Heck of a way to celebrate isn’t it? But, yes it’s been 2 years since I moved this blog to WordPress from MySpace over a censorship issue. They weren’t censoring me they were censoring my links, which is the life and breath of this blog, linking to the reports of wrecks, disputes and infrastructure issues all over the world. Since moving to the more visible WordPress hosting I get many more casual readers that just wander in for one specific post than wander away to never be heard from again, and also Spam comments. I have a method for taking care of the spammers (nothing says “quit leaving crap links on my blog” quite like a DOS attack that shuts their site down for a couple of days, it’s nice to have a few White Hats for friends). Note to the spammers, if you ask nice and send a little folding money my way I might put up a link in my sidebar if you have something to sell that fits the subject matter of this blog, I did it before. I have made more than 100 tags since I started this version of the blog back in 11/08, some of which I use nearly every day, and some that I used to tag posts about notorious bicycle haters (Tasha Borland, Dr. Christopher Thompson). The “funny” thing is Tasha’s and Doc Thompson’s tags are a near permanent part of my tag cloud now. I guess I need to add tags for Erzinger the driver too rich to charge in the hit-and-run of a cyclist, and the DA that said Erzinger was too rich to charge and see those tags become part of my tag cloud, too. Anyway, I just wanted to let y’all know that it has been a great 2 years here on WordPress, and I look forward to bringing you acerbic comments about bikes, cars, drivers, infrastructure, and politicians for many years to come.
Since I’m filtering 4 days of links and stories the organization of the links will be somewhat hap-hazard today. Up first because it was sent separate and special is actually an infrastructure article from NYC. Bike lane critics are wrong: Why New York needs to make way for cyclists The days of single-mode street planning are over, automobile centrism is dead, and infrastructure should not dictate which mode of travel is to be used unless that mode’s users have fully paid as the sole source of funds for the infrastructure, as in rail and interstate highways. Where you have such user-paid infrastructure there should still be allowance for other modes so that other modes are not cut off from areas by the single-mode infrastructure. But that is a subject for a separate post all its own…
Here we have 3 reports of a cyclist hit from behind. Cyclist Killed In Collision and Woman On Bike Killed In Asheville Crash also Helmetless Asheville bicyclist killed on dark road Notice how this story was framed: It was the fault of the cyclist for not wearing a helmet, not the driver for hitting her from behind. Anyway, there was lots of blame to go around for this wreck, from the cyclist not using lights to the driver driving too fast for his lights. Notice that I place the blame on poor lighting on both the driver and the cyclist. Headlights should be bright enough to see what is in the road in front of a car, but cyclists have to give drivers a chance with either lights or reflectors.
In the most deadliest sate in the US to walk or ride a bike the locals are starting to get the message that they are killing people far out of line with their population. Pedestrian involved crashes on the rise locally (DOCUMENT, PHOTO GALLERY) Of course they are still idiots because they can’t tell the difference between a pedestrian and a cyclist, but some LEO are starting to figure out that most of the bike wrecks have been from drivers not watching the road: “Generally, when it’s a driver against a bicyclist it’s the driver being complacent and not realizing the bicyclist is in the roadway.”
In a case of seriously misplaced priorities, a killer driver is sentenced in the death of a cyclist and the serious injury of the runner she was shepherding. Motorist sentenced in N. Idaho cyclist death case The comments are interesting at this point… and mostly not anti-bike or anti-car.
A cyclist killed in a wreck last week gave to the community even though he was homeless for many years. Cyclist killed in collision donated time to charities I’m just speechless about this. And I think my spell-checker has lost its mind, because it can’t decide if there is or isn’t an “a” in the various permutations of the word “speech” and “speak”.
In S.F. CA a cyclist’s death is officially ruled a homicide. German cyclist’s death found to be a homicide and German Cyclist’s Death Determined Vehicular Homicide With this official ruling the trial of the waste of skin that was blitzed out of his gourd and switched seats with his girlfriend after the wreck and left the scene can begin.
