After a long-ish ride to pick up some things that have held up progress and to check out the infrastructure in the next town over, the Feed

Just try reading that headline out loud on a single breath.

OK what I did this morning was to use part of my tax return check to pick up some stuff that has been holding up progress by not being there to get used, in this case drill bits, electrical terminals, and the one slightly frivolous item a solar powered path light. Every so often people will forget I’m not home after dark and turn off the back porch light. This leaves the walk from the garage to the back door in deep shadow as we have a near-daylight bright light on the garage lighting the garage front and driveway in back of the house but it doesn’t light up any of the yard next to the garage, including the path from the driveway to the door. My night vision is pretty good, but I can’t handle the transition from the driveway’s brilliance to the ambient light under the liveoak tree that shades our back yard. So the path light is not a necessity but more of a “nice thing to have when I need it”.

While I was coming back from the store, my route crossed a recently opened bit of infrastructure in Richardson called the Glenville Trail, touted as the closest thing to Dutch bike infrastructure in TX by one blog. Well if that is as close as they have gotten to Dutch infrastructure in TX, they have a long way to go yet. I was riding Blue with the kitty litter buckets and there were places that I had to paddle through because it was too tight to ride. Intersections were heavily traffic-calmed, for traffic on the bike path. They put chicanes in the bike path in the middle of the freaking intersections! I mean who does that? Outside of the US and maybe the UK that is? And the frustrating part was the chicanes were so tight they effectively made the path alternating direction instead of 2-way at the intersections because of the narrow path and high curbs on the chicanes were only wide enough to allow one bike at a time through. I could put one foot on the left curb while my front wheel was next to the right curb and my back wheel was in the middle of my lane. I mean Blue is slightly longer than a standard road bike but not so much as you would notice without a tape measure, so regular bikes would have been in pretty much the same situation as Blue. And this was not confined to the intersection chicanes either. There were several sections that required drastic slowing even from my usual tortoise-like cruise speeds to negotiate, because they were so tight, and others because there was so much debris in the path. And the final indignity? When you got to the end of the trail, there was a stop sign, and that’s it. There was no indication as to the name of the street you were being dumped on, without local knowledge you were basically up the proverbial unsanitary tributary without visible means of locomotion, or a map.

Up first, more from SF in the “OMG! A Pedestrian was hit by a Bicycle!” flood of media diarrhea after the recent wreck. Pedestrian safety: Leaders need new attitudes I find this quote telling: “This week, for the second time in less than nine months, a senior pedestrian in a crosswalk in the city was struck by a cyclist and sent to the hospital.” Two injury wrecks in almost 9 months. One fatal, one that injured the cyclist as bad as the pedestrian, and in the mean time there were 10-15 pedestrians killed by motor vehicles, and hundreds more crippled for life. That never makes the news. And there was a bus that ran over a pedestrian then left the scene. Muni Still Hasn’t Confirmed Responsibility for Hit-and-Run Accident in SOMA because it is so much worse to get hit by a bicycle than a bus, NOT!

A wreck in MO. Vehicle hits bike rider on Warren Barrett Drive Not much information and some of it contradictory, like if the injured person was a cyclist or a pedestrian. The article switches from cyclist to pedestrian to bike rider all in 3 paragraphs. It was like reading parts of 3 different wreck reports.

A heinous wreck in IN. Hit-and-run hurts boy, 6 The weapon vehicle was following a Harley, which means the vision of the driver of the 6YO cyclist was not impaired or impeded by the leading vehicle. If you are in the area and see a grey/silver Sunfire or Cavalier with front damage and red or blue paint transfer in the damaged area shoot out the tires and radiator, and hold the driver at gunpoint call 911. A comment left with the article states the victim had a bone protruding from his leg after the wreck. I don’t think there is anyone on this planet that wants this driver jailed more than I do. There was an unconfirmed report the driver was using a hand-held communication device at the time of the wreck.

LifeStyle as a bike mechanic needs help after getting hit by a motor vehicle. Donations sought for injured mechanic I must have missed seeing that wreck in the Feed, because I couldn’t find any reference to it between then and now in any of my posts.

And more LifeStyle in the Spokane area of Eastern WA. 2012 Bicycling Events: Expanded list Looks like a lot of fun stuff to do there.

And wonder of wonders, after all the non-bicycle links have been filtered out, that’s all I have to post today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

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Busy day planned after I post the blog, and the Feed

I have to deliver the mortgage check to the thieves people servicing the loan today, and hope the tax check has cleared so the mortgage check doesn’t bounce. The $$ we would have used to bounce-proof the mortgage check went into paying for a month’s worth of food yesterday. Such is life lived on the edge. As the saying goes, “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.” And that would be rude.

It looks like I might fall behind pace for completing 2400 miles this year due to a lack of places to go. As my regular readers know, I ride to get to places that are too far to walk to in a reasonable time, and that are not served by transit, or that I would have to carry more stuff on one or more legs of the trip than I could manage on the bus or walking. IOW I ride to get where I need to go, and lately that hasn’t been to enough places that are far enough away to meet my mileage goals. And part of that has been due to a lack of $$ more than a lack of places to go. I need to get some stuff, some of it from quite some distance away, that I haven’t gotten because I can’t pay for the items once I get to the store. Now that I have my tax return that will change a little.

