Daily Archives: November 28, 2009

Another ginormous Feed, but not much to show for it

I had an enormous Feed to filter today, but not many articles about bicycles in it. What I did have was massive numbers of articles on people named Rider getting killed or injured by various means. It was really absurd after a while, all these articles about people with either the first or last name “Rider” getting killed or injured, most by some interaction with a motor vehicle but a couple of them were just weird, like the guy that broke his ankle kicking field goals I think at some park, but it might have been a Jr. High athletic field.

Up first because something had to be is an update on the cyclist killed in Yuma AZ while riding in the bike lane. No charges filed yet in cyclist’s death Apparently in AZ you can kill cyclists with impunity as long as you are not drunk or taking drugs, as that is the holdup on filing charges in this case. It doesn’t matter if you are driving in the bike lane when you hit a cyclist from behind as long as you are not chemically impaired when you do it. Neither does it matter if you cross the centerline to hit a cyclist head on, so long as you are not chemically impaired, and you are passing another vehicle without crossing a double yellow line. TANJ! What you can do as a cyclist in the same situation, try to angle your body so that you go through the windshield and take out the driver, because that will be the only retribution you get in AZ.

A spate of cyclists getting killed in the downstate NY area. Teenage Long Island bicyclist killed in collision; third common case in six weeks Looking through the wrecks in question there is a common thread that the light was green for the motor vehicle when the cyclist was hit, but when there was more than one witness the witness states the cyclist waited for a green light in their direction before proceeding. This sounds like a case of when the signal control detects a cyclist the light period is not long enough to get all the way across from a dead stop, so that by the time the cyclist gets to the far traffic lane the light has been green a few seconds already. You can imagine what happens next as motor vehicles see the green light but not the cyclist still in the intersection. I’m not sure what you can do to avoid a similar situation, as quick lights at night are all too common all over the US, there is one just down the street from me. It only picks up that I’m there about 1/3 of the time, and by the time I get to the far lane of the 5 in that intersection the light has already cycled through to green in the other direction.

This is one of those “don’t read the comments” articles as there were calls to kill all cyclists on the roads “made for cars”. Critical Mass cyclists to ride in honor of teen killed in accident The cyclist was hit from behind by a speeding driver and had all the lights and reflectors, and yet some bozo says there should be a bike curfew. I have a better suggestion, how about a car curfew to keep deadly weapons out of the hands of drunks and psychopaths? Bicycles, pedestrians, and emergency vehicles only between 11 PM and 5 AM. Does that make more sense than a bike curfew?

Another report on the CARnage in Toronto this week caused by bad weather and worse drivers. Four men seriously injured in four separate collisions Again they (the paper) blame the guy hit from behind by the van because he wasn’t wearing a helmet, what’s the deal here? Why not blame the guy that was driving too fast for conditions, like the police charged the driver.

A wreck involving a UK citizen that happened in South America. Driver at fault in crash that killed cyclist, say police At least they decided that as the case was out of UK jurisdiction the media laws that bound the paper did not apply in this case as there was no jury to contaminate prior to the trial that won’t be anywhere near the island of Jersey. But still they won’t even say what kind of wreck it was… 😛 Have I mentioned recently that I hate UK media laws (as can be seen by the fact I have a tag for it in my tag cloud)?

More on the female cyclist killed in London this week. Talented fashion student is 12th London cyclist killed this year So many female cyclists getting killed, all out of proportion to their numbers, what is the deal here?

Good news for cyclists and pedestrians in Austria. Cyclist and pedestrian death tolls down Whatever they are doing in Austria is what we need to be doing in Garland, as our cyclist death toll is way out of proportion to the number of cyclists… The entire country of Austria has only killed 36 cyclists this year, a 35% drop over the same period the year prior.

And finally, a good story about a cyclist injured in a pileup crash in a pack of cyclists. Jackson cyclist bounces back after injury I say from experience that facial injuries are a bear even when there isn’t massive amounts of pain involved.

And that’s all I have today. remember no post Sunday as I need some time away from the blog to remain sane.

Billed @$.02, Opus

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