Yes this would be another good day to not read the comments sections of any of the articles I linked to lest your head explode from the stupidity and the astroturf. For those not politically aware, astroturf is fake grassroots, in this case comments added to comment sections about the Toronto murder of a cyclist by the former AG, added by the PR firm hired by the murderer. They are trying to portray the victim as drunk (police say one beer, not drunk) violent criminal (police asked to intervene in a domestic dispute but there was nothing more than words exchanged). They are using Goebbels’ theorem that a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth, only it won’t work in this case because nothing will erase the fact the thing that walks like a man used his Saab as a weapon against a human being repeatedly ramming him into stationary objects on the side of the road while driving on the sidewalk on the wrong side of the street.
In other news we have another bike v bike wreck in WA. Bicyclist injured on Loop Trail The webmaster had to do a mass delete of comments after the debate turned ugly, and there really isn’t enough information in the article to know what happened except that there were 2 bikes involved. Pedestrians and other trail users that might have contributed were not mentioned. How to avoid: just because you are not on the roads with cars doesn’t diminish your need to be alert for others. Watch the trail, watch for pedestrians and their dogs wandering around, and watch for cyclists having to dodge other trail users coming into your lane. Wear a helmet, you are much more likely to have a head injury on a trail than riding the road, and the impact speed is much more likely to be in the range that a helmet can help with.
A wrong way cyclist rode in front of a blinded driver a few minutes after sunrise in Helena MT. Bicyclist hurt in collision with car And it only took 8 hours for the first “cars pay for the roads” comment to surface. How to avoid, well since the sun was just rising at the time of the wreck the wrong way cycling part was not really a factor in the wreck, all it did was to move the wreck a few feet one way or the other. What did affect the wreck in this case was the sun shining in the eyes of the driver(s) preventing them from seeing anything in the road until they hit it. To avoid, just behave as if you were invisible and wait until traffic is clear enough that you could ride across without getting hit even if drivers did not change speed or direction to avoid you, plus some margin for launching problems. If drivers can’t see you are invisible for all intents and purposes.
They identified the SWSS cyclist injured in Colorado Springs CO. Police ID bicyclist critically injured in crash and Bike rider hits car, hospitalized with head injury Not much more to say in this one, guy doing recycling ends up in the road after being on the bike path next to the road, gets hit by SUV. No word yet on what caused the guy to go into the road.
More on the hit-and-run in Tulsa, but nothing new. Bicyclist Killed This is the wreck that was caused by an illegal alien driving without a license, current tags, or insurance ran a stop sign at a high rate of speed and killed a cyclist. This story pre-dates the news that the driver was an illegal alien.
More timely news has a memorial ride planned for the deceased cyclist. Ride Of Silence To Honor Tulsa Cyclist I have a better idea, how about “Public flogging and execution of guilty driver to honor killed cyclist”? I have a few worn out recumbent chains (extra long to get that wrap around action) I could donate to the cause.
Another SoCal rider is killed. Bicyclist killed by car in Duarte And again nothing about the wreck except that drivers tend to speed in the area and that might have something to do with the wreck.
Background on a dead cyclist. Bicyclist killed in accident attended VVS Well we know a little about the wreck, and where the cyclist went to high school 50 some odd years ago. This was a single vehicle wreck that had the cyclist hitting the deck head-first. There’s not much I can help you with in this kind of wreck except to wear a helmet, this was exactly the kind of wreck that bicycle helmets were designed for.
A weird wreck in AL. Bicycle rider hurt in overnight accident Two cyclists, one hit by a car and the other not there, and never a mention of the car that might have hit them? There is nothing in this story I can use to help you not get hit…
They caught the guy driving the Toyota that hit-and-run a cyclist in FL St. Pete man arrested in hit-and-run that killed bicyclist I won’t say what I’m thinking about this waste of human skin.
The first of the reports from Canada about the AG going nucking futz with the cyclist was a bit sparse. Cyclist killed in Yorkville hit-and-run and the entire article wasn’t much longer than the headline. Today’s stuff was a bit better. Riders stage memorial ride for cyclist killed in Bryant altercation Don’t try to read the comments section, it was over 300 deep when I posted the link, and full of toxic astroturf…
In another bizarre story coming from India, a truck hits a cyclist and 18 other people are injured in the wreck. Cyclist killed in accident Unless the driver was trying to hit the cyclist and didn’t see that he was about to drive into a river… this still doesn’t make any sense.
A NE writer comments on a bike wreck in CO involving a really stupid driver that got 1. his nose broken by the cyclist he hit and 2. a trip to jail for assault with a deadly weapon. Diluting the truth I think stupidity should be painful to the stupid, I know it hurt me when someone else was stupid.
And that’s all I have for now. I’m going to take a long bike ride tonight in the cool to get my head more together…
Billed @$.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 