With apologies to Paul Simon for the headline, my post count is in the thousands between the 3 locations this blog has been through and sometimes I come up with the big goose-egg for something that describes the post without profanity. I’m not a believer in profanity except in cases where there is nothing else that can express the level of emotion involved, which for me doesn’t happen very often.
I’m sure there was plenty of profanity when this incident went down. Fox News’ Don Broderick hit me with his SUV in Central Park, says bicyclist and FOX News writer Broderick accused of striking cyclist in Central Park The second link is from my colleague at examiner.com.
Now something else that deserves profanity is this from VeloNews about the wreck in OK earlier this week. Two cyclists killed near Tulsa This pimple on the butt of humanity needed to be popped years ago the first time she was caught driving under the influence, and now she’s allowed back on the streets, and nobody has mentioned if she’s restricted from driving or not. She should be wearing an ankle bracelet and forbidden from using motorized transportation for the rest of her miserable life, with a life sentence should she move herself by motorized transportation. Emergencies like ambulance trips or getting kidnapped, or alien abduction, would be excluded of course. Would alien abduction count as motorized transportation? 😉
A right hook in Vegas. Fatal Crash Involving Pickup and Bicycle If Perry doesn’t veto the bill this would be a $1000 fine in TX come 9/1/09. As for how to avoid, the usual applies about keeping alert etc. but there are right hooks where you just don’t have time to react, where the vehicle pulls up and then turns right like you were not even there… There was nothing about this wreck that suggested that was what happened, but there was nothing that said that wasn’t either. Regardless, be on your guard when approaching an intersection because you have threats in all directions there.
And another right hook. Bicyclist injured while crossing Bemidji street Tuesday evening This would only be a $500 fine if Perry doesn’t veto the bill in TX. In this case the victim was not in the same street as the other vehicle. Since there was no mention of the cyclist being on the sidewalk or riding against traffic, only that the driver was not looking in the direction of the cyclist I have to assume the driver made a wide right turn and hit the cyclist traveling in the lane, but the injuries listed were consistent with either falling after getting hit from the left at slow speed, or getting hit from the right at slow speed and not falling or not falling hard enough to get injured. Any way it happened, it happened and the only way to avoid it is to as always be very alert approaching intersections. Idiots abound behind the wheel of motor vehicles.
Another KS bike wreck, this time on in Lawrence. Former KU athletic director Frederick injured in bicycle accident This one was infrastructure related, as in pothole plus a road bike equals wreck. Get well soon.
A bicycle wreck involving a pedestrian has town fathers in an uproar in MA. Accident on bike path prompts safety meeting This story begs the question, do they act this way when a car hits either a pedestrian or a cyclist? Or is this behavior reserved for bicycles only? And the dooring incident, had that involved a cyclist there would have been serious injury or death rather than the sight inconvenience suffered by the selectman in the car.[shrug]
Background on the FL woman that was knocked 170 feet from her bike in a wreck earlier this week. ‘Bike lady’ killed Tuesday was familiar in Navarre Just because you’re homeless doesn’t mean you’re worthless. This lady epitomizes that. I hope the piece of trash that killed her discovers that before too long. The speed required to propel a human body 170 feet just boggles the mind, this wreck was way past the 99% fatality speed.
And another article on “bike safety” that begins and ends with helmet usage, not educating riders or drivers to share the roads. Helmets good for riders of all ages I want to know who they are asking about helmet laws, because of the riders I know while they all recommend a helmet, none are in favor of making helmets mandatory because of the limits of helmet protection.
Another helmet article. Do Bike Helmets Make Riding More Dangerous? The author cites sources and also cited those who disagree and why they disagree with the prevailing wisdom. As Yehuda Moon said, “The problem is cars, How does wearing a styrofoam hat change that?”
A Loudon County deputy tickets syslists for “running” a stop sign but fails to ticket drivers for the same behavior. A Safety Issue to Officers, Poor Form to Cyclists As someone pointed out in the comments, there are much worse safety violations to worry about, and if safety was really the issue issuing a warning would have been just as effective in changing behavior. The ticket was just a $91 tax for riding a bicycle.
Wounded soldiers make a ride on adaptive bikes and hand cycles. Warriors’ pedal power Nice story.
And finally, someone in the UK played Good Samaritan to an injured cyclist. Man tried to save teenager killed in Solihull road accident I’m sorry the kid didn’t survive the wreck.
And that’s all I have today. more tomorrow, and I’m still waiting on that information from NCTCOG to finish out the report. If they don’t get back with me I’m just going to put up what I have without their input…
Billed @$.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 