2010 year in review

What have been the “Big Stories” for 2010 here at WoaB?

Well tops of the list is the saga of Martin Erzinger and his butt-buddy Mark Hurlburt. I you remember Erzinger is the hit-and-run driver that Hurlbert claimed was too rich to charge with a felony. I think you know my opinion of people too rich to prosecute, especially hit-and-run drivers…

A close second this year was the guilty plea and sentencing of Tasha Boreland, who was sentenced to 24 years in prison for hitting 3 cyclists who were not even riding in the road, killing 2 of them. With the other crimes she was found guilty of we won’t have to worry about her on the roads again until 2040, if then. Even if released early she may never be allowed to drive again.

After that was the rash of hit-and-run. We have had a massive number of stories from all over the world about drivers that leave the scene of a wreck. And it’s not just cyclists this is happening to, I get a number of stories about pedestrians, and other cars, that were hit by drivers that left the scene. so this is not a cycling story, but it is a road safety story which makes it a cycling safety story.

I think what comes to mind after that is the number of bike ninjas that were hit this year, which becomes the first story that is more about cyclists than drivers. I understand the philosophy behind riding ninja, but I don’t recommend doing it. However if you must ride ninja then you must ride like you are invisible, because you are, mostly.

Of course this is only the top stories that WoaB has covered. There were much more important stories about cycling infrastructure that were covered by other bike blogs, like Cyclelicious and BikinginLA, and let’s not forget BikePortland. I strongly suggest you read those with mine, I read them nearly every day. I also read Drunk Cyclist, but I don’t recommend that one for the under 21 crowd as the language gets pretty rough over there. Think of them as WoaB with less earthy spirituality and more earthy language. 😉

Billed @$2.00, Opus

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Preparing for NYE festivities, and the Feed

I’m getting ready to attend NYE festivities at my church this Friday, looking for someone to bring as Mrs. Opus is not the party type. Line forms at the end of the post, ladies 😉 There weren’t any actual bike wrecks in the Feed today, just motorcycle riders losing control on wet streets or getting hit by drunk drivers coming the other way (and how anyone can “not see” a motorcycle with the headlight on from the front when you’re driving in his lane is beyond me). The big time for bike wrecks this time of year will be New Year’s Day as the bodies of the cyclists coming home from working parties, or just riding a bike to keep from driving drunk, are discovered along side the roads after they get hit-and-run by drunk drivers. I expect to find at least a couple of those come Saturday and Monday (and probably all through the week as reports trickle in).

The only actual “bicycle” story today was a lifestyle report from FL on a police bike ride that raised money for the families of LEO killed in the line of duty. ‘Tour de Force’ riders present checks to families of slain deputies Having a son-in-law in that line of work makes me pay special attention to articles like this, especially because he’s rehabbing from a car wreck last month and might be back on full duty in late Jan or early Feb.

For all my readers out there remember that for the next few days there is a 20% chance that the guy in the car is drunk and only by pure luck hasn’t run into anything (or you) yet. Ride accordingly.

Billed @$0.02, Opus