I was out until 1700 (or thereabouts) supporting friends and church members in the Dallas Pride Parade and getting to and from said parade. I was the guy in the pink dragon bike jersey yelling “woo!” in a deep manly voice, and occasionally saying “I’m a cow with a speech defect, Woo!” Hey I was there to have fun while I supported friends and church members. The denomination (UUA) has been at the forefront of LGBT issues since the late 1970s, including same-sex marriages. And for the life of me I can’t figure out how any two people getting married has any effect on my marriage or anyone else’s for that matter… And there were lots of bicycles at the parade.
Up first is a report on the victim of the bus v bicycle wreck in Ottawa. A cautious, responsible rider It is more and more apparent that this was a mainly infrastructure wreck, that the rider could not watch for oncoming traffic because she was watching to make sure she didn’t crash coming over the curb.
Another fatality in the deadliest state in the US for cyclists. Cyclist Killed In Boca Raton Hit-And-Run Once again a huge SUV kills a cyclist and the driver “told officers that she did not know that she had hit anything.” Something needs to be done about these tanks on the roads that 90% of the people that drive them don’t need. This seems to be another hit-from-behind wreck which means standard hit-from-behind protocol to avoid if possible. But a stupid driver in an cotton wool insulated WMD might not be an avoidable wreck. RIP Loren Clobes.
A reported bike ninja gets hit. Bicyclist killed in collision “Authorities also note there were multiple callers who had contacted Chippewa County Central Dispatch regarding a man in dark clothing swerving a bicycle on the roadway before Tadgerson was struck.” No lights and dark clothing are a bad combination.
A cyclist and a motorcyclist hit head on and both die. Cyclist, Motorcylist Die in Collision on Greene The cyclist was apparently crossing over to the other side of the street when he was hit by (ran into?) the motorcycle. This could have been avoided by not violating the motorcyclist’s right of way aka paying attention.
Another cyclist is hit in Vancouver WA (the one on the US side of the border). Brush Prairie bicyclist critically injured when hit by car “ Police said he was struck from behind” so standard hit-from-behind protocol (mirror(s), planning an escape route and be willing to use the escape route or to bail from the bike and let it take the hit) might have helped. And I have to say again that just on feeling, not going back and actually counting there seems to be a marked increase in the number of hit-from-behind wrecks lately, and of course they also seem more fatal lately than they have been.
Going across the pond to Jolly Olde gets us this informative report. Cyclist injured in collision Yes I love UK media laws and their restrictions on what can be said about a wreck in the media.
People in Enn Zed are getting upset that drunk drivers are not criminally charged when they kill someone, like this guy. Cyclist killed by elderly female drunk driver “Mr van Kampen was cycling home from work on Friday afternoon when he was hit from behind.” See, another one, third one this post. And the second fatal one. But I don’t know that this one was avoidable because a witness reported “She was driving like an idiot, she was diabolical”.
And a report from a totally unbiased person, a driver: Reader’s view: Bicyclists often disregard traffic rules, safety Yep, we’re just a lawless bunch ignoring stop signs and speed limits and running people over and leaving them on the road to die… No wait, that is how drivers behave, not cyclists. We sometimes run stop signs, but since most stop signs are being used as traffic calming devices that places them in the category of “laws that by their nature do not apply to bicycles” since we don’t need traffic calming as we already ride at a safe speed for residential areas.
And that’s all I have today.
Billed @$.02, Opus