After reading so many reports on drivers that don’t know the laws on how to drive their cars (there were a lot of car wrecks in the Feed this morning that had nothing to do with bicycles) I have come to the conclusion that either we need to have recurring testing for drivers with a zero tolerance passing standard, or drastically need to increase the PSAs for new laws that are passed for driving. There are just so many people that don’t know how to drive their WMDs within the laws, and who kill or seriously injure other people in the process. Something has to be done. The only other alternative would be to make killing or injuring someone while breaking a traffic law a felony, so that some legal bite could be applied to drivers, and so that LEO could get clear direction about the seriousness of motor vehicle crime.
Up first because there were more than one report on the wreck is a story out of AZ about a possible right hook of a cyclist by a garbage truck. 23-year-old cyclist killed in traffic collision identified and a later report Cyclist dies in collision The media outlet placed a copy of the AZ statute on making turns in the second article to demonstrate the level of care required by law to make a right turn. Many of the comments displayed a shocking lack of concern about the law as it stood and tried to substitute their own anti-cyclist interpretations (the cyclist deserved to be hit because he was there). I’ll continue to keep an ocular opened in this direction for more news.
More proof that gang-bangers are stupid. Cyclist killed in Norwalk, gunman sought See what I mean? They are in control of the perfect murder weapon, all they have to do is run the guy over and then claim he swerved in front of them, and the cops will believe it even after the heated argument if the cyclist is dead. Actually I don’t know which group is more stupid, gang-bangers or cops.
Speaking of stupid cops… Police Cracking Down On Rogue Cyclists Two pedestrians killed in one year and the politicians and the cops go nuts over “rogue cyclists” but how many pedestrians are killed in a month by motor vehicles without a similar crackdown? I won’t say that this was a waste of resources, because there are an awful lot of cyclists that were never taught the laws, but I think a similar effort every time a cyclist or pedestrian is killed by a motor vehicle would also be a good idea. Massive traffic enforcement after every fatality has a proven effect on lowering the fatality rate.
The cyclist from Oz that crippled a team mate while driving drunk loses his appeal of his sentence. Cycling-Australian mountain biker loses appeal against jail term No sympathy from me, as a cyclist he should have known better.
Cycling News has an article about Dave Zabriskie’s campaign to reduce car/bike wrecks in their daily blotter report. First Edition Cycling News, Wednesday, November 18, 2009 The Zabriskie article is second down the list.
Not a cycling specific story but if you wind up on one of my posts this will be valuable information to have. Injured Uninsured More Likely to Die in ER than Insured Yeah, when you wake up (if you wake up) in the ER you stand a better chance of survival if there is some kind of insurance covering you, which makes hit-and-run just that much worse. That is why there needs to be federal level laws that cover against hit-and-run.
More on distracted driving and infrastructure. Breakfast links: Consequences of distracted driving, biking Yeah, some doubleplusungood things going down here. For those who haven’t read 1984 that means very very bad.
Infrastructure in suburban LA. Two wheels and the future They are facing a monster of Hobson’s Choice there, can’t afford to go it, but can’t afford to not do it either. Not building bicycle infrastructure will cost them millions in increased medical costs and lost productivity from traffic jams, while building will also cost millions to build and maintain. I say go in the direction of increased happiness and health when faced with this dilemma.
And infrastructure in Jolly Olde. Convex Mirrors to be trialled on cycle super highways Given the huge number of cyclists killed, well actually not huge in absolute numbers but in proportion to other modes of fatality, killed by large vehicles turning left at stoplights (right cross for those of us driving on the right side of the roads), this is potentially a major invention. Trucks and buses turning over stationary cyclists at stop signs and lights are a major mode of cyclist fatality in London.
And that’s all I have this morning.
