I went to the DPS again today to get my ID renewed, but I had the wrong kind of seal on the copy I had of my birth certificate, so I wasted 4 hours of travel time and 1 of waiting to be told I couldn’t get my ID renewed. I so wish a meteorite would fall on them…
Up first is a report on a busy day for LEO in NJ. 2 hit by cars in Glo. Twp. Fortunately in spite of 2 hit-and-runs injuries were at a minimum for the cyclist, and of unknown or unreported severity for the pedestrian. As for how to avoid, the cyclist was hit by a motor vehicle pulling out of a driveway or parking lot, so treat every parking lot or driveway like an intersection and have that head on a swivel.
An unusual situation in L.A., a cyclist with a rifle is shot by LEO and killed. L.A. police kill cyclist carrying rifle The cyclist with the rifle isn’t unusual, just getting shot and killed. Remember, when employing open carry you are required to stop when LEO requests (or orders) you to.
In NYC StreetsBlog lists every vulnerable road user killed this year, and the disposition (or lack) of charges against the killer. In Memoriam By my count there were 77 on the list, I might have mis-counted. Seventy-seven vulnerable road users dead from motor vehicles, with the vast majority having either minor traffic violations or no charges at all being brought against the drivers, in the few cases where the drivers hung around to be charged. There were more cases of hit-and-run than there were of drivers staying around.
To add insult to injury, an injured cyclist in the Great White North may be facing charges of riding under the influence. Injured cyclist may face charges What can I say? Don’t ride drunk, you might get hurt. Better to ride a bicycle than to drive when intoxicated as repeated experiments have shown (see MythBusters), the exertion of riding a bicycle will cause you to metabolize the alcohol faster than just sitting in a car, and depending on your initial level of intoxication and the length of your ride home you might wind up near sober at home after riding a bike. I still don’t recommend it though. Your chances of getting hit while cycling under the influence are much higher than when sober.
From Jolly Olde, legal advise on how to deal with briken infrastructure. Legal Q&A: What are my rights if a pothole makes me crash? In the US if a pothole makes you crash it’s your fault for hitting the pothole. US jurisdictions have next to no legal responsibility for damaged infrastructure, the one minor exception being construction, if a construction project creates a hidden road hazard that isn’t marked with either paint on the hazard or a sign warning of the hazard then there is a possibility that the responsible jurisdiction might be liable for damages or injury resulting from the hazardous conditions.
And in the UK still, comment on the bill making its way through the NY state legislature requiring instruction about bicycle safety in driver’s ed. New York lawmakers to vote on making cycle safety training compulsory for new drivers This was added to the test in TX but I haven’t seen much evidence that it has become widespread amongst new drivers here.
That’s about it from the Feed for today.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 