Up first by reason of “WTF?!”. Suspected drunk driver hits five teens on bikes The driver hit 5 people on bikes, dragging one bike for an extended distance, then got out of the car and tried to hide in trees after driving as far as his damaged car would take him. To prevent this wreck as a cyclist with current built environment there’s nothing you could do, and even SBR wouldn’t help against a drunk driver unless there were car-proof armored bollards capable of taking out a large vehicle guarding all approaches to the Bike Roads. More links in chronological order. Mount Carmel Teens Hit By Vehicle and Police Say Teacher Was Drunk When Teens Were Hit another More Reaction From Mount Carmel After Hit-And-Run Crash also Shamokin Area teacher suspended after allegedly running into teens not done yet Police Continue Investigation While Victims Of Mount Carmel Hit And Run Remain In Hospital That was a lawyer’s take on the subject 3 still in hospital another link Police: Teacher Hits 5 Teens With Car and last link Teacher Accused of Drunk Driving, Striking 5 High School Students

Still in PA, a slightly less violent wreck in the police blotter. Friday’s Sentinel police log The incident is in the paragraph that begins “Lorrie A. Shaner, 50, of Carlisle was charged with vehicles turning left“… IOW this was a classic left cross intersection wreck. To avoid with current infrastructure apply intersection protocols, and again SBR would prevent this entirely.

By TX standards this wreck was right next door to the preceding one. Bicyclist Hit, Killed in Smith Township I know the OH and the PA wrecks were hundreds of miles apart, I was making a TX joke. This wreck appears to be hit-from-behind, the standard protocol applies.

Another OH fatality, this one a SWCC. Sylvania bicyclist killed in collision on Greenbelt Not much meat in this report. If true then don’t run red lights to avoid, otherwise intersection protocols. SBR would prevent such wrecks, of course.

An almost-appropriate sentence in IL. 10-year prison sentence for hit-and-run driver The driver was drunk and suspected of also being impaired by pot when she was arrested a short time after killing the cyclist, and has been arrested for DUI and possession more than once since the wreck. IMNSHO 10 years in prison would be a good start at proper punishment, but there needs to be more, like making driving a car equal to felony possession of a weapon. Also mandatory payments to the cyclist’s surviving dependants for life or until age 21 for the minors. The article did not mention if the cyclist had any dependants to support in the nearly 2 years since the wreck that killed him.

Trouble in Paradise as a motorcycle crosses the centerline and hits a bicyclist head on. Motorcycle and bicycle collide; 2 men injured, 1 critically There’s little doubt about whose fault this wreck is, as well as how to avoid a similar wreck. To avoid fade right when a motor vehicle crosses the centerline. To prevent make SBR.

Stop the presses, a cyclist has hit another pedestrian in San Francisco. Pedestrian injured in collision with bicyclist expected to survive and Pedestrian, cyclist injured in SF Castro District collision also 72-Year-Old Castro Pedestrian Struck By Cyclist Expected To Survive and SF Media’s Double Standard on Traffic Crashes Rears Its Head Again OOOhhh are they ever not kidding about that one! and final link Pedestrian, cyclist injured in crash in Castro

Infrastructure! news from NYC. The ‘Hipster Highway’ is still a speedway: advocacy group says two-thirds of drivers speed on McGuinness Blvd. With drivers routinely exceeding the speed limit by twice the posted limit, and big rigs seriously compromising their stopping and reaction distances by going 75% over the limit, this road is in serious need of traffic calming.

Also in NYC Infrastructure. Councilman Stephen Levin Proposes Bill Requiring NYPD To Investigate Serious Bike Accidents Just another law for NYPD to ignore like the laws requiring investigation of serious injury wrecks. Unless they put Ray Kelly in jail for every uninvestigated wreck the law requires to be investigated nothing will be done.

A little jab at the legal infrastructure in the UK as regards to “cars paying for he roads”. I agree with David Cameron “I want to give the motorist a fair deal.”

And local LifeStyle as a bicycle culture develops just 40 miles to the west from WoaB World HQ in the beautiful suburbs of Hell. Big wheels turning: Bike culture in DFW Bike culture in DFW, whodathunkit?

And those are all the links that gave me fits today, sorry it’s so late, real life intervened, again.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Today is Super Mule Day, and the Feed

Mrs. the Poet has instructed me to lash our rucks to Blue as payday has arrived and we need to restock our pantry with non-perishable foods. This means that Blue will be loaded to the creaking and groaning point, ditto my back, and Mrs. the Poet shall be tasked with whatever Blue and I can’t carry. Since one of my X-mas/Solstice gifts was a set of tie-downs for externally carried cargo on Blue we have been able to carry large bags of stuff that would not fit in the buckets or the ruck previously. Actually to be precise I can load one large bag of non-refrigerated food per trip, in addition to what fits in the buckets and ruck. Also I am working on new kitty-litter bucket panniers that are removable, meaning I don’t have to ride up to the back door and back the bike up to it. I could just remove the buckets from the bike and carry them into the house where they could be unloaded at leisure. And I could leave them at home on trips that won’t require cargo capacity. This would make such trips a little quicker as the current setup is about as aerodynamic as a cab-over semi with no trailer fairing. Also, I will be able to make the new panniers more weather-tight as I won’t have to drill through the inner shell of the bucket to install the mounting hardware. I have learned much since my first attempt at making kitty-litter buckets work as cargo capacity.

Up first, Albany CA residents ask if the 25 MPH speed limit on an arterial that runs through a residential neighborhood will ever be enforced. You Ask: Do Police Enforce Speeding on Buchanan? This was a street that saw a cyclist killed a few weeks ago that was partially blamed on the driver of the weapon vehicle speeding. The description of the road makes it sound like a good candidate for speed-sensitive road mines what with drivers routinely driving in excess of double the posted limit. I have been working on a compact unit that would be about 1m long, with a shaped charge that would disable the vehicle without damaging the pavement road surface (changed to account for the heavy increase in non-US readers I have gotten recently, outside of the US pavement is a thing, a sidewalk, rather than a surface).