Billed @$.02, Opus
32.928601
-96.607394
Witch on a Bicycle 
Should there be a tougher written exam for driver’s licenses? and the Feed
After reading so many reports on drivers that don’t know the laws on how to drive their cars (there were a lot of car wrecks in the Feed this morning that had nothing to do with bicycles) I have come to the conclusion that either we need to have recurring testing for drivers with a zero tolerance passing standard, or drastically need to increase the PSAs for new laws that are passed for driving. There are just so many people that don’t know how to drive their WMDs within the laws, and who kill or seriously injure other people in the process. Something has to be done. The only other alternative would be to make killing or injuring someone while breaking a traffic law a felony, so that some legal bite could be applied to drivers, and so that LEO could get clear direction about the seriousness of motor vehicle crime.
Up first because there were more than one report on the wreck is a story out of AZ about a possible right hook of a cyclist by a garbage truck. 23-year-old cyclist killed in traffic collision identified and a later report Cyclist dies in collision The media outlet placed a copy of the AZ statute on making turns in the second article to demonstrate the level of care required by law to make a right turn. Many of the comments displayed a shocking lack of concern about the law as it stood and tried to substitute their own anti-cyclist interpretations (the cyclist deserved to be hit because he was there). I’ll continue to keep an ocular opened in this direction for more news.
More proof that gang-bangers are stupid. Cyclist killed in Norwalk, gunman sought See what I mean? They are in control of the perfect murder weapon, all they have to do is run the guy over and then claim he swerved in front of them, and the cops will believe it even after the heated argument if the cyclist is dead. Actually I don’t know which group is more stupid, gang-bangers or cops.
Speaking of stupid cops… Police Cracking Down On Rogue Cyclists Two pedestrians killed in one year and the politicians and the cops go nuts over “rogue cyclists” but how many pedestrians are killed in a month by motor vehicles without a similar crackdown? I won’t say that this was a waste of resources, because there are an awful lot of cyclists that were never taught the laws, but I think a similar effort every time a cyclist or pedestrian is killed by a motor vehicle would also be a good idea. Massive traffic enforcement after every fatality has a proven effect on lowering the fatality rate.
The cyclist from Oz that crippled a team mate while driving drunk loses his appeal of his sentence. Cycling-Australian mountain biker loses appeal against jail term No sympathy from me, as a cyclist he should have known better.
Cycling News has an article about Dave Zabriskie’s campaign to reduce car/bike wrecks in their daily blotter report. First Edition Cycling News, Wednesday, November 18, 2009 The Zabriskie article is second down the list.
Not a cycling specific story but if you wind up on one of my posts this will be valuable information to have. Injured Uninsured More Likely to Die in ER than Insured Yeah, when you wake up (if you wake up) in the ER you stand a better chance of survival if there is some kind of insurance covering you, which makes hit-and-run just that much worse. That is why there needs to be federal level laws that cover against hit-and-run.
More on distracted driving and infrastructure. Breakfast links: Consequences of distracted driving, biking Yeah, some doubleplusungood things going down here. For those who haven’t read 1984 that means very very bad.
Infrastructure in suburban LA. Two wheels and the future They are facing a monster of Hobson’s Choice there, can’t afford to go it, but can’t afford to not do it either. Not building bicycle infrastructure will cost them millions in increased medical costs and lost productivity from traffic jams, while building will also cost millions to build and maintain. I say go in the direction of increased happiness and health when faced with this dilemma.
And infrastructure in Jolly Olde. Convex Mirrors to be trialled on cycle super highways Given the huge number of cyclists killed, well actually not huge in absolute numbers but in proportion to other modes of fatality, killed by large vehicles turning left at stoplights (right cross for those of us driving on the right side of the roads), this is potentially a major invention. Trucks and buses turning over stationary cyclists at stop signs and lights are a major mode of cyclist fatality in London.
And that’s all I have this morning.
Billed @$.02, Opus
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Posted in Daily Feed
Tagged anti-bike blatherings, cycling life, Dead cyclists, Don't read the comments, hit-and-run, infrastructure, Left cross/right hook, Oz, stupid drivers, waste of human skin