The ATM at the bank didn’t recognize my PIN (or the lady’s in front of me either) so I couldn’t purchase a ticket to ride the TRE to take part in the BPAC in Arlington. Because of that you get to read this post this afternoon instead of sometime near midnight.
Up first is another cyclist killed in the most deadliest part of the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. The headline is unintentionally ironic, I hope. Another bicyclist struck by vehicle, killed in Tampa The three counties mentioned in the article were responsible for almost 8% of the bicycle fatalities in the US in 2009. The factors mentioned in the article that contribute to the mess are sprawl with infrastructure designed for moving people between cities not to be inside cities, bad drivers, and bad cyclists that do not know the laws. Throw that together with lots of cars and bicycles and you get carnage you can almost see from orbit. The infrastructure will eventually get sorted out, drivers can be forced to come in for re-training and the bad ones lose their licenses, but I don’t know what can be done about the adults who were either trained wrong or not trained at all about how to ride a bike on the roads legally. Massive PSAs in all media, plus education for kids in schools would do the job, but look to a 10-20 year cycle as a generational change would be required to get the word out to everyone. Basically we would have to wait for the ill- and un-informed to die out and be replaced by the educated.
This update on a DE bike wreck shows the victim was hit-from-behind. UPDATE: DSP identify man killed in bicycle crash near Bridgeville Back channel indicates that the victim may have been doing the pothole slalom near the edge of the road when he was hit. To avoid, ride away from the edge of the road if the pavement conditions are that bad and hold a steady line without weaving. There are a couple of streets where I have to ride almost on the double yellow to find pavement clear of potholes and loose gravel from bad patches of previous potholes. Needless to say this is also a SWSS report as the cyclist may have already been to the left of the potholes.
Something that thankfully doesn’t happen too often. Cyclist attacked with umbrella The article didn’t say if the cyclist was stopped or moving when the attack happened. As for what you should do to prevent finding yourself in the same situation, I don’t have a clue. What do you do to keep crazy people from attacking you with blunt objects from the side of the road?
Not too far from the umbrella attack a cop right-hooks a kid on a bike. 12-year-old cyclist injured when he slides into turning Edmonds police car Apparently the kid was required by someone in authority to ride on the sidewalk instead of in the street where it is actually safer, and got hit because of that. Also, even on the sidewalk where you have right of way, you should stop at stop signs in the road. I’m not saying the kid on the bike had any right of way here, just that even if you do you should stop at stop signs and make sure nobody is going to hit you on your bike.
Last article is from Oz where a cyclist and a truck had a coming together with fatal results for the cyclist. Cyclist dies in accident with truck at Alexandria Not much on the actual wreck in the article, [sarcasm]but I’m so glad and surprized the truck driver wasn’t hurt when he hit the big bad cyclist. [/sarcasm]
And that’s all the news that gives me fits today. After posting this I have to go to a Garland BPAC meeting. Yay!
Billed @$0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 