More “stuff” for you bike safety fanatics

I was checking for Valentine’s notes in my inbox and had another big Feed, but with a very poor signal to noise ratio. But I’m going to make you another post and link what little I did grab out of the noise up so you have something interesting to read.

Up first is another SWCC report from MD. Anne Arundel County Teen Struck, Killed OK if this link doesn’t work don’t blame me, every time I tried to do a copy and paste of the URL and the headline I got a windows update link to IE7, so I had to do a manual copy (hand typing the URL and the headline). I have no idea what their problem with doing a copy and paste of the URL is, I can kinda see where maybe they could have an issue with not wanting the headline copied, but honestly why put a windows update link? Getting back to the report, like I posted earlier it was a SWCC with not enough information to say what she was crossing to, but the description of her clothing indicated that the victim is being blamed for the driver’s failure to drive at a speed where he could see in time to avoid objects in the road.

And another example of why I really dislike UK media laws is this report on a wreck that happened back in June of last year. The report on what happened was released this morning. Tributes paid to student killed on bike And after all that waiting we really don’t know what happened except that she was hit by 2 cars on a dual carriageway…

So that’s what popped up, now I’m going to go to the store and buy chocolates for my sweetie.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Happy Valentine’s day, The Feed

There were many, many, dead and injured motorcyclists in the Feed this morning. I keep telling you guys to slow it down on the streets, but I guess the ones doing the wrecking are not the ones reading this blog. If you are reading this blog that means you have some interest in saving your own hide when you’re riding on 2 wheels, which means that you ride defensively, and keep your 2-wheeler under control most of the time, as much as you can predict/see what the road conditions are and what other roads users are doing. Yes, if you are reading this blog you care about safety and proper road use, so you might want to steer your reckless friends over here before they end up as stories in this blog. BTW hug your sweetie today, it’s the day to celebrate love. Me I celebrate love every day, but some of you need a poke every now and then… 😉

If you had a bicycle stolen from your room while visiting Tucson you might want to call the Pima County Sheriff’s Office about your missing bike, especially if you have a serial number recorded. Sheriff seeks to link 300 stolen items to owners The thefts happened mostly during the Gem and Mineral conventions, but if you came up missing a bike at any time while visiting Tucson give the Sheriff a call.

Closer to home for me is a rider hit from behind in San Antonio. Man struck and killed while riding his bike From the comments section I find it interesting that relatives of the victim said he never went anywhere on his bike without his helmet and reflective vest, but the police reported he wasn’t wearing either one when they got to the scene. Also of note was the driver’s statement that he was distracted and never saw the cyclist and the blase treatment of that statement by LEO and the media. “I didn’t see (the cyclist)” is an admission of guilt, not an excuse.

Last report is from the LA Times and is a health warning to cyclists about bone density. Cyclists at risk for bone loss This was never a problem for me as I do a lot of walking and carrying of groceries and stuff. I have to get periodic bone density checks because of breaking my hip when I was hit with the truck, and the last check was “concrete” as in Portland cement. My bones are so dense that the doctors had problems getting the hardware in and then back out of my bones after the wreck. The screws didn’t want to go in after the wreck, and then when they had to take the stuff out they couldn’t get the screws to come out.

Now go do something romantic like a bicycle ride on a tandem or something like that. Or give your sweetie a big box of candy, whatever. Just do something nice for the person you love.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Back with the afternoon Feed

Well there was another Feed this afternoon, and here it is.

The Ghost Bike for cyclist Mark Pendleton was vandalized and stolen (seems redundant doesn’t it?) and was found and will be rededicated later this week. Ghost bike honoring Martinez cyclist recovered, set for rededication and CONTRA COSTA CO.: STOLEN MEMORIAL FOR MARTINEZ CYCLIST TO BE REDEDICATED The low-life(s) that stole the memorial deserve the lowest, coldest pits in Hell, right next to the waste of skin that killed the person being memorialized.

They’re throwing the book at the driver that ran a cyclist over from behind in OH. Driver who killed bicyclist faces misdemeanor OK so it’s more like a pamphlet than The Book. I still say that if the victims had been driving a car the charges would have been much worse, but because the victim was riding a bike the charges were only a 2nd degree misdemeanor. I believe the term for this is TANJ! with an exclamation point.

There has been some new information on the cyclist struck in a crosswalk in Salt Lake City, as to his positioning in the crosswalk when he was hit. Bicyclist killed by car had just entered crosswalk I don’t know what this does to potential criminal charges against the driver, depends on who said the cyclist changed directions on the crosswalk.

A blotter report on a cyclist attacking a driver, a few paragraphs down from the top. Bicyclist cuts motorist for no apparent reason I could think of a couple hundred reasons, but not knowing what went down in the couple of miles or days before the confrontation I can’t say for sure if what I think is true or not. Since I can’t say, I won’t post either.

And that’s all for this go-round, I’ll keep the ocular organ peeled for more later.

Billed @$.02, Opus