Today is the actual Solstice, the shortest day with the longest night, in the Northern Hemisphere. When I was a little child Solstice was on the 21st, but the precession of the Earth’s axis has finally moved the Equinoxes and Solstices a day later than it used to be. Now it has only moved a few minutes later in my lifetime, but it has moved enough to place the date a day later on the calendar.
It was a very light Feed this morning with only 3 of the links being bicycle related (and you would not believe the number of links I get to reports of injured NFL and college football players riding stationary bikes because they are injured).
Up first because it aggravated me most, a truck driver is charged with a minor misdemeanor after killing one and injuring a second out of a group of 4 cyclists riding in single file on a country road. Driver charged in fatal bike accident It really irks me that the best they could do in a fatal wreck is a minor passing violation. What would the charge have been had the driver been shooting and one bullet killed a man and permanently injured a second of 4 guys standing on a corner? Would that have been a misdemeanor, too?
Another court case as the driver that hit-and-run a cyclist in a fatal wreck that might have been survivable had the wreck been reported in time is charged in the death. Cops and Courts, Dec. 22, 2011: Suspect in fatal hit-and-run to stand trial I wonder what the charges would have been had the weapon used been a gun instead of a motor vehicle? I’m pretty sure they would not have been misdemeanors.
Last link is an Infrastructure! report from Oz. Drivers urged to switch hands to save cyclists It seems absurd that such a simple thing could practically eliminate a serious threat to life and limb, but door prizes are a serious threat to cyclists in Australia. I read in another article that is no longer on line that the single largest mode of wreck involving injury to cyclists in Australia was the door prize. Other modes are fatal more often, but cyclists hit by open doors causes the most injuries. Most of the door prizes don’t make the media unless there were 2 on one day like last week, or the cyclist dies either directly from the door prize or the dooring causes the cyclist to be tossed in front of another motor vehicle that kills him/her.
And that’s all I have this morning, mostly good news.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 