this report for some reason, also there are no tickets or charges issued yet.

In the Great White North a cyclist on an electric-assist bike missed a corner but hit the car. E-bike rider seriously injured in Windsor crash The cyclist was reported to be riding at a high rate of speed (for a bicycle) and took the turn too wide and hit the car coming to the stop sign head on. To avoid a similar wreck either slow down or learn to take corners tighter at full speed. Something interesting is another wreck mentioned in the report about a cyclist on an e-assisted bike getting a door prize last month and the driver actually getting charged with an offence.

Poor traffic control during a race in South Africa. Woman killed during cycling event The killer’s vehicle came onto the race course and hit the cyclist as she was competing. The cyclist was setting up for the sprint to the finish line when she was hit. Initial blame for the driver hitting the cyclist, but some blame must be apportioned to the organizers for traffic control that failed to control traffic.

A ride to remember a fallen cyclist takes on a life of its own. Ride for Miles event in University Heights successful once more This ride remembers a cyclist killed a few years back in an horrendous crash. All proceeds went to the support of the Miles Coburn Environmental Seminar at John Carroll. One of the projects of this fund is providing bicycle helmets to children and students.

And that’s all the news that gives me fits this Columbus Day. Now go discover an Indian or something, but do it on a bicycle. And while you’re on the Internets go read Yehuda Moon the greatest bicycle comic strip ever. Not that there is a great deal of competition for the award…

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Fizz, I know how you feel

Yehuda Moon for 10-10-10: Thistle Knows What She’ll See As I grow older I have lost many cherished possessions, not the least of which was my first 2-wheeler.

PSA, Opus

Another day in which I hold my nose (figuratively) while filtering the Feed

Yes, today was a real stinkerooney of a Feed. Not so much the wrecks, wrecks are just wrecks, they happened and you can’t make them unhappen so you have to accept them and go on and do what you can to make sure a similar one doesn’t happen again. The comments and the opinion articles were what just made me billious. Needless to say, don’t read the comments and I won’t link to the toxic opinions. If you really need to read the toxic opinions BikinginLA has all the same links as I had in the Feed as far as toxic opinions are concerned, there’s a link to that blog in my blogroll. There’s also some stuff I missed, and I have stuff that he missed.

And one of the articles with the most toxic comments is this one about 2 cyclists struck from behind in WI. Bike shop owner injured in crash with car All 3 vehicles were headed east at about sunrise so glare might have been a problem, along with car-head thinking that just because you can’t see that doesn’t mean you need to slow down in case there is something moving more slowly on the road in front of you like a tractor or a child waiting for a school bus, or a bicycle or 2.

In a case of WTF a cyclist is hit by not one but 2 drunk drivers, the second time in mid-air from the first hit. Cyclist injured in 2-vehicle crash The cyclist was “salmoning” north on the west side of the road (east is to the right when facing North), but still 2 DUI drivers that close to one another? That’s like 2 bolts of lightning in quick succession, somebody was going to get him.

A doctor and soldier from a post where I was stationed during my active duty is hit during a group ride by a distracted driver in an SUV. Cyclist seriously injured when hit by SUV during group ride Note that there were 5 cyclists hit, but the doctor is the only one reported on by the media outlet. Also note the dichotomy of the road description, with the driver calling it “narrow and curvy” and a local cyclist saying the accident site was fairly wide and had good sight lines “for about a mile”. I can’t pull up a street view of the wreck site (not enough details) so I can’t say who is right, but I do know that hitting 5 cyclists requires either a tremendous amount of distraction or a low double-digit IQ, or both…

In Spokane a van and cyclist come together in an intersection with bad results for the cyclist. In brief: Crash injures cyclist, closes intersection You know just once I would like to see a repeat of that wreck where the car hit the cyclist and then the driver died. Not that I wish bad things to happen to people, I’m just really tired of the bad things always happening to the cyclist in a car/bicycle wreck. To avoid, use intersection protocol and hope the van isn’t running the red light…

Another report on that St. Louis wreck where they won’t know if charges will be filed in at least 3-4 months. St. Louis police: Bicyclist hit, killed by car At this point I have to say that if it takes 4 moths to get a toxicology screen back, you need to revamp your police lab or start just shooting drunk drivers.

Lifestyle, in OH the survivors of a cyclist that died of head injuries sustained in a wreck donate more than 100 helmets to give away free. Free helmets in memory of cyclist WoaB says that gloves and helmets are the only PPE we have and while not perfect they do reduce injury in some cases and only rarely increase injury over not wearing them. So wear your helmets, learn the right way to wear them, and put one on before you ride a bike. Just don’t go making it a law…

And if you haven’t been following Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery they just finished a very intense arc that has left Yehuda temporarily (I hope) both bald and beardless. The arc started with the September 1st strip and ended yesterday, now they are dealing with the aftermath… I’m personally a cross between Fred and Yehuda from the strip, where I differ from Fred is I didn’t stay dead. And I don’t sabotage cars, either.

And that’s all the news that gives me fits. Y’all have a pleasant Tuesday.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

I’m still plugging along, and the Feed

I have been up and going all day today. I went to PCF to pick up some top secret bicycle parts, I wnet to the C-store for a lottery ticket and 3/4 of a gallon of gas to run the lawn mower, and then I mowed the lawn after moving the section of fence that got blown down by the tiny tornado last spring. My knees feel like jelly, my toes feel like over-ripe grapes about to burst, and my nose feels like I switched my Kleenex for 80 grit wet-or-dry. So, how was your day?

Up first an ID man hits and kills 2 people in a crosswalk and almost gets away with it until he hit-and-runs a cyclist months later. Second stop led to arrest in crash that killed Tom and Mary Woychick If he would have quit driving after the first wreck, then he would have been left alone. but he kept on driving and hit someone else, so now he’s going down for both wrecks.

A case so bizarre that I can’t do it justice in a one sentence synopsis. Bicyclist injured in hit-and-run, driver leads authorities on chase I’m still trying to process this one. “(T)he bicyclist and the driver of the truck, both men, were air lifted to Shands Hospital in Jacksonville where they’re being treated for injuries that are not life-threatening. The driver of the Chevrolet, a woman, and a passenger in the truck, a man, were transported to Baptist Medical Center for treatment of injuries that are also not life-threatening.” And that was just the human casualties in this tale, there was also a mailbox, truck, scooter, bicycle, patrol car, Chevrolet sedan, and roadside signage damaged or destroyed. Apparently one of her personalities had a really bad experience with a police officer? Or just didn’t give a rat’s ass? Or she’s a sociopathic personality who needs to be locked away for our and her safety?

More on the Philippino worker killed while riding his bicycle in Canuckistan. Cyclist killed Tuesday was foreign worker OK he was a sidewalk rider crossing a street when he was hit by a pickup truck. Easy answer is to not ride on sidewalks because you are invisible to drivers until you show up under their front bumper. Ride in the middle of the lane, and you might make a driver mad, but they will see you unless they are blind or stupid.

In Costa Rica getting arrested for drunk driving is so rare that it’s a national news story. Drunk Driver Who Killed Cyclist Out On Bail For those not up on it, the .93 reading equates to a .093% BAC with the legal limit in Costa Rica being .05%. Most states use a .08% limit making this guy drunk in any state. Just crush his car with him handcuffed to the wheel.

From Jolly Olde, a man on a bicycle has a collision with a bus and nobody on the bus was hurt! Cyclist injured in crash with bus Typical UK media report.

In AZ LEO are having “difficulty” with the 3-foot law. Scottsdale cyclist’s death shows problems with law See when a cyclist gets hit from behind in the bicycle lane was it his fault for being there, or does the passing law apply even in a bicycle lane? To you or me this seems intuitive, the driver that invaded the bicycle lane and hit the cyclist from behind is at fault, but for experienced LEO with years on the force harassing people for riding bicycles in the street it’s a real conundrum.

In Palm Beach FL Government is having a hard time getting cycle facilities funded. Committee finds uphill battle in peddling bicycle use The number a cyclists killed in FL might have something to do with the difficulty in getting projects started. I mean you have the most deadliest state in the US for dead cyclists (and pedestrians) why ruin that by making facilities for them? Wouldn’t that just make some other state more dangerous than yours and encourage all those pesky cyclists to actually ride or something instead of just getting killed?

And that’s all the news that doesn’t give me fits, or something like that anyway. BTW there was a Kickstand Cyclery comic posted today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus