I’m going to turn an insult on its head today, about the failure of LEO to take people getting killed on bicycles seriously. First of all most traffic death is not granted the seriousness it deserves, but cyclist deaths are treated even less so. Part of that is the “playing in the street” meme I have mentioned before, but there are other things that cause LEO to not treat the death of a cycling road user as seriously as someone using a car on the roads. That is why we as a community need to build a bridge to the LEO community so that cycling deaths are treated like any other kind of unnatural death. Traffic deaths need to be treated like homicides, because they are. A little girl killed in a crosswalk by a car turning right on red is just as innocent and just as dead as a little girl killed in her bedroom by a stray bullet fired by someone wanting to hear a loud noise, but the one is treated like an “accident” and the other is manslaughter or higher. That is the secondary crime of traffic death.
I finally got to use the panniers yesterday for grocery shopping, along with my old ruck. It was so nice putting the really heavy stuff in the panniers and only carrying the light stuff on my back. We got almost a month’s worth of groceries home without using a car, and without causing back strain. If I had packed a little better I could have carried even less on my back, but that’s part of getting experience in using the kitty-litter buckets. It took me a while to learn how to get all those groceries in my ruck, too.
Up first because it was the most aggravating of the wreck reports, a cyclist is hit from behind by an out-of-control car in AZ. Cyclist injured in crash with car Wednesday Yes you read that right, the car was out of control and hit the cyclist in the bike lane hard enough to bounce him off a business sign set back from the road. As of the posting of the link, no charges had been filed. More Flagstaff bicyclist recovering after being struck by vehicle and Cyclist injured by car
More on the FL cyclist right-hooked by a fire truck on a fixie. Orlando ride to honor Winter Park cyclist run over by fire engine The original report I read made this look like the rider was on a BMX bike that had been modified for use on a half-pipe instead of a bike that used the rider’s legs as brakes instead of friction brakes.
Another senseless bike wreck in CA. Bicyclist seriously injured in Chino collision The cyclist was hit from behind by a SUV that was passing another vehicle on the right. My assessment is the first vehicle moved over to make a legal pass of the cyclist and the kid in the SUV jumped into the gap to save a few seconds before getting to the next stop light. This was another of those wrecks that a cyclist has no way to avoid. More CHINO: Teenage driver hits, critically injures bicyclist
Two kids out trick-or-treating on bikes were hit in Carlisle PA. Two boys injured while trick-or-treating in Lower Allen Township (updated 1:16 p.m.) OK the link updated while I was making the link in my post, now they don’t know if the kids were on bikes or not. Anyway, intersection wreck, with costumes that might have prevented the driver from seeing the kids, use intersection protocols when trick-or-treating this weekend. More 2 Teens Hit By Car In Lower Allen Twp. and Boy hit by car while trick or treating has ‘life threatening’ injuries, Lower Allen police say also Police: Boy hit by car while trick-or-treating has ‘life-threatening’ injuries
A horrendous act of terrorism in Oz. Cyclist injured on bike path by wire OK what would you call a possibly fatal booby trap set up on a road? Right, an act of terrorism. So why doesn’t a potentially fatal booby trap set on a bike path get treated the same way?
Infrastructure! in the Great White North. City moves ahead with more safe-cycling initiatives They could start by making killing a cyclist a bigger fine than a cyclist riding on the sidewalk… Just sayin’
Infrastructure from the UK. Cyclist deaths – The experts offer advice How about putting something better than a meter wide strip of paint on the side of the road that drivers use when they feel like they need the room, instead of blaming the cyclist for getting passed by HGV drivers that don’t look for cyclists.
LifeStyle from OR. Benefit for injured cyclist, musician If you are in the area WoaB strongly suggests that you support this cause, the guy needs the money.
And that’s all the news I can stand today, go ride your bike. That’s what I’m going to do after I post this.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
32.928601
-96.607394
Witch on a Bicycle 
Build a bridge to get over it, and the Feed
I’m going to turn an insult on its head today, about the failure of LEO to take people getting killed on bicycles seriously. First of all most traffic death is not granted the seriousness it deserves, but cyclist deaths are treated even less so. Part of that is the “playing in the street” meme I have mentioned before, but there are other things that cause LEO to not treat the death of a cycling road user as seriously as someone using a car on the roads. That is why we as a community need to build a bridge to the LEO community so that cycling deaths are treated like any other kind of unnatural death. Traffic deaths need to be treated like homicides, because they are. A little girl killed in a crosswalk by a car turning right on red is just as innocent and just as dead as a little girl killed in her bedroom by a stray bullet fired by someone wanting to hear a loud noise, but the one is treated like an “accident” and the other is manslaughter or higher. That is the secondary crime of traffic death.
I finally got to use the panniers yesterday for grocery shopping, along with my old ruck. It was so nice putting the really heavy stuff in the panniers and only carrying the light stuff on my back. We got almost a month’s worth of groceries home without using a car, and without causing back strain. If I had packed a little better I could have carried even less on my back, but that’s part of getting experience in using the kitty-litter buckets. It took me a while to learn how to get all those groceries in my ruck, too.
Up first because it was the most aggravating of the wreck reports, a cyclist is hit from behind by an out-of-control car in AZ. Cyclist injured in crash with car Wednesday Yes you read that right, the car was out of control and hit the cyclist in the bike lane hard enough to bounce him off a business sign set back from the road. As of the posting of the link, no charges had been filed. More Flagstaff bicyclist recovering after being struck by vehicle and Cyclist injured by car
More on the FL cyclist right-hooked by a fire truck on a fixie. Orlando ride to honor Winter Park cyclist run over by fire engine The original report I read made this look like the rider was on a BMX bike that had been modified for use on a half-pipe instead of a bike that used the rider’s legs as brakes instead of friction brakes.
Another senseless bike wreck in CA. Bicyclist seriously injured in Chino collision The cyclist was hit from behind by a SUV that was passing another vehicle on the right. My assessment is the first vehicle moved over to make a legal pass of the cyclist and the kid in the SUV jumped into the gap to save a few seconds before getting to the next stop light. This was another of those wrecks that a cyclist has no way to avoid. More CHINO: Teenage driver hits, critically injures bicyclist
Two kids out trick-or-treating on bikes were hit in Carlisle PA. Two boys injured while trick-or-treating in Lower Allen Township (updated 1:16 p.m.) OK the link updated while I was making the link in my post, now they don’t know if the kids were on bikes or not. Anyway, intersection wreck, with costumes that might have prevented the driver from seeing the kids, use intersection protocols when trick-or-treating this weekend. More 2 Teens Hit By Car In Lower Allen Twp. and Boy hit by car while trick or treating has ‘life threatening’ injuries, Lower Allen police say also Police: Boy hit by car while trick-or-treating has ‘life-threatening’ injuries
A horrendous act of terrorism in Oz. Cyclist injured on bike path by wire OK what would you call a possibly fatal booby trap set up on a road? Right, an act of terrorism. So why doesn’t a potentially fatal booby trap set on a bike path get treated the same way?
Infrastructure! in the Great White North. City moves ahead with more safe-cycling initiatives They could start by making killing a cyclist a bigger fine than a cyclist riding on the sidewalk… Just sayin’
Infrastructure from the UK. Cyclist deaths – The experts offer advice How about putting something better than a meter wide strip of paint on the side of the road that drivers use when they feel like they need the room, instead of blaming the cyclist for getting passed by HGV drivers that don’t look for cyclists.
LifeStyle from OR. Benefit for injured cyclist, musician If you are in the area WoaB strongly suggests that you support this cause, the guy needs the money.
And that’s all the news I can stand today, go ride your bike. That’s what I’m going to do after I post this.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
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Tagged anti-bike blatherings, can you top this, cycling life, cyclist injured, Don't read the comments, hit from behind, hit-and-run, infrastructure, Jolly Olde, Left cross/right hook, Oz, signs of the apocolypse, smart politicians, Something smells, stupid drivers, stupid politicians, updates, waste of human skin