Yep, I had another visit to the LRK for more meds to control my BP (which is V good, average under 116/75) and record my weight (holding just under 206). I also visited the local plasma center to find out how much I could get selling my blood plasma ($50/month) until my job reviewing road and highway projects for not killing bicyclists comes through. Another reason I was late today was because the Daytona 500 ran into Tuesday morning after Juan Pablo Montoya’s car broke at the exact wrong time while passing one of the jet dryers and ran into the trailer with the jet engine and 200 gallons of jet fuel and then hit the truck towing it breaking the 50 gallon tank of diesel fuel, causing a fire that burned for quite a while until trackside firefighters could get it under control and then out. I have been watching NASCAR racing since I was tiny (OK tiny-er much smaller than I am now) and this is the first time I can remember seeing or hearing about a race car hitting a safety vehicle during a caution. I recall there were a couple of incidents in F1 back about 20 or 30 years ago that led to changes in yellow flag rules to prevent such things from happening again, and a tow truck was hit during an SCCA race back in the late pleistocene when someone was passing the car being towed and didn’t see the truck actually towing it.
I open the day’s link-fest with this bit of non-yogurt bicycle culture. Tiny Bike Shop Concert Returns Thursday If you are in the area drop in for a listen and/or watch. And a pretty picture, too
First up, a sentence that seemed to come from Bizarro World. Colorado Springs man sentenced to 8 years in prison in crash that killed cyclist Yes, you read that right, a halfway reasonable sentence for killing a cyclist, even when they couldn’t prove the driver was drunk. More Eight years in prison for driver in cyclist hit-and-run and Man gets prison time for crash that killed cyclist
Arrest in a fatal hit-and-run in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Tampa police arrest man in deadly hit-and-run In the comments we find the victim had not exactly led a spotless life as a driver or as a cyclist, but that still doesn’t mean that he deserved to die at the hands of a drunk driver.
Another guilty driver gets a hefty sentence in SC. Man sentenced to 15 years in fatal hit-and-run I have to say that just a short couple of years since an off-duty firefighter shot a cyclist in the helmet and got away with it the fact that a driver in a fatal wreck with a bicycle was given such a harsh sentence surprizes me some. More Clover driver pleads guilty in crash that killed Rock Hill bicyclist So many of the comments were about the drunk driver being in the wrong in this case after the last link.
Another report on a NJ bike wreck. Bicyclist killed in Egg Harbor Township identified as Mays Landing teen, 2010 Mainland graduate AFAIK this was a hit-from-behind wreck which most likely would be the fault of the driver, but since the driver is LEO what will be decided is questionable.
A kid in IL gets trapped under a car that hit him while he was legally crossing a street in a crosswalk. UPDATED: Bicycling Teen Trapped Under Car, Seriously Injured in Darien From the report it appears the driver was seriously distracted by an impending court appearance. As for the cyclist he had no chance to avoid this wreck as he had committed to the crosswalk and was not going fast enough to be able to avoid a motor vehicle crossing his path.
A terrible situation in CT. Cops: Teens Beat Girl, Rob Bicycle A group of older children/young adults assaulted the girl in the road in broad daylight and beat her up after stealing her bicycle. Not something you can avoid except by looking “badder” than the punks, which is hard for a 14YO girl to do.
Cyclists in Oz share a common complaint with cyclists everywhere, LEO go after cyclists out of proportion to their numbers and their offenses because cyclists are easier to catch than any other vehicle. Bikes ‘the focus’ in cop road sting In spite of cyclists only being 2% of the traffic, and cyclists not breaking the law more than any other group on the road, the cyclists managed to rack up 10% of the tickets…
Infrastructure news from NYC. Bike, walk or run in Prospect Park? Big changes coming down the road Changes are made to reduce the exposure to the most dangerous thing in the park, the motor vehicles, Car time is reduced to a couple hours a day during the week and none at all during the park’s heaviest use during the weekend.
More infrastructure news from the Big Apple. Making Cities Safer for Cyclists and Pedestrians The trick is if you get enough people out of cars you automatically make life safer for everybody else, because the deadliest thing in a city is the motor vehicle. In NYC motor vehicles kill more people on the sidewalks in a week than bicycles kill anywhere in the city in a year. In Dallas we had a fatality in 2010 that was the first pedestrian killed by a cyclist in the entire state in this century, so the fewer cars you have on the roads and the more people you have riding bicycles and walking, the fewer people are going to get killed by any means or method of mobility.
Infrastructure news from the Great White North. Trail’s dangerous rail crossing to be fixed If they had bothered to build it right in the first place they wouldn’t have to be spending more money now to tear out the mistake and build it right.
And that’s all the news I can stand today (tonight?).
Billed @$0.02, Opus
Real life interferes with my blogging, and the Feed
I had to go make a house payment in person at the bank again today because of a check that took until yesterday afternoon to clear and a cash deposit that didn’t show up until last night. All told I had to ride 9 miles to make sure I had a place to park my bike at night. I’m still on track to record 2400 miles this year, which is a good mileage to let me ride the Bike MS (though I had forgotten about that, didn’t you?) without having leg issues. I have decided to clean up the kitty-litter buckets and ride with them on the Bike MS. I figure watching someone ride with two of those on the back of a bike with big chrome fenders catching the breeze with a sit-up-and-beg riding position for 150 miles would be demoralizing in extremis.
The cute news today is this link from Cycle Twin Cities about happy hour at a bike shop .
A cyclist moving on the bicycle phase of a traffic signal is hit by a truck making an illegal right turn on DC. Bicyclist Hit By Truck In DC The reports I’m getting now are that the truck made a right turn during a bike and pedestrian phase of the traffic control signal when right turns are illegal. The big thing on the initial reports was that the cyclist was not wearing a helmet on his rented bike. BLASPHEMY! Don’t they know a foam hat will prevent cars from hitting cyclists?[/sarcasm] More Bicyclist injured after collision on U Street NW
A killer driver pleads guilty and is sentenced for killing a cyclist while driving drunk and texting. Newport Coast woman pleads guilty in fatal crash and Newport Coast Woman Heads to Prison in Crash That Killed Cyclist Personally I would prefer to read a headline that reads “Drunk driver that was texting when she killed a cyclist in the bike lane sent to Death Row”, but that ain’t going to happen any time soon. What I am disappointed by is she could have gotten 10 years in prison and a permanent ban on driving, but will only face a 3 year ban after she gets out.
The teens that assaulted a cyclist on a bike trail resulting in the cyclist shooting 2 of them and killing one, are formally charged with the assault (except for the dead guy, he’s already in a box). Charges for 2 Teens in Pa. Bicyclist Attack Apparently the cyclist just missed a second head shot, the surviving attacker had a neck wound. Good shooting for a combat situation. he took out 2 of 3 assailants with no collateral damages or serious injuries on his part, except for the punch in the face from the initial attack.
An OR driver that ran a cyclist over in the left turn lane while she waited for oncoming traffic to clear faces homicide charges and is being held without bail. Motorist charged in wreck that killed bicyclist Fortunately there were cyclists who witnessed the wreck and saw the victim signalling her turn before she was hit from behind.
A child cyclist is hit in a crosswalk in the Great White North. Boy injured in crosswalk The cyclist activated the crosswalk warnings that gave him right of way in the crosswalk and then used his bike to clear the crosswalk as quickly as possible and was hit with a truck for his troubles, But the media outlet that carried the story still somehow managed to blame the kid for getting hit.
A bad spot to cycle in Enn Zed takes down another cyclist. Cyclist hit by car at site of earlier accident Something that is infuriating me about wreck reports from NZ is the constant “HiViz and helmets” barrage as if these would prevent wrecks even when it’s proven to not be effective (as in this wreck).
Still in Kiwi land, a couple riding a tandem get a bad case of the speed wobbles and crash heavily. Tourists riding tandem bicycle injured in crash If the cyclists were riding a rented bike hopefully the bike shop will not be renting that bike to other people now that it’s crashed and caused injury. If they were riding their own bike they don’t have to worry about shipping it home now…
The big Infrastructure! news has been that bridge in the Twin Cities that had a structural failure (fortunately an easily repairable failure). As I guessed from the early reports there had been several motor vehicles over that bridge just before the failure was discovered. Ambulance Drove on Sabo Bridge Days Before Failure The blog that broke the story Two-cents on the Sabo bridge deal. Apparently the bridge is designed to carry one or 2 motor vehicles at a time, but something wasn’t up to spec in the construction and caused the 2 cables to fail. And the bike link that told me about it Twin Cities Cycling News From Around the Web
Infrastructure news from the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike for 6 years running, after yet another fatal wreck involving a cyclist in the bike lane. New bicycle advisory committee hopes to make biking safer in Manatee and Cyclists, Politicos Convene Bike Safety Summit
More infrastructure from the land of the cheese heads. Tougher Penalties Loom for Injuring Bicyclists, Other ‘Vulnerable Road Users’ The best illustration of why this law is needed is by reading the comments on the article.
And that’s all the links that give me fits.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
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Tagged anti-bike blatherings, can you top this, cycling life, cyclist injured, cyclist killed, Don't read the comments, Enn Zed, hit from behind, hit-and-run, Left cross/right hook, red light runner, signs of the apocolypse, smart LEO, Something smells, stupid cyclist, stupid drivers, stupid LEO, stupid politicians, waste of human skin