First wreck report is from the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Injured cyclist cited for not having lights Another ninja cyclist, part of the reason why FL leads the nation in cyclist deaths. This does not excuse the drivers that hit pedestrians at night because they have badly-aimed or otherwise ill-functioning headlights, but really reflectors are cheap, easy to get and install and make the back of the bike really shine even with bad headlights on the weapon vehicle. I have a couple of square feet of reflective materials on the back of Blue, and as soon as I finish building the charger I’ll have a blindingly bright taillight with a rechargeable battery. More Milton bicyclist hurt in accident

A wreck in San Diego has LEO puzzled as the initial impact location of the cyclist remains unknown after the cyclist was hit 3 times (this is a similar wreck to the salmon cyclist a while back on the same street, but this cyclist was riding with traffic). Witnesses Sought in Fatal Hit-and-Run Bike Accident You notice that in this wreck the cyclist ended up in the correct location and the initial vehicle to hit the cyclist left the scene and has not been located unlike the salmon cyclist wreck where the same make vehicle remained at the scene and the driver rendered aid to the cyclist. All the same 2 wrecks in a short space of time and on the same street gives me a bad feeling. (cue the Lucasfilm logo and Star Wars theme). The same number of vehicles that hit the cyclist is another striking parallel.

A SWSS wreck in far south TX. Victoria woman hurt when pickup hits her bike The only witness that was still conscious to make a report was the driver of the weapon vehicle, so until otherwise verified, this is a hit-from-behind wreck, use the appropriate protocols to avoid, and SBR would prevent a wreck like this.

A WI wreck with independent witnesses for a 11YO boy crossing against the light. Bicyclist, 11, in serious condition after crash Yeah, crossing with the light would most likely prevent this, and SBR would have no impact at all as the 11YO would still have to wait on the light.

A youth in ME is hit walking his bike on the side of the road in a school zone. Boy hit by car back at home The mother in this one is seriously over-reacting, the kid was walking when he was hit by a car that went off the road in a school zone at more than the posted speed limit. Seriously woman, the kid was 100% innocent in this wreck, and the bike made 0% difference in the wreck. This would be like forbidding him to carry a backpack because he had one on when he was abducted by aliens, as if wearing a backpack (or riding a bike) had anything to do with the situation. Unless the driver targeted him because of the bike, of course.

More on the CO wreck initially reported as a “booby trap”. Police: Injured cyclist not the victim of a ‘booby trap’ I still can’t wrap my mind around why the fisherman would have had to be fishing across a bike path, the narrative doesn’t make sense, but glad to know it was not a deliberate attempt to cause injury.

LifeStyle in TX. Cycling notebook: Bike-to-work days roll out this spring Bike to work in Houston, sponsored by the Kevorkian bike club and the organ donors league. Juuust kidding folks, riding to work in Houston is no more dangerous than riding to work in many cities around the world, like Khandahar or Beirut or even Baghdad.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

The tax check is deposited, and the Feed

I had to make an early trip to the bank today to deposit the tax return check. The hoops I had to jump through were ridiculous. First, something I expected was I couldn’t deposit the check in two accounts, mine and Mrs. the Poet’s. What I wasn’t expecting was that I couldn’t deposit the check into Mrs. the Poet’s checking account, even though I am a co-signer on the account. Another thing I wasn’t expecting was the check had to clear to be spendable. Apparently there is a lot of counterfeiting of IRS checks going on… And before I can transfer my part of the return into my account, the check has to clear first. So, still p’ at the moment, waiting to be upgraded to po’.

Up first, NJ moms try to come up with reasons for kids to wear helmets besides “I told you to.” Bayonne-based fohawx! makes wearing bicycle helmets cool OK, if this will convince kids that wearing helmets is “cool” enough to keep their little noggins intact until they reach majority then I say “more power to them”. But I think this will be a short-lived fad, that will play out after a year or maybe 2 and we’ll be right back to draconian measures to prevent child brain damage from bicycle wrecks and continue to ignore the larger problem of children dying from motor vehicle wrecks and childhood obesity rates exceeding 30%, setting them up for early deaths from heart disease and diabetes…

Our first wreck link is actually the outcome of a wreck. Victim’s family outraged after guilty plea in hit-and-run case The plea was so watered down that the driver will probably be back out of prison before Christmas, and that’s because so much of the evidence was tainted by the act of the hit-and-run that any conviction other than for the hit-and-run could not be proven. So, again hit-and-run proves to be a good legal strategy from the defense’s point of view. The relatives of the deceased are lobbying for hit-and-run to be made a major felony, with the lesser included offense of destruction of evidence in cases where DUI is suspected but can’t be proven because the driver was not caught in time to test for impairment.

A possibly drunk cyclist hit in CA, again. CYCLIST INJURED IN EL CAJON Don’t ride drunk, don’t even ride a little tipsy, because even if you are not legally drunk you will be blamed for the vehicle that hits you.

That CO wreck initially thought to be a booby trap is now thought to be a fishing accident. Police: Injured cyclist not the victim of a ‘booby trap’ Something is still “fishy” about this story though, like why was the guy fishing across a bike path?

The smelly ball of stinky goo that is NYPD investigations of traffic wrecks just keeps getting bigger and stinkier and just as sticky. Councilman Brad Lander joins bike suit against NYPD When the boss’s boss gets involved in a suit against you on the side against you, you know you are in it big. This will cost NYPD dearly and may cause a serious revamp of the way the NYPD is organized, because it isn’t just cyclists that are getting short shrift from NYPD, it’s anyone hurt that wasn’t riding in a car at the time of the wreck. People are getting tired of major injury wrecks being treated like fenderbenders, when felony charges could and should be brought against drivers for criminal violations in these wrecks. And charges are not being brought because the wrecks are not investigated leaving prosecutors with no solid evidence to prosecute. And it’s not just criminal proceedings that are being affected, compensation for victims is being lost in civil courts because determination of fault is being based on the driver’s statement while the victims are being carted away unconscious or dead and unable to make their side of the story known, while physical evidence is ignored and uncollected even in fatal cases with felony charges possible against drivers. TANJ! More NYPD May Be Forced To Investigate Serious Car-On-Bike Crashes

A cyclist is hit in Canuckistan and there is question about who ran the red light. Vancouver cyclist in critical condition after collision with car The cyclist was at an intersection with a separate signal phase for bicycles and pedestrians, and it is believed possible that either operator could have run the red to cause this wreck.

