I have to finish writing that sermon for Sunday, and I have to MC our monthly music and poetry venue at church, Bard’s Night Out. Plus, I’m still working out how to lay out the grid for Hexagonal Closest Packing of 117 T1 3/4 case LEDs for the headlight, working out the best bike for the art bike show. The slowdown on the headlight is how to lay out a vertical spacing of 2.88mm, because 3mm is too wide and will prevent installing as many LEDs as are needed for best throw at the horizontal cutoff of the beam, which needs to have as much light as possible for both best vision and a sharply delineated cutoff. The slowdown on the bike building is just freezing the design, I have two designs and either one would work, one is a bit easier, the other is a bit more futuristic. I’m going for a combination of flashy design but useful, looking at 20″ wheel bikes with comfortable seats and feet-down when stopped stance that still allow full adult leg extension. Both are comfortable rides with the ability to get both feet down at a stop for stability, while allowing anyone from a short adult/tall child to a 6′ tall adult with normal proportions to ride with full leg extension. Both are practical with on-bike cargo capacity, and both can have electric assist through the gears, TX legal. And both will fit the bike racks on the local transit system.
Up first was a hard choice again today, but I think a hit-and-run death in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike “wins”. Cyclist killed was U. of St. Augustine student and Memorial Held for Cyclist Killed in Hit and Run Damage to the driver’s side front doesn’t sound like an “accident” to me it sounds like murder, I think the driver was aiming for the cyclist. Obviously I don’t think this was a wreck that could have been avoided by anyone with normal human reflexes.
Another hit-and-run just a few miles from where I used to live in TN, fortunately with a non-fatal outcome. Cyclist Injured In Hit And Run Crash In Murfreesboro and a lawyer’s take on it Middle TN Cyclist Injured By Car: Safety Lessons to be Learned This was another case that might have been deliberate assault with intent to injure, or attempted murder, another hit-from-behind wreck, another pickup truck (what is it with pickups and violence against cyclists?) and another vehicle speeding off with front-end damage.
Aftermath of a NoCal wreck, with a good outcome. Cyclist Gets Back on Bike After Hit and Run Accident Again in this wreck the driver was being aggressive, to “teach a lesson”. And it was another pickup truck driver! Three wrecks and 3 pickup trucks at fault so far, and all hit-and-run.
From Oz we have, another hit-and-run, in court this time. Wife of hit-run cyclist Jason Stortz tells of her emptiness At least they caught this guy, and convicted him of the crime. they’re now in the sentencing phase where one possible outcome is a permanent ban on driving. The good news is that the kid involved in the wreck has grown up some in the meantime. There may be some hope for him as a human being, but that doesn’t mean he should ever be allowed to drive again.
And final story is from Jolly Olde, where road engineers and vehicle designers are being prodded by legislators to find out why large trucks are killing female cyclists at such a rate that is all out of proportion to either one’s share of the road population. Save our cyclists: Clamour for flood of avoidable road deaths to be stemmed It’s interesting as to why female cyclists in particular are so susceptible to this kind of deadly wreck. Obviously there is some kind of behaviour on both sides that makes women get killed by big trucks so much more than other vehicles, and so much more than their male counterparts. One thing that has been brought forward is that drivers can’t see out the fronts of their trucks when something is too close, because of the truck getting in the way. This is an obvious design defect that must be fixed, or the vehicles banned from the city streets. Perhaps a video camera system with a wide-angle lens to eliminate blind spots up close to the vehicle could be fitted to older trucks, with better design for new trucks that eliminates those blind spots and allows direct view of what is in front of the vehicle. A concept vehicle I saw a few decades back that fit completely under a standard trailer and put the driver at about the same eye-height as a standard sedan might be the wave of the future in short-haul trucking.
And that’s all the news that gives me fits today, I have to get back to writing that sermon for Sunday.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 