Another bike/pedestrian hit-and-run. Bicyclists strikes, injures two seniors in NW Let’s try this again? DO NOT HIT THE PEDESTRIANS!!! They are on the same side as we are as vulnerable road users. If you do hit a pedestrian for Deity’s sake stick around until it has been determined that there was no damage done, and leave contact information if there was damage done.
Bob Mionske weighs in on the lawsuit against the parents of a deceased cyclist by the driver that killed him. Driver Sues Family of Deceased Cyclist Bob brings up the problem of a de facto helmet law even when there isn’t a de jure helmet law, and also the fact that helmets are designed to a very low speed impact.
In the Great White North they are still talking about the pedestrian that died after being hit by a cyclist. Police probe death of elderly man in collision with bicycle At this point the police are saying the cyclist was not at fault and because the victim did not start showing any symptoms until after the cyclist left the scene it wasn’t a hit-and-run.
Still in the Great White North a cyclist is right-hooked by a garbage truck and the media wants to know if he was wearing a helmet. Roads reopened after truck hit teen cyclist Yeah it’s really more important that the cyclist was wearing a helmet rather than the fact that the garbage truck driver wasn’t paying attention to other vehicles on the road.
Still in Canada, a pair of cyclists misjudge the speed of a car while crossing a street and one gets pranged. Cyclist injured in collision I put about 75% of the blame on the cyclists for not crossing the street in time, and about 25% on the driver for not using the brake pedal sooner. Would it have killed him to slow down? It almost killed someone that he didn’t.
Still in the GWN, a cyclist killed by a drunk driver is remembered with signs against drunk driving. Signs honour cyclist killed by drunk I think a greater honor would be giving drivers that kill harsher sentences when convicted and convicting more of them, not just the ones that are plastered but also the ones that claim “I didn’t see (the cyclist)”.
In Jolly Olde a cyclist hit by a bus while waiting at a traffic light wants the bus company to acknowledge that hitting a person on a bicycle in the cycle lane is wrong. ‘I want an apology after bus knocked me down’ Some of the comments are typical car-head nonsense that don’t seem to understand the phrase “standing in the cycle lane at a traffic signal”.
Moving on to Enn Zed we have a cyclist saying that he was at fault in a wreck because he misjudged the speed of a car before crossing in front of it. Teen cyclist ‘broken’ in crash with car The aftermath of the wreck was horrific with the kid almost losing his leg, which he will keep but it will be a long time before he can ride a bicycle again if ever.
More Enn Zed destruction against cyclists. Another cyclist injured in collision The cyclist describes riding on the road like “Russian Roulette, and you never know which driver will be the round in the chamber”. Well as a survivor of having such a “live round in the chamber” the only thing I can say is that it is a very good thing that those kinds of drivers are few and far between.
In what has to be the least thought-out proposed road rule in the 21st century a cyclist proposes making reflective dayglo clothing mandatory. Cyclist promotes safety bylaw Note that there were no comments posted to the article. Really, stop and think about it, people are already claiming to be unable to see cyclists wearing the gaudy neon and reflective cycle gear, will making it mandatory make us any more visible? Or would making “I didn’t see (the cyclist)” an admission of guilt instead of an excuse work better at making drivers see cyclists, and permanently revoking the license of a driver that makes that claim as well as taking the car or truck. This is undoubtedly the worst case of blaming the victim and appeasement I have ever seen relating to cycling.
And that’s all the news that gives me fits today, I’m going to read some comics and rest my brain for a while.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 
Some family members who live near Ashville and who worry about my bike commuting mentioned this to me. I tried to explain bicycle lighting to them,which I summarize below.
While the woman may not of have had lights on her bike, if she had a rear reflector, properly oriented, this should have made her visible to cars approaching from the rear. A large, amber rear-reflector can be more effective than many rear bike lights. The small “180 degree” red reflector required by CPSC at the time of sale on bikes is not as good but should have been adequate.
The required pedal reflectors also help increase visibility to the rear.
She would, of course, had also needed a headlight so that cars crossing or turning onto the road ahead of the bicycle could have seen her, but that didn’t figure in this situation.
If she had no rear reflector, or a reflector pointing up to the sky (as I often see) instead of straight back, then it could have been very hard for the car approaching her from the rear to see her.
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