Not an actual wreck but an assault on a cyclist has lead to felony charges against a pedestrian. Edmonton man admits to deadly 2008 attack on cyclist The man knocked the cyclist off his bike, then proceeded to kick and stomp him until he was unconscious and dying.

Legal Infrastructure! in ID fails as their 3-foot passing law bites the dust in this session of the legislature. No Boost for Bike Safety in Idaho Maybe they can introduce a new bill in the next session.

More infrastructure news from ND via DC. Bicycle group warns riders to steer clear of North Dakota’s oil patch due to dangerous traffic It’s sad that such an historic bike route is being abandoned because of heavy truck traffic, and increasing numbers of rednecks who can’t drive. More Cyclists warned to steer clear of ND’s oil patch

Another infrastructure report from Rapid City SD. Report On Risk To RC Pedestrians, Bicyclists So what I think I’m reading here is that Rapid City has an urban density that attracts cyclists and pedestrians, but most of the drivers come from the wide open spaces outside the city and don’t know how to drive around, you know, people that aren’t in cars.

And LifeStyle from the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike 6 years running. Wrigley remembered at Inaugural Velo Fest This blog in no way endorses the political views expressed on that linked site.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today, now I’m waiting on my $500M lottery ticket to pay off. I figure it has to eventually, in spite of the odds. Hey! I died once and came back, I got luck just oozing out of me.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Got my tax return check, and the Feed

The tax return showed up in the mailbox yesterday instead of the Debit card account I had set up so I could buy things on the Internet as well as spend my money IRL. The IRS said in so many words that when they tried to make the deposit there was no account there to deposit into, so basically all the money I put in there previously and allowed to go to the “maintenance fees” has vanished, leaving me with nothing. And now I’m back to trying to find a way to buy the things I want that I can only get online, without exposing every penny I have to hackers and just plain thieves. Thanks for nothing PayPower .

Up first, an update on the wreck in Eastern WA between the bicycle and the motorcycle. 2 killed in bicycle-motorcycle crash identified After looking at the Google Street View of the wreck location I noticed that the cyclist’s view to the south where the motorcycle was coming from was restricted by a tree that was almost in the road. I also noted that the cyclist was observed to have stopped at the stop sign and then was hit as he crossed the road that did not have a stop sign. The cyclist had a good enough sight line to see and avoid a vehicle moving at the posted speed limit for the area, and to cross the road in sufficient time to avoid getting hit by a vehicle that was beyond his sight line at the time he began crossing the road. The area is known for having speeding vehicles on that street, so I conclude that the motorcyclist was in fact speeding when he hit the bicyclist. Both victims are being tested to determine if chemical impairment may have been a factor.

And closer to WoaB World HQ in the beautiful suburbs of Hell, LEO have found and arrested the drinver in the hit-and-run fatality of a cyclist. Arrest Made in Brownlee Fatal Hit & Run Cyclist had no chance of avoiding this one, usual rants about hit-and-run drivers, I hope he’s allergic to kittens etc… Congratulations are due to the LEO involved in this investigation.

A 15 YO in NJ is hit when he went from riding normally to salmon, crossing in front of a moving vehicle. Fanwood Driver Crashes into 15-year-old Bike Rider Ordinarily I would discount a report like this, but they claim that several outside witnesses saw the youth change sides of the street just before he was hit. Obviously the way to avoid a wreck like this is to 1) not be a 15 YO boy, and 2) not to suddenly ride into traffic from the other side of the street…

Near my old stomping grounds in TN they solved another hit-and-run killing of a cyclist. UPDATED: 2 bikers hit by trucks within a week The rider that died in this wreck was riding salmon but the driver left the scene claiming that she thought she had hit a deer. In the second wreck mentioned the driver took the cyclist and bike away from the wreck and neither has been heard from since…

A possibly drunk cyclist runs into a car in CA. Bicyclist Seriously Injured In Accident This was another wreck that had more than one outside witness, and another one where there was a suspicion of alcohol use by the cyclist, who is expected to survive. I hate drunk cyclists almost as much as I hate drunk drivers, but still well below hit-and-run drivers.

Elsewhere in CA two cyclists run into each other, minor injury reported. From the Police Log: Cyclist Injured in Crash, Petty Theft Reported There was nothing in the report that could be used to tell you how to avoid the wreck, I just included it because it was a rare report of a cyclist injury wreck on the road that did not involve a motor vehicle.

A cyclist is severely injured by a booby trap across a bike path in CO. Bicyclist seriously injured by booby trap I could not believe this act of terrorism was not even being investigated by LEO. Had someone done anything of a similar level of lethality on a street or highway, there would have been “20 cop cars with all kinds of cop equipment, and helicopters taking pictures from every angle, the northern approach, the southern approach, the eastern approach…” (thanks to Arlo Guthrie for that memorable quote from Alice’s Restaurant). I think it is interesting that when I opened the comments section the 2 comments that were already there were invisible as was the ability to add comments.

Another link to the death of a cyclist at the wheels of a drunk driver in NC. Ohio Bicyclist Dies From Crash Injuries I have said all I can or care to say about that wreck in this blog.

Cyclists in Oz are in open revolution about bike helmets. Bike-riding girls ditch helmets

Infrastructure! in Las Vegas. Bicycling takes off in Las Vegas. Are you ready to pedal? In spite of the terrible infrastructure conditions in Sin City, people are riding bikes for exercise and transportation. The comments at the bottom of the article indicate just how far we have to go yet to make Vegas a bike-friendly city.

And while I’m stuck in the house unable to do the BikeMS because as Mrs. the Poet says “We be P'” as in too poor to buy a vowel (we used to be just po’ too poor to afford the last 2 letters in the word “poor”, now we’re p’) riders in IA plan on their ride for MS. Bike ride allows cyclists to cuise cornfields while supporting multiple sclerosis research I’m so jealous…

And those are all the links that gave me fits this morning.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

I feel a breeze, and the Feed

Well as of right now as I type these words the video and pictures of losing more than 5 months of hair and beard growth have not yet been posted, but there is a constant draft in my house and in the rest of the world. I know that is because what used to be covered by a thick coat of hair is now exposed, but it still feels on the emotional level like the whole world has gotten drafty.

Up first, more on the cyclist that died in NC after being hit by a drunk driver. Cyclist Hit By DWI Driver In Lexington Dies This was the cyclist that was hit at a speed of between 50 and 55MPH on the shoulder of the road by a drunk driver who also hit-and-run. The driver had almost double the legal limit for BAC%.

Another NC cyclist death by a drunk driver. Greenwood teen charged in fatal bike crash Drunk driver runs off the road, hitting and killing a cyclist, but they had to mention the cyclist was not wearing a helmet… Anyway intersection protocol might have helped, Breathalyser interlocks on motor vehicle engine controls would have prevented this.

Just a short drive from the previous wreck, a cyclist is killed in a SWCC. Man hit, killed while riding bike Google Maps was unable to locate the intersection where this wreck was supposed to have happened, and I did a manual search for the intersection myself from one side of Sumter county to the other on US15 with no luck either in locating any kind of “Road 404”. The only 404 I found was a 404 error, So either this was a local designation that was not incorporated into Google Maps (and just to be sure I zoomed in to the shows lot boundaries level of zoom) or the intersection was mis-identified, or the wreck never happened and the whole article was a ruse to drive web traffic and gather eyeballs for the ads. Assuming the wreck really did happen as described it had to have been at an uncontrolled intersection where the cyclist must determine that there is a big enough gap in traffic before attempting to cross. I didn’t see many intersections where the speed limit would have made it impossible to see a car coming at night before you could cross on a bike. But the wreck supposedly happened @ 0545, still deep dark in the early morning. Anyway, intersection protocols to avoid, SBR to prevent.

In Eastern WA, a motorcycle hits a bicycle killing both riders. Neighors not surprised by deadly motorcycle, bike crash Nothing on the mode of the wreck, but locals say that motor vehicle traffic was routinely too fast for conditions there. There was an intersection mentioned in the article I read (which may be different from the one there when you click the link) so I’m going to suggest intersection protocols to avoid the wreck, and SBR to prevent it completely.

Another link to that smelly ball of goo that NYPD wreck investigation has become. A Push For More NYPD Accountability For Fatal Cyclist Crashes Yep, this one is turning into a hold-your-nose kind of deal.

Speaking of hold-your-nose, the killer of an RAF officer in the UK is sentenced. Delivery driver hit and killed RAF officer who served as Queen’s aide – but escapes jail as he was ‘blinded by the sun’ Apparently it is peachy keen to continue at speed when you can’t see past the front end of your vehicle, even if it kills someone.

Another UK killer of cyclists is actually sent to jail. Learner driver from Rainham jailed for killing schoolboy Thomas Stone Well, this driver was not even fully allowed to drive alone, was not insured, and at the time of the wreck was alone in the car…

LifeStyle! ALEXANDER: Disabled athletes should inspire us Handcycling can be fun, and is a great form of low-impact cross-training. It would be better if the vehicles didn’t cost as much as a decent used car, but given the production volumes and the fact that they’re subsidised by insurance for most of the people that need one, I don’t see prices coming down in the near future.

Last link is to an article on possible post-lithium developments in battery technology. Supercharged! Battery Power for the Future In case you wonder why this is important in a bicycle blog, one of my passions is e-assist bikes, and one of the stumbling blocks for those is a lack of both power- and energy-dense batteries at a reasonable price, that can be recharged as fast as filling a tank on an ICE-assist bike. Also the lack of good batteries are the major impediment to electric cars, for pretty much the same reason. And electric cars will be much easier to live with than ICE cars because drivers will have to drive slower to conserve what energy they can get in the car unless they want to have to charge every time they stop. IOW unless there is a major change in battery physics that makes batteries equal to gasoline I don’t see e-cars being driven as hard or as fast as ICE cars, because they will be stuck away from the charging point. I don’t see an easy way to bring a few Wh of electricity to a stranded e-car that has depleted the battery, like you can bring a jerry-can of gas to a car…

And last thought, Yehuda Moon is coming out from behind the paywall for a week, if you haven’t read it, or haven’t read it for a while, you should click the link in the sidebar and go there…

And those are all the links that gave me fits today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

From Ice to Fire, Wreck-free Sunday

I took care of some “stuff” around the house so we don’t get the codes guy angry. This year it’s our tree hanging too low over the sidewalk, so Mrs. the Poet and I walked the branch down so that I could reach it with the saw and remove it from over the sidewalk. Now I have sawdust in my hair for the short period of time that I will still have hair today. At evening services tonight the congregation is going to cut funny patterns in my hair and take pictures to post to Facebook before shaving the rest of it off to give to the birdies as nesting materials.

Today we celebrated Equinox, by planting more seeds (my beans from the Full Moon didn’t make it home from the service, but the seeds we did today made it home fine, go figure). Tonight we “Shear our Sheep” with me standing in as the sheep, because I deliberately grow my hair out over the winter as added insulation for my noggin. At this time of year all that extra hair becomes more of a liability than an asset as I start getting really sweaty from all the mess of hair, and it starts getting in my eyes because it is too short to pull back in a pony tail or something to keep it out of my face. My beard starts getting a little warmer than I want as well, so everything but the eyebrows go. Actually that should be eyebrow singular, as left unimpeded it would run from one side of my face to the other and also down the bridge of my nose, but I shave the middle during the summer because having electrolysis done didn’t keep it from growing back and plucking it just made it come back as short hairs that can’t be plucked. So, anyway everything but the eyebrow will be gone this evening, and pictures of the process will be on Facebook, I hope.

Right now I’m getting the sawdust out of my hair from pruning that tree when I got home. Did I mention I hate sawing wood over my head? I have a bottle of waterless shampoo that I will use this evening to make sure the hair we give to the birdies for their nests is as clean as possible with nothing that could make them sick, because I would be very upset if I made the birdies sick.

As I’m posting, I have 2 races on the idiot box, the replay of the F1 race from Malaysia, and the Sprint Cup race from Fontana. The F1 race is in the wet, and they think the Fontana race may be cut short by rain moving in, as NASCAR can’t race in the wet on an oval. But I’m looking at the F1 cars sliding off course nearly every turn as their tires just can’t cope with the downpour in Malaysia, and they just put the safety car on the course to bring everybody down to a safe cruise speed. I have seen one of these races red-flagged because the safety car was hydroplaning almost out of control while the race cars were also sliding off the track because their under-car aerodynamic devices were flying over the top of the water and lifting the entire car off the ground. When the tires are not touching the track the car is just a ballistic device because there is nothing changing the direction of the car until it runs into something.

And I’m going to cut this post short, because I can’t concentrate on writing and watch the race(s) at the same time. and I’m missing stuff in the races while I put stuff on the screen.

Oh, and the Fire and Ice in the headline? A couple weeks ago I wore tights and multiple layers of jerseys, today I rode to church in shorts and a short-sleeved jersey and still was a little sweaty when I got to church.

PSA, Opus

Working up to a couple of exciting rituals, and the Feed

At my church we refer to Sunday services as “ritual”, and the two coming up are ones that I will be featured in and I’m getting really excited about them. The evening service this week we are celebrating Spring, and as part of that I will be getting a really close haircut. Not quite shaving my head, but removing everything except my eyebrow (I have the one that runs from one side of my face to the other and down the bridge of my nose, during the summer I shave out the middle part so I don’t look quite so much like an extra on Star Trek or some other sci-fi program/movie). This will physically symbolize the end of winter and the onset of warm weather. The week after that I’m writing the service for April Fools’ Day based on the book of Job in the Old Testament from a funky translation I remember reading back in the 1970s, and illustrated with a playing of the Chuck Jones film “Duck Amuck” featuring Daffy Duck. Yes I’m showing a cartoon in service, that was also based on the book of Job. The purpose of the service is to illustrate the re-defined role of Satan in the Christian religion, from God’s prosecuting attorney in the Old Testament and through much of the New, to being God’s arch-enemy by the end of the New Testament. I’ll post the script to the service not this Sunday but the one coming up, the day of the service. Also the idea of the service is to Be Silly on April Fools’ Day.

Up first is a bike wreck near where I used to live back in 1971. Bicyclist struck, killed in Middletown and Middletown bicyclist struck and killed on Purgatory Road also Cyclist killed in Middletown crash This appears to be a classic Left-cross wreck, use intersection protocols to avoid a similar wreck. And for long-term readers that wonder how I could have lived in so many different towns, I was a military brat back before they learned that moving kids around constantly was bad for them. My peer group of military brats had a suicide rate and alcoholism rate that was slightly worse than combat veterans of the same era (Vietnam). I actually got psychiatric counselling from DoD because of what was learned after my Dad got out about the trauma all that moving did to us kids. Until I entered High School in 1973 I only had one time to actually attend the same school 2 grades in a row. I had one school that I attended for parts of 3 grades, non-sequentially, because that was the town we moved to when Dad had TAD between PCS, and we went through one spot where we had 3 moves before our furniture caught up with us, which was not the year that I registered in 4 different schools in 4 different school systems but only got to go to classes in 2 of them, the second and fourth. Yes, my life was screwed up as a kid. No, I would not change anything except maybe to make sure there was someone outside of my family that moved with us, like moving a small squad instead of just families so we could develop our social skills a bit better. This is one of the reasons I show asbergers symptoms in spite of not actually having any autism spectrum disorders.

A kid in SC is hit when he was distracted and failed to stop at an intersection. Bluffton boy hospitalized after bike hits van This is a lesson that 1) 6 YO boys are easily distracted, and 2) that distracted driving is dangerous even when the driver is riding a bicycle, but mainly to the “driver” of the bicycle. To avoid pay attention to the road and where you are on it, to prevent SBR that keep bicycles and drivers away from each other, except that this was in an area that even in the Netherlands would be shared with cars. The driver really should have been driving slower and paying attention because kids do these kinds of things all the time.

In the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike for 6 years running, a police chief hits a cyclist while running a red light in his unmarked cop car and doesn’t even get a ticket. Car driven by Davie police chief hits teen riding bike to school; boy not injured and Davie police chief hits teenager on bicycle while driving unmarked car The poll that accompanied the article indicated the slightly more than 80% of people think the chief should get a ticket for an at-fault wreck, even in cases where little or no harm was involved (and we all know that in cases where a cyclist is hit the difference between scared but uninjured and a trip in an ambulance is measured in single digits of mm). Anyway to avoid the cyclist was already committed to the crossing and had the green and the right-of-way, so unless he was Kreskin there would have been no way for a human cyclist to avoid this wreck. SBR might have prevented the wreck because the cyclist would not have been crossing on the street the driver was trying to turn onto, and would not have been trying to make a right on red in any case. (Worst. Law. Ever.)

An OH cyclist is hit by a turning vehicle and blamed for being in the road. Teenager injured in bicycle-car accident in Lorain Notice the they didn’t say the cyclist was in motion or in the intersection, only that she was riding in the street the car was turning onto. Intersection protocols to avoid, but if the wreck went down as I suspect it did with the driver cutting the corner rather than the cyclist running the light, intersection protocols would have been useless SBR would prevent wrecks like this as he cyclist was approaching one of the few bridges accessible to cyclists in this area when she was hit, her direction of movement indicates that she was going to cross that bridge when she came to it.

That touring cyclist that was hit on a busy surface street with an Interstate designation in NC has died from the injuries he sustained when the drunk driver went off the road and hit him. Bicyclist dies from injuries The wreck was dissected in detail last week, RIP cyclist. May your killer rot behind bars.

A WI teen hits a car that didn’t run the stop sign. Teenager taken to hospital after bike crashes into car Looking at the scene of the wreck there was a lot of debris in the sidewalk that made stopping or steering “sketchy”, bottom line the cyclist was going too fast for conditions and should have been in the street. SBR would have prevented the wreck as the driver would have been stopped behind the cyclepath waiting for the cyclist to cross.

More on the trial of the man who was both drunk and stoned when he hit 2 cyclists from behind in NC. Revisiting River Road: Friend of cyclists killed calls for safer lanes This article examines the conditions at the scene of the crime, which were atrocious, narrow bike lanes full of debris next to 55 MPH (or faster) cars.

Charges have been dropped and reduced in the trial of a drunk driver that was driving by braille when he killed a cyclist in CA. A year on, still waiting for justice in Tehama County Local readers to this case, get on the DA about it, murder by motor vehicle is still murder…

Assault with a deadly weapon in Ireland. DJ drove over cyclist in rage over girlfriend Apparently the girlfriend was not too bright either after having unprotected sex with at least 2 men resulting in a pregnancy from the person that assaulted the cyclist with his car. And I don’t see anything that prevents the “Low-functioning” driver from getting back behind the wheel as soon as he gets out of prison.

Infrastructure! in Va. Beach VA. New bike line opens along Shore Drive in Va. Beach Now if they can just keep the drunks from trying to drive in it and keep the debris out of it it just might be a way to get people from one side of town to the other, on a major through corridor.

More on the stinky ball of goo that is the NYPD accident investigation squad. Local Pol and Cyclist Group Want More NYPD Accountability for Fatal Traffic Crashes

Final link, the only pedestrian killed by a bicycle in the last 3 decades in the state of TX is brought up in an article on the trails system in Ft. Worth… Price: Tour de Fort Worth weather means lots of people on the Trinity Trails Riders, DON’T HIT THE PEDESTRIANS! Pedestrians pay attention, MUP are roads with no cars, not free zones to do what you want. Ride and walk to the right unless passing, and try to leave room for other trail users. And everybody remember, it was more than 20 years between pedestrian deaths by bicycle in the state of TX, it is seldom more than 2 days between deaths by motor vehicle.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today. I think I will go for a ride.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

I had another whiskey tango foxtrot moment, and the Feed

A couple of days ago I linked to a report of a driver having a diabetic incident that was caught by the OnStar unit in the car. I made a comment that the incident reminded me that there were about a million drivers with undiagnosed diabetes out there that had never been screened, who this could happen to without warning. I made a comment about this at the linked article, and you would not believe the flack I have gotten for that remark, some of which made no sense at all. And for those wondering what the headline is referring to, think International Phonetic Alphabet…

Up first, a BUI (Bicycling Under the Influence) rider who was hit by a passing car has died in the most deadliest state to walk or ride a bike in the US 6 years running. Bicyclist, 54, dies after being critically injured in crash with van and Bicyclist dies from injuries sustained in Sunday crash also Cyclist Died After Being Injured in Late Night Seminole Crash I can’t stress enough that riding under the influence of alcohol is a potentially deadly action. BUT, and this is a big “but”, BUI is thousands of times less fatal to other people than DUI. If you have to take a vehicle to get home from drinking BUI only places your life at risk, DUI places everyone within the lethal radius of your vehicle at risk, except you. Statistically DUI is relatively safe for the driver, by roughly a 3:1 ratio (for every driver killed DUI, 3 passengers or drivers of other vehicles die). If the choice is to drive or ride a bike, put your butt on that bike. Ideally you would take a cab if you get drunk away from home, but that isn’t always available.

A SWSS injury wreck in VT. Vermont State Police Log: Triathlete hit by car while riding his bike Notice the narrative, the cyclist swerved into the passing vehicle’s right quarter panel. Now, how many believe the driver cut over too soon and never allowed enough room to pass? To avoid use hit-from-behind protocols, SBR would prevent the car from being there to hit the cyclist.

It’s “OMG, bicycles!” again in NYC. Cyclist and pedestrian collide in Prospect Park … again OK 2 serious injury wrecks in almost 6 months, nobody died and both parties to both wrecks had to be transported for treatment. In one wreck the injured were treated and relesed, I still have no news about the other wreck. In between those two wrecks that did not result in fatalities, roughly 20 people were killed while they walked or stood on the sidewalks of NYC, with little to no press coverage. This is not including the pedestrians that were killed in crosswalks or jaywalking. Still, DON’T HIT THE PEDESTRIANS!

Meanwhile they have been mowing them down left and right in Albany, CA. Two More Cyclists Injured in March Three cyclists, 2 pedestrians, and so far only one ticket, for hitting the pedestrians in the crosswalk.

A cyclist that was hit in the Kiwi version of a right hook by a car pulling through a group of cyclists to get into a driveway asks drivers to be a little more considerate. Call for increased awareness of cyclists The driver in this case cut through a group of cyclists and then stopped short of clearing the road leaving the back of his car in the road where the cyclist ran into it. There was no way a human cyclist could have avoided this wreck.

Those are all the links that gave me fits this day.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Mule day duties again, and the Feed

Today is grocery-buying day, also called Mule Day at our house because someone (me) gets to act as a pack animal and bring home the merchandise from the store. Well today the mule doesn’t have much to carry, as the budget for this week is $5.01 after raiding the couch cushions and picking up every penny we saw on the sidewalk. As Mrs. the Poet says we are no longer po’, we’re down to p’ (can’t buy a vowel). Fear not there are still ample supplies of beans and rice in the pantry, I just need to get items that don’t keep very well, like milk and bread. Those are items we normally consume a lot of here at the “ranch”, that I will have to get the cheapest available, even if that means buying white bread (ugh!) Starvation is not imminent, we have plenty of food, just not the food we would normally eat this time of year. There is the distinct possibility that we might actually cook the frozen okra that has been in the freezer since sometime around 2009.

Anyone that has been on the wrong side of a local delivery truck at a stop light will appreciate being next to one of these. Smith Electric will build EV trucks in New York, files $125m IPO All-electric delivery truck, saves about $90K over the lifetime of the truck in fuel costs and maintenance (at current prices). IOW this truck pays for itself in savings compared to a diesel. The batteries go in what would be wasted space under the cargo area and in front of the rear wheels, making for a bicycle and pedestrian friendly design that diverts these road users away from the potentially fatal area of the truck. So I heartily endorse these over huge semis with diesel engines.

Up first, the family of the victim of the hit-from-behind wreck of the sweep rider of a group of more than 30 cyclists on the shoulder of a road in AL responds to the driver’s indictment. Family of Killed Cyclist Responds to Indictment Sure the driver is sorry now, he’s looking at a potential year in jail and $5K fines. For. killing. a. human. being.

A MI hit-and-run results in minor damage and slight injury to a cyclist. Bicyclist not seriously injured in Center Avenue collision with truck, police look for driver The bike looks pretty good, the cyclist will probably be sore and stiff for a few days, and I have no idea how they plan on catching the driver given that there is probably no damage to the weapon vehicle.

In the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike, someone that should be riding a bike hits someone riding a bike. Boy on bicycle hit, injured by 15-year-old driver in Brooksville and Underage driver accused of hitting 10-year-old on bicycle, fleeing Side story in the second link a 15 YO riding a bike modified for half-pipe tricks (no brakes, among other things) ran a stop sign and into a vehicle or in front of a vehicle, so 2 stupid 15 YO in this story. As for preventing this wreck, the first thing I can think of is parental control, keeping car keys in a safe place, etc. Second thing would be infrastructure where a 15 YO would not find it necessary to steal a car to get around unless he was REALLY lazy. There wasn’t enough information given about the first wreck to be able to tell how a cyclist could have avoided it as it was described as a SWCC, but 10 YO cyclist, it’s a possibility.

And a cyclist is hit-and-run by a driver fleeing from a previous hit-and-run. Bicyclist Critically Injured by Mercedes in Bensonhurst This was a wreck the cyclist could not have avoided as the driver came around a corner out-of-control and then hit other vehicles. It is probable but not certain that SBR could have prevented this wreck. You can see that the vehicle probably side-swiped the cyclist because of the lack of damage to the bicycle which could probably be placed back in service with a few adjustments, from what I could see from the pictures. Also notice that you can see a discarded bicycle helmet in the street a fairly large distance from the bike.

A driver is jailed for 2 years and fined $5K in AR. Woman gets two years, $5,000 fine for fatal hit-and-run accident Given the number of previous wrecks she had in that vehicle, she got off remarkably light for killing a man.

A salmon cyclist is killed in CA. Bicyclist killed in traffic accident on Balboa Ave by I-805 and Bicyclist killed on Balboa Avenue The problem was the cyclist riding with the sun at his back, on the wrong side of the street. To avoid, ride with trafic. And SBR would have definitely prevented this wreck.

In the Great White North, a cyclist has a “coming together” with a streetcar. Cyclist in hospital after collision with streetcar There was nothing about the mode of the wreck in the article, but I have to remind people that streetcars are only found where there are streetcar tracks. I’m not going to go as far as to place the blame on the cyclist, but unless there was a third vehicle involved that forced the cyclist into the path of the streetcar, I’m going to make it a high probability that the cyclist was mostly at fault.

NYPD’s mass fornication just keeps getting smellier. Lawsuit Seeking Information on Cyclist’s Death Gains Support Eventually NYC is going to make NYPD pay for these lawsuits by taking it out of the sued officers’ pay.

Infrastructure! from DC. D.C. struggles to keep pace as bike population grows DC residents are switching to bikes faster than the city can paint bike lanes to accommodate them… And drivers don’t know the laws or how to drive around bicyclists.

Last link is a driver that should have been riding a bicycle in PA. Police: Man pulled over in Upper Allen shouldn’t have been driving until 2040 Multiple DUI, Habitual offender status. Illegal vehicle. And where did he spend the night? The report doesn’t say so probably not in jail…

And those are all the links that gave me fits today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus