Well, there was a lot in the Feed today, and the signal to noise ratio was really poor. And yet I still have 10 live links as I start to compose this post (with no guarantee that they will still be live by the time I finish). One of the articles I didn’t link to but thought important to tell you about is a situation in Nigeria, where they have a thriving motorcycle taxi industry all over the country that is being threatened by a perfect storm of a new law requiring helmets for motorcycle riders, and a sudden lack of helmets and prices rising to as much as 5 times as much as they were before the law went into effect. Well the results are now riots with police as they try to arrest the moto-taxi drivers and their fares for not having helmets. Not to mention the hygiene issue of having only one helmet to share between dozens of fares a day. I’ll keep an ocular on this one.
Our first link is some good news/bad news in that a drunk driver that ran over a cyclist while running from a traffic stop. Motorist who killed rider gets 10 years The facts in the case scream for a longer sentence, but justice must be tempered by mercy. Given my experiences with drunk drivers, my mercy is a little strained.
More from AZ on the use of speed and red-light cameras. Our Opinion: Let Arizona’s photo radar cameras stay: they save lives I see that most of the comments against radar cameras are that they can’t confront their accusers when they get a ticket. Well I don’t see where that is a right anywhere in the Constitution, maybe it is in the AZ Constitution. I don’t see any right to break the law when there isn’t a cop in sight either.
Along the same lines. State: Most nabbed speeding by cameras don’t pay fines So most people are ignoring the speed camera tickets, but complain about it anyway.
From SoCal comes a report on a hearing on a hit-and-run killer of a cyclist. Hearing For Alleged Hit And Run Driver In Cyclist Death Give the scum a fair trial and then hang him… I think I might be in a bad mood today.
And more from Seattle on the sand in the bike lanes issue, without the comments section. Sand left from Seattle snowstorms danger to bikers As I posted to the comments section, I would have a hard choice between ice and sand in the lane. Sand is a little easier to ride on, but ice won’t destroy my rims and drivetrain.
Final story from North America is a report on the Tom’s shoes bike team. Cycling News Roundup – 20 January 2009
Team News: Ag2r la Mondiale – Qatar Stages, Hell in Ashdown and Death Valley Beckon… Team TOMS Shoes, Chicago Winter Cycling Series. Baseball Anti-doping Chief Announced. Olympics 2016 Chicago, Madrid & Tokyo Bids. Tom’s shoes is a great sponsor, check them out. Click on the Tom’s banner in the article.
Our first report from Jolly Olde has about as much information as the typical UK media report. Road crashes claim two more lives All we know is a cyclist is dead from a wreck two weeks ago…
Another cyclist crash report. Cyclist seriously injured in crash near West Haddon This report used a line that I hate with a purple passion. “The driver… escaped injury”. Geeze I wonder how often that happens?
An update on a crash from earlier in the week. Surgeons operate on injured rider’s arm Looks like the White Van Man got him another one.
And finally a report on a rare wreck, a multi-vehicle wreck involving a cyclist, and the cyclist was basically uninjured. Woman seriously injured in crash Usually when you see a headline like that on a cyclist-involved wreck story you expect the cyclist to get the worst of it, but in this case the cyclist’s bicycle didn’t fare as well as the cyclist.
And that’s all I have for you from this morning’s Feed. The weather here is wonderful right now, so I’m going to go for a ride…
Billed @$.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 