Still laboring under the delusion that no news is good news, and the Feed

Well I didn’t hear anything from the VA all day yesterday, so I’m going to take that as a sign that Dad is doing hunky-dory (I know, who says “hunky-dory” these days?). Mrs. the Poet will be making the arduous trek via DawgBus starting tonight and be here tomorrow afternoon. Saturday’s post may be a few hours late 😉

I’m not posting any links because it has nothing to do with bicycles, really, but the big story in the Feed this morning was there were a number of people seen riding bicycles in the video of the naked guy eating the man’s face in Miami. Not mentioned was there were an even larger number of people driving cars past the altercation, but I’m assuming they were excused because nothing that goes on outside a car is of any concern to the driver… which also explains why FL is the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike 6 years running now.

Up first, a ghost bike is installed for the teen cyclist killed after falling from an obstructed sidewalk in NC and being run over by a semi. Memorial in place to remember Myers Park student killed riding bike This is another reason why sidewalks =/= bicycle infrastructure. The cyclist bumped one of the garbage cans in the sidewalk with the end of his handlebars which tossed him into the street just as the semi was passing.

Next up a cyclist towing a child-carrying trailer is hit and the trailer run over in CA. Modesto woman riding in child’s bicycle trailer is hit by SUV, dies And doesn’t a driver that runs one of those trailers over pretty much say to the world that they don’t care about anything smaller than a compact car? Since the wreck happened in an intersection, use intersection protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent a similar wreck.

A child cyclist is run over in a crosswalk according to initial reports from IL. Boy Killed Riding Bike In Round Lake Heights The report as it stands as I post this is the child was hit by the trailer being towed by the weapon vehicle, and that the weapon vehicle had the green. Intersection protocols to avoid, but this would be a place that would not be allowed to exist in the Dutch model of infrastructure as it is a high-speed arterial that directly connects to a residential street. In the Dutch model the arterial would be much slower if located that close to a residential area, or there would have been a connecting bike path that separated off from the arterial but went to the same places. But there would never be an intersection like the one that killed this child.

A cyclist’s life is permanently changed by a hit-and-run driver in LA. Bicyclist injured in hit & run, search continues for suspect No word on the mode of the wreck, but you know what I think of the driver and what he or she deserves.

A CA cyclist making a left on the green arrow is hit by a truck making a right on red from the opposite direction onto the same street. Cyclist Critically Injured By Right-Turning Truck This one is so easy to figure out I’m surprised no tickets have been issued to the truck driver yet. The cyclist had the clear right of way with the green light, the driver had to wait until the way was clear before turning with a right on red. Intersection protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right including ticketing drivers (and cyclists) that run red lights and cause wrecks, to prevent. I see this wreck as no different than a driver running the red during a bike green with separated bike infrastructure.

In the Great White North another cyclist is injured. UPDATED: Cyclist transferred to London hospital Another left-cross wreck where the driver violated the cyclist’s right of way, intersection protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right so bikes and motor vehicles are not trying to occupy the road at the same time (and space).

The rest of the links today are Infrastructure! of one kind or another, either physical or legal.First one up is about mountain bike infrastructure from the Twin Cities. River Bottoms Part II By: Chris Chavie Come the Zombie Apocalypse all cycling will be “off-road”, this is a good time to get in some practice.

The Bicycle Federation reviews the infrastructure where there were two people killed on the same road in 2 years. Bicycle Federation of WI in Wausau After Fatal Bike Accident This was in response to a second fatal wreck on KK.

Staten Island credits infrastructure changes in reducing the death toll on the streets. Deaths on Staten Island hit a record low: Traffic strategies saving lives Notice that improving bicycle infrastructure has a collateral effect of reducing the number of fatal wrecks for everyone. Bicycle infrastructure slows motor vehicle traffic while maintaining total vehicle throughput, and slowing motor vehicle speeds reduces both the number and severity of wrecks with all modes of transportation. It’s a win/win/win solution.

General legal infrastructure in VA. Some Biking Rules and Tips for the Road in Virginia Note that even the most restrictive FRAP rules in the US still allow cyclists to take the lane in many if not most situations. While IANAL, the person that wrote the linked article is a lawyer.

And Jolly Olde is decidedly not Jolly about killer drivers getting less than a slap on the wrist. British Cycling and Cycling Weekly call on government to make justice system fairer for road users People are getting tired of killers getting community service and suspended jail terms for killing people with cars or other motor vehicles. Had some other weapon, like a cricket bat (culturally congruent for the location, we would use a baseball bat) or lead pipe been used, the person that killed would have spent years behind bars, but because they killed with a motor vehicle it’s an “accident” and not to blame the driver for killing.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

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No news is good news on Dad, and the Feed

I haven’t heard anything from the VA hospital since we got Dad settled in yesterday, and they have contact information in case something happens. So at this point I’m going all Pollyanna and taking this as he at least hasn’t gotten any worse, and may be getting better. Is this a defense mechanism on my part to assume that no bad news is the same as good news? I don’t care, that is what I’m going to believe.

The Big Story today is from the Great White North, in what appears to be a cyclist struck from behind because the weapon vehicle driver couldn’t wait until it was safe to pass. Cyclist killed by pickup truck and Cyclist Struck And Killed Near Mount Brydges also Elderly cyclist killed From the totality of the reports I read, the driver was the kind that thinks he passes every cyclist when and where he gets to them, regardless of if it’s safe to do so. Because of that he has killed one person, injured at least one other person and destroyed 3 vehicles. I’m sure LEO will find some way of blaming the cyclist for being there as the cause of this multi-vehicle wreck.

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike for 6 years running now, a cyclist waiting for a red light is killed in somebody else’s wreck. Bicycle rider killed at St. Petersburg intersection There is nothing you as a cyclist can do to avoid a wreck like this, and very little infrastructure can do to prevent it because bikes and cars have to share space at intersections. About the only thing that would prevent this wreck would be much higher standards to get a license, and much lower standards to lose one. Basically the driver that caused this wreck would never get to drive again, and even the driver that wasn’t at fault would get a suspension for failing to see the idiot before the idiot hit the car and reacting properly to prevent or mitigate the wreck, unless the idiot was so egregious that nobody could have avoided getting hit by him.

Update on the hit-and-run in OR that killed a cyclist who was hit by 2 cars. Accident victim’s relatives sought LEO are still looking for the damaged Ford that caused this mess.

Another OR wreck with little explanation. Man suffers serious head injury after crash in Clackamas County At this point all that is known is the cyclist was found with a head injury and without a helmet.

Another update, this one on the young cyclist injured in MA over the weekend. Boy hurt in Bloomington bicycle accident recovering from injuries Still in a coma so the head injury isn’t getting any better, but the rest of his body is recovering nicely since he isn’t trying to move it around. As I posted yesterday, get well fast little cyclist dude!

Cars can seriously injure you in secondary collisions even when you aren’t hurt in the first collision. Cyclist Badly Injured at 17th and M Whether the cyclist fell off or was knocked off, the serious injury is mostly the result of the secondary impact with the Range Rover. Since there was no report of how the cyclist fell over, I can’t say how to avoid a wreck like this, but if the infrastructure was right then the cyclist would have fallen down in an area that was free of motor vehicles that could have harmed him.

A cyclist dies in NC. Student killed while riding bicycle Tuesday morning in Charlotte At this point the mode of the wreck has not been released to the public by LEO, so no idea on how to avoid the wreck. But getting the infrastructure that keeps fragile cyclists away from heavy vehicles with blind spots large enough to hide the entire TdF peloton would have prevented this wreck. More Myers Park HS student killed in bike wreck and Myers Park community dealing with death of boy, 14, killed in bike accident and last link Friends remember Myers Park freshman Drew Wright Now the report is the cyclist was hit mid-block after running into garbage cans that had been placed on the sidewalk and made the path too narrow for his bike to get through… To avoid, don’t ride in the sidewalk, see above on how to prevent.

Update on a cyclist hit-from-behind in GA, near where I was stationed in 1983. Injured cyclist recovering at home Good luck on that recovery!

The family of a cyclist killed by a semi reaches a settlement with the company that owns the truck. Family reaches settlement in cyclist’s wrongful death suit This was a wreck that I found highly improbable as it was first reported, then more information came out that the driver had been involved in two other fatal bike wrecks in the 5 years prior to this one, and accident reconstruction showed the driver had drifted left as he prepared to turn right onto the freeway and hit the cyclist with the driver side of the truck. Now the employers of the driver have to pay for keeping him on the roads after he had killed twice before.

A map that will change drastically as the year progresses. 2012 Every Bicyclist Counts Map This is a graphic of what I try to do in text, mark every death and provide input on how to prevent future deaths.

Infrastructure! news from the most deadliest state to walk or ride a bike in the US for 6 years running. Rickenbacker Causeway Bike Lanes Improved Bike safe rumble strips between the bike lane and the motor vehicle lanes are a help, but probably would not have prevented the drunk driver from running off the road to hit the 2 cyclists that were hit this spring…

Another kind of infrastructure from CA, as they try to make compliance with the state helmet law more affordable. YOGOH Organization Promotes Bike Safety

First of several LifeStyle links, this one from the Cycle Twin Cities site. Twin Cities Cycling News From Around the Web It isn’t often that I link to movie premiers…

LifeStyle from across the pond. 270 Cyclists Storm the Beaches of Dunkirk for Finale of 350 Mile Help for Heroes Bike Ride An amphibious assault with bicycles? That would have been awesome to see if it had really happened. But 270 cyclists on the roads at the same time and place were quite awesome enough thank you.

And a pretty picture to wind things up courtesy of Cycle Twin Cities. Twin Cities Bike Picture of the Day: 5.30.12 I think I mentioned how much I would like to get away from the suburbs of Hell, well this is one of the places that I would move to if I did.

And that is all the news that gave me fits today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Moving to a new “new normal”, and the Feed

Dad is settled in at the VA, with a bunch of symptoms that mostly come down to “not eating or drinking enough”. He claims he is not having any problems swallowing, but watching from the outside it sure looks like it is a struggle when he swallows, what with all the grimacing and shaking his head from side to side… He is having trouble chewing also because he has lost so much weight his dentures don’t fit any more. And he is still complaining about everything having no flavor and demanding more salt in his food (though to be honest the food at the VA leaves a lot to be desired).

Up first by virtue of more links, a cyclist in Walla Walla WA is hit. Bicyclist from Walla Walla killed near Prosser and Walla Walla Cyclist Killed in Prosser more Walla Walla man killed on bike died from multiple injuries This was the wreck I commented about yesterday that the driver saw the skunk but not the cyclist? and there must be something more to the story. Well the driver had been drinking, and may have been legally impaired. There is also a question of assault because there was no trace of the alleged skunk at the scene when at least some of the LEO involved showed at the wreck.

Update on the MA boy injured in a wreck. Southampton boy injured in bike accident with car remains hospitalized Get well soon, little bike-riding dude!

SF is still batting 1.000 in prosecuting cyclists that hit pedestrians, unlike drivers. Matthew Grillone, Cyclist in Giants Jersey, Acquitted of Hitting Elderly Pedestrian Apparently, any cyclist will do for prosecution, so long as the barest rudiments of identification are met, like the right team jersey. Wrong number, wrong cyclist, and the cyclist that was arrested was wearing a backpack, while the cyclist that hit the pedestrian was wearing a helmet and sunglasses but no backpack… The automotive analogy would be that they arrested a guy driving a car the same color but the wrong make, model, and year.

Infrastructure! from CA. Ramona Turner, Street Smarts: Wrong-way cycling is dangerous, thus illegal Umm, duh? Really?! This was important enough to waste column inches in the paper over?

Infrastructure from MN. River Bottoms Part I By: Chris Chavie mountain bikes need infrastructure just as much as road bikes, but different kinds of infrastructure.

And closing out with a pretty picture. Twin Cities Bike Picture of the Day: 5.29.12

And that’s all the news that gave me fits today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Things have changed again, and the Feed

Things at my dad’s house have changed yet again. Last night Dad decided he wasn’t quite ready to die yet, so this morning we took him back to the VA. This time the plan is to get him stable at the hospital and on the way to recovery, then transfer him to assisted living where he will either recover all the way, or not. Either way it’s out of my hands and in the hands of trained professionals, and 99% up to him. He won’t have to listen to me trying to get him to eat, or to have something to drink, or to get out of bed and go for a walk to the kitchen (one room over). Yes, my Dad was complaining about my always wanting him to do something. Live, breathe, etc. &tc.

I have a metric buttload (2.2 SAE buttloads) of links to filter today because I spent most of the day at the hospital getting Dad taken care of, about 9 pages of unfiltered links, so get settled. This could be a long ride.

Up first by a coin toss is the story with multiple links about a hit-and-run of a cyclist in Eugene OR. UPDATE: Bicyclist Killed in Hit-and-Run Incident also Hit & run driver kills cyclist in Eugene more Cyclist dies after getting hit by two vehicles and Cyclist killed in Eugene hit-and-run last link Eugene, Ore. cyclist struck by 2 cars, killed I don’t know what a cyclist could do about vehicles 2 and 3 in this chain of events, but hit-from-behind protocols might have avoided the first impact, get the infrastructure right to prevent fast moving motor vehicles from being in the same place as bicycles. I hope they find the white Ford and the driver.

Up the coast a bit, another multiple link story from Seattle. Man struck and killed riding a bike in Benton County also Bicyclist killed in Benton County The driver saw the skunk, but not the cyclist? Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid if avoidance was possible, and infrastructure that separates cyclists from drivers that can’t see a cyclist that’s like 20 times larger than a skunk. Also, check the driver’s computer to see if they left any remarks about running over cyclists in internet comments sections, because I have seen comments that some people would swerve to dodge an animal but hit a cyclist…

Several links to a woman losing control and sliding the front tire, then going under a truck. Highway Patrol: Fatal crash involving bicycle, truck and Highway Patrol investigate death of woman thrown from bicycle another link Clyde woman dead after falling off bike, run over Gravel road, and a bike with tires not made for riding on gravel with piles of loose gravel to make things as bad as they can get. Even if the cyclist wasn’t drunk (which hasn’t been determined yet) it’s a bad situation.

Another story with two links. Bicyclist, 62, injured in motor vehicle accident in Westport and Bicyclist injured in Green’s Farms collision with car Intersection wreck, so intersection protocols to avoid. Get the infrastructure right with separation from faster-moving cars and trucks and really slow speed limits in shared residential spaces to prevent.

From Upstate NY, a cyclist loses control after getting a blowout. Bicyclist seriously injured in accident To avoid always do the ABC pre-flight and give tires a frequent going-over for embedded objects in the tread. To prevent take a look at closed-cell foam inserts instead of tubes in your tires.

A MA boy in injured in a wreck with a car driver. 12-year-old boy critically hurt in Southampton bike accident I can’t say for sure which vehicle was doing what in this wreck as the direction of travel was only given for the weapon vehicle.

A single bike wreck of unknown cause in CA. Teenage bicyclist injured in Glendora crash Umm, watch for angry squirrels?

Another wreck with little explanation. Police find family of boy hurt in accident Intersection wreck, other than that I know nothing more about the wreck. Get the infrastructure right to prevent bikes and cars from coming in conflict.

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike for 6 years running, they got another one. Sarasota bicycle rider hit by car in critical condition Hit-from-behind but for some reason the media outlet is more concerned about the cyclist’s helmet than the fact that the driver put almost a ton and a half of compact pickup truck square through the location of a fellow human being. hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, and get bikes away from conflicts with motor vehicles to prevent. I refreshed the page and now the driver has been cited for careless driving (but not violating the 3-feet-to-pass law?).

Infrastructure! from TX (Austin). What do cyclists deserve from the rest of us? Cyclists don’t need to cough up extra for infrastructure they don’t get, if the roads are not safe for cyclists because people in cars won’t share, why should cyclists have to pay to get away from criminal drivers?

And more infrastructure from Canuckistan. Column: Are bicycle helmets doing more harm than good? My opinion on helmet laws is well-documented in this blog, head trauma kills more drivers and pedestrians than cyclists, so why not make helmets mandatory everywhere?

And a bit late, those are all the links that gave me fits this Memorial Day (Monday for those living outside the US).

Billed @$0.02, Opus

About to start hospice for Dad, Wreck-Free Sunday

I have been dreading writing this for weeks now, but the time has come now. Dad will start hospice this week, which is simultaneously a relief and a weight. The relief is this will bring in trained care-givers to relieve his pain and make Dad as comfortable as possible. The weight is obvious, I’m going to be losing my Dad and it’s going to be a long, drawn-out process compared to the sudden death of my Mother in 2004. I have been preparing myself for this day ever since I saw how little he was eating last summer. I knew that nobody could live long on what he was eating then, and after the wreck he ate even less.

My father has lived a long life, with a 22 year military career that is still mostly classified “Need to Know” from what he did during the Vietnam conflict. All I know now is that he was working for Naval Intelligence in their communication section Supplementary Radio. This was before they had high-security satellite communications between distant points on the globe so everything had to be done via HF and short wave, with highly encrypted communications that used methods that dated back to the second World War. We won the Big One that way, surely we could beat Charlie the same way. Well I can say that Charlie never got anything useful out of Naval Intelligence radio traffic from the Vietnam conflict, so my Dad did his job, it was what other people did with that information that caused us to lose Vietnam. Some day the world will know what he did, I hope I live long enough to find out.

After he retired from the Navy he went on to teach school for a year as the junior instructor in a NJROTC unit in Salt Lake City UT. When he lost that job because someone whose career he derailed was certifying instructors and pulled his certificate, he went to a job cleaning toilets. He made more money cleaning toilets than he did teaching high school. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from that.

Dad had the toilet cleaning gig with the local Lien Chemical franchise for 4 years until the owner decided he was getting too old (the owner, not Dad) and closed the shop. Dad had a wild hair up his butt and decided to move everything again out of Utah. So we moved back to TN, where Dad got a job as a floor manager for a company that packed store brand beans, rice, and paper plates (in that shop, they also did a bunch of other things in other shops. He kept that job until he retired in 1995. Since then he has been keeping busy going fishing, traveling the world, building jigsaw puzzles, and aggravating doctors by recovering from illnesses and injuries that should have killed him several times over. He has COPD, and was on O2 at one time back when my daughter graduated from college and got married on the same weekend (so that everybody would only have to make the one trip to Scotland), but recovered from that to have normal blood O2 saturation even today. That is the kind of thing that drives doctors crazy.

Even now his body is showing incredible powers of recovery. The arm that he broke back in April appears to be fully healed in spite of his barely eating enough to stay alive. That’s the kind of stuff that drives doctors crazy, too. The thing is he is just tired now, tired of just existing and not living, so he wants to quit, on his terms. It is not quite like his previous claim of wanting to get shot by a jealous husband at age 100, but it’s still better than a bunch of other ways he could go.

And the irony of this is I wrote my father’s obituary while interviewing him about his life. It’s good that I could get this last talk with him while he was still mostly coherent. It’s bad that I know what I’m doing on this…

PSA, opus

I have no witty headline, and the Feed

I can’t say what’s going on with my Dad other than it’s sad. Whatever form of distant healing you do, send him comfort now.

Because it’s closest to home physically and emotionally, and has the most links of any story I had in the Feed today, more on the 8YO hit by a car on a quiet residential street. 9-Year-Old on Tricycle Fatally Struck by Car and 8-year-old Arlington girl killed while riding bike The street has been described as a “dead end” with a cul d’sac, with no reason to be going very fast either in or out. I don’t know if the weapon vehicle was going in or out of the area when the driver hit the child. As I said yesterday, this would be shared space in the Dutch model, but with a speed limit for all vehicles in the 12 MPH range rather than the 30 MPH minimum statutory limit in TX. For those who don’t understand what minimum statutory limit means, you can drive slower than 30 MPH on those streets, but municipalities are not allowed to post a speed limit lower than 30 MPH except for streets approved by the legislature and signed off by the governor. School zones are not allowed to be any slower than 20 MPH or 15 MPH slower than the posted limit, whichever is faster. Yes, we have a Culture of Speed in TX…

A cyclist is hit-and-run twice in KS. Wichita police say 2 vehicles struck cyclist Hit-from-behind, use the protocols to avoid getting hit the first time so there won’t be a second vehicle. I would suggest lots of lights, not that that will do anything to prevent the wreck but it will give prosecutors something to hang an assault charge on, “Your honor, the victim had more lumens facing back than 2 normal cars, plus a couple of square feet of reflective material to catch headlight beams. The only possible way to explain this wreck is either a legally blind driver, or a deliberate assault, and the driver passed a vision test.” Not that I ever see a prosecutor actually using that argument, but maybe. And of course if they had the infrastructure right all a bike would need would be a tiny LED tail light and a small headlight that lighted enough of the road to be able to avoid debris and potholes.

A Buffalo area cyclist runs a red in front of a dash-cam equipped vehicle and gets plowed. Bicyclist hurt in collision after crossing against light Don’t run the red lights. If a light won’t change for a bicycle, treat it like a stop sign after a reasonable amount of time. Yield to oncoming traffic and cross when clear to do so. To prevent get the infrastructure right so that red lights change for bicycles and cyclists do not mix with fast motor vehicle traffic.

Infrastructure! news from CA. State Senate passes bill: Space for bikes in traffic This is the same bill that Gov. Moonbeam vetoed last year and was called out on it vehemently, to the point of a buzz job in CA now being called “Getting Jerry Browned”. Sorta like what Dan Savage did to Santorum a few years back. So, Moonbeam, sign this legislation and we will stop using your name to describe an assault on a cyclist using a motor vehicle.

infrastructure news from Jolly Olde reveals cyclists are getting less and less jolly. When it comes to cycling, we’re governed by dimwits More than 60% of wrecks between motor vehicles and cyclists in the UK are totally the fault of the driver of the motor vehicle according to LEO, but a politician with a big stage gets it backwards. And UK cyclists wonder why the seem to get killed so often?

Final link, I keep expounding on the subject of electric-assist bicycles, where the combination of the two power sources is greater than either separate or the sum of the whole because of the way both work. IBM looking to put lithium-air batteries on the road LiAir cells are the current Holy Grail unless someone makes a battery that just uses gases as the reactants inside a pressure container. The power density would be about twice current LI cells, or about 60 times the SLA that cheap e-assist bikes and most EV use. The current record for range with SLA in a TX-legal (100 lbs empty weight ready to run, about 60 pounds of battery in most cases) e-bike is 30 miles, but using the same weight in the LiAir cells would get almost 2K miles. That’s how big a difference these cells will make.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Another rough night, and a too early morning, and the Feed

Dad was very much like his old self of not wanting to be told what to do last night after he had a little to eat. He still isn’t eating enough, but at this point getting anything nutritious or even with calories inside him is a minor victory. And I consider what happened last night another minor victory. Then we had the battle to get him to get up and use the toilet instead of his hand-held urinal in the bed so he stays dry at night and we don’t have to change the sheets every morning. This will also help with the pressure sores on his backside. His body is recovering in spite of the fact he’s not eating, now we just have to get him mentally on board with getting better, because like it or not he’s getting better. I just don’t want to spend another hour tonight getting him to go pee in the potty before we all go to sleep. I tossed and turned after that for more than an hour trying to get to sleep because of the adrenaline it raised. Doubleplus unfun.

Up first because I liked it, the person that hit a US Senate candidate on her bike and then dragged the bike for more than 3 miles trailing sparks from under the SUV, has been found guilty of a crime and will be punished. Maryland driver guilty in crash that killed bicyclist I don’t know what kind of punishment she will get, but she has a criminal record now, that’s at least something.

Next a kid on a tricycle is hit a few towns over from WoaB World HQ in the suburbs of Hell. Child on three-wheeler killed in Arlington traffic accident The child was playing, and the driver was driving too fast to react to children playing in a residential area. This was caused by infrastructure, and can only be prevented by changing the infrastructure so that motor vehicles are not moving at lethal speeds in areas where children are playing. Assuming the area had the lowest speed limit allowed in TX, 30 MPH, then for every 4 wrecks between a child walking or on a cycle of some kind and a motor vehicle doing the speed limit we can expect 3 dead children. The lowest speed limit allowed in Texas will kill 3 out of 4 children hit during normal outdoor childhood activities. TX needs to change their laws so that people are not rushing through residential areas like they are going to a fire. Thirty miles per hour is too fast for safe travel through a residential area, and the laws have to recognise that situation, Just slowing down 10 MPH will raise the survival rate to 9 out of 10 wrecks, slowing by 15 MPH will get that up to 19 out of 20 hit will survive and most of those will be able to get up and walk away from the wreck. So, what is more important, a few seconds or minutes on your daily trip to and from work or the store, or the lives of your neighbors’ children? Ask the candidates in this year’s election what their stance is on lowering the speed limit in residential areas, are they for or against saving children’s lives?

In the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike for 6 years running now, a cyclist’s injuries results in charges filed. Early-morning collision with cyclist brings charges There is some strong indication that the driver was drunk at the time of the wreck, but because of the hit-and-run the testing was too late to use as evidence in the case. Standard punishment for drunks and hit-and-run drivers, chain them to the steering wheel of their precious car and then run the freaking car through a shredder and recycle it. FHP is indicating that with all the recent cyclist and pedestrian fatalities in the area there may be a need to change the local infrastructure… YA THINK?!?! Hit-from-behind wreck use the protocols to avoid until they fix the infrastructure through there and make it safe for people who aren’t driving to use it.

A CA cyclist that died when he hit a bollard on a bike path is remembered. Ed McLaughlin remembered for cycling, community devotion This was another death caused by a bollard that was hidden from view by traffic in front of the cyclist until just before he hit it. This was another wreck that was primarily if not entirely the fault of bad infrastructure, as the bollard was placed for “traffic calming” of cyclists. If that was such a good idea then why are there not more concrete dividers used to mark the center of streets? Because they can get people killed, just like this guy was, that’s why. There were two different links when I filtered this but by the time I got to creating the post, both links were identical except for the URL.

News from this town always confuses me about what state they’re in. Boy injured when bike, vehicle collide The cyclist was hit in an intersection and apparently failed to wait until crossing traffic had cleared before starting across the intersection. Intersection protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent, including training kids on how to get across the street and slowing cars enough that it is not dangerous to cross the street.

I don’t know if this is another report on 2 kids that got hit riding 2-uo on the same BMX bike or a new wreck of the same kind in the same state. 2 boys riding a bicycle struck by car This is why “they” say it’s dangerous to ride 2 on the same bike, but I seldom hear anyone talking about how dangerous it is to have more than one person in a car (not that that happens very often). The wreck was some kind of turning movement of the car that violated the cyclists’ right of way and hit them while the cyclists had the right of way. Intersection protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent a similar wreck. I was checking the ages on the other wreck and that one was a 6YO riding with a 12YO, this wreck was an 11YO riding with a 13YO…

A bad wreck in CA. Cyclist killed in Highway 1 crash near Bodega Bay identified and Bicyclist, 85, killed in collision with car in Bodega Bay also Coroner’s office identifies bicyclist killed in Bodega Bay accident The people responding to the wreck indicated there were 30-40 MPH gusts when the wreck took place that may have blown the cyclist more than a lane over and in front of oncoming traffic. If that was the case then there was no way for the cyclist to be able to see those winds coming and avoid the wreck. However had the infrastructure been such that bicycles were on a physically separated route for riding from city to city…

Another report on the cyclist that was hit in the bike lane last week in CA. Calistoga driver involved in fatal bike crash Same same as I said last week.

A drunk cyclist in PA. North Middleton Township Police (243-7910) There was no actual wreck in this report unless you count the cyclist falling off his bike repeatedly. To avoid don’t drink and ride, drive, walk or otherwise go out in public intoxicated.

More on the cyclist killed in AZ last week. Officials ID cyclist killed in weekend crash near Tucson This was the wreck where the cyclist was hit by a motor vehicle that had gone off the road, so no way to avoid, and the infrastructure in this case was almost identical to the Dutch model, so that would not have prevented the wreck either. About the only thing that would have done it would be an interlock on the vehicle ignition switch.

A cyclist in LA is hit-from-behind and blamed for the wreck because he was a cyclist… Bicyclist critically injured in crash in Bossier City Notice the driver was absolved of driving too fast for conditions because he hit a cyclist. I noticed that Gigi left a similar comment on the article.

More on the cyclist hit-from-behind in WI. Woman struck, killed while riding bicycle in Mosinee and Woman who died in bicycle crash was widow of 2008 bike-crash victim The cyclist had just remarried after recovering from the death of her first husband on the same road 2 years ago. Not ironic, but still, something is not right when 2 cyclists are killed on the same stretch of road in 2 years, especially when they were connected…

LifeStyle from the Great White North as a cyclist that was paralysed from the neck down in a swimming accident prepares for a fund-raising ride. Bike ride planned for Steven Dionne Foundation 2 years ago he couldn’t move below the neck, now he’s riding a bike hundreds of miles across the country. I salute him.

And that’s all the news that gave me fits today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Struggling with some discomfort, and the Feed

My butt hurts again (still). The pulled or torn Gluteus Medius is still pulled or torn, and still hurts like the dickens when I move wrong. I have no idea when it will get better as it has been hurting since December. I have been using gel ice packs to help with the pain and ibuprofen to help keep my leg more mobile as the injury is interfering with my range of motion. What I have also had to do is change my normal habit of showering right before I have to go someplace to showering the last thing before bed the day before I have to go someplace, so that I have enough range of motion to get dressed. It’s embarrassing to have to go someplace and ask for someone to get your right sock on because you can’t fold up enough to touch your toe, so by showering the night before I can actually get dressed the next morning.

The really big story today is not a wreck, but a celebration, as 64 kids that participated in a bike parade to school during National Bike Month are suspended, then un-suspended. Students Punished for Riding Bikes to School in Michigan and High school seniors suspended for biking to school also Biking Kenowa Hills seniors punished last link High School Bike Riders Won’t Be Suspended There has been some rumors that the principal in this case has been fired or suspended without pay over her reaction in this case. I hope so but I haven’t been able to confirm or deny any of the rumors.

The next biggest story is more on the kid killed riding on the sidewalk in a pinball wreck caused by a stoned driver. Family mourns child killed by car crash and Prosecutors: Driver had pot in system when Skokie boy hit, killed more Prosecutors: Woman admitted smoking pot before crash that killed 8-year-old in Skokie another one SECOND UPDATE: Felony DUI charge filed in Skokie crash that killed boy, 8 An interesting note is that locals to the area say that the speed limit of 30 MPH is normally ignored and traffic moves much faster than the 30 MPH limit. There have been requests that the limit be enforced, but to date nothing had been done as far as a sting or other enforcement action.

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike for 6 years running, a drunk driver that was almost twice the legal limit when he killed a cyclist is caught driving drunk again. Flagler man on probation in fatal DUI jailed after alcohol check OK this is too much, this guy needs to lose his license and be permanently banned from driving, with a charge of illegal possession of a deadly weapon if he gets caught driving. I mean he as .155% when he killed the cyclist but got off because the LEO investigating the case went to great lengths to find the cyclist at fault in the wreck. Now he got caught at a DUI checkpoint driving over the .08% limit again. For the safety of every road user, not just the ones riding bicycles, he needs to be removed from the controls of motor vehicles permanently.

A driver in LA is excused from driving too fast for conditions because he “only” hit a cyclist. Bicyclist critically injured in crash in Bossier City Now if the driver had hit a slow-moving car or other vehicle, he would have gotten charged or a ticket, but a cyclist is different. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A cyclist is hit in PA near the MD border. Cyclist killed after being hit by car in Spotsylvania and Spotsylvania Bicyclist Dies In Crash The LEO in this case blamed the cyclist for not wearing reflective clothing instead of blaming the driver for driving too fast. Arrgh! Anyway, hit-from-behind wreck, use hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right so bikes and cars moving at high speeds don’t mix or even get very close to each other.

Nothing in the article about how this PA cyclist managed to hit the car in the intersection. Boy critical, but stable after bike accident Intersection wreck, so intersection protocols would apply, but I don’t know if this was a hook or cross wreck or if one or the other vehicle ran some kind of traffic control. Checking Google Street View shows an offset intersection with a 4-way stop, but without knowing which vehicle was on which street I still can’t say what happened with any degree of certainty. Intersection protocols to avoid, and education with really slow speed limits to prevent as that area would be a shared space under the Dutch model of bike infrastructure.

A cyclist dies in MA. Bicyclist Harry Delmolino dies from Saturday collision in Northampton and Harry Delmolino of Hadley, who died from injuries in Northampton bicycle accident, was college graduate, Eagle Scout, adventurer This was in intersection wreck that I think I got earlier in the week when the cyclist was still alive, but now the cyclist has died from the injuries.

It took too long but the death of a political candidate during a campaign is finally going to trial. The fact that the candidate was riding a bicycle at the time might have had something to do with the delay in the case as getting charges filed took for-freaking-ever… Trial begins in hit-and-run death of bicyclist, Senate candidate The driver left a trail of sparks as she dragged the victim’s bicycle over 3 miles (5 km) from the wreck site to her garage but still claimed she thought she hit a deer? And just how many deer leave a trail of sparks on the road after you hit them?

Update on the cyclist hit from behind im WI. UPDATE: Cyclist Hit by Car in Mosinee Dies Hit from behind wreck on a straight stretch of road about 3/4 mile long, I don’t know if the cyclist was at the beginning of that 3/4 mile stretch or the end of it when she was hit. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, get the infrastructure right to prevent. More Updated: Bicyclist killed in crash with vehicle near Mosinee

More on that cyclist in Canuckistan I had a link to yesterday with nothing more than the news that she had died and a picture of her body in the street plainly showing her pink and black helmet with the statement that they didn’t know if she had a helmet. Cyclist killed Wednesday identified and Cyclist killed in collision on Higgins identified Can I say first, condolences to the deceased’s family and friends, for living in a city with such obtuse LEO, and from the comments there were more than a few obtuse drivers also.

From Far West Canuckistan, a drunk driver runs over a cyclist, flips her vehicle and catches fire and they don’t even know she hit him for an hour after the wreck. Cyclist struck and killed in Maple Ridge, drunk driving suspected and Cyclist killed in fiery crash in Maple Ridge Another wreck where the cyclist had no chance of avoiding the impact. If the LEO on scene didn’t find the cyclist until after the fire had been put out and the driver extracted I’m sure there was not much a cyclist could do to avoid that kind of impact. Getting drunk drivers off the roads would make major strides in preventing a wreck like this even without changes to the infrastructure, but getting cyclists on separated infrastructure outside the built up urban area would also make major strides in preventing drunk drivers from killing cyclists.

From the UK, a rather Important Cyclist is hit from behind by a driver following the imperative issued by the head of the cab company. Cycling MP ‘bumped from behind by minicab at red light’ And 2 guesses as the name of the cab company that was involved in the wreck? and the head of that company? That’s right she was hit by an Addison Lee minicab, the head of which made an editorial about cyclists deserving to get hit on the roads in the company magazine… can I just say I’m very glad I’m not in the UK and not the driver nor the head of the minicab company?

Infrastructure! news from NJ. When a sign means nothing – discussion of bicycle routes in Kinnelon Yep there’s pretty much nothing as useless for bike infrastructure as the “Bike Route” sign. It means nothing in legal terms and serves no purpose except as a sort of wayfinding if there is some destination sign under the Bike Route part of the sign like a bus headsign.

infrastructure news from PA as a road diet is stress-tested by a freeway closure. Carlisle puts traffic plan into effect after I81 crash Wednesday I don’t think they actually used the bike lanes for motor vehicle traffic, unless they made all the parked cars leave, too.

I mention how WoaB World HQ is in the suburbs of Hell, I’m not the only person that thinks so. Dallas: Worst Cycling City in America I’m sure Garland isn’t any better, just smaller so it got left off the survey.

And similar news about the Twin Cities in MN, but much better for them. What’s in a ranking? Minneapolis slips and climbs

LifeStyle news from Milwaukie, as the drivers from IndyCar go along with MPD bike patrol officers. IndyCar Drivers Ride With Milwaukee Police Well I thought it was cool, anyway.

A MA woman finds the bike she lost in a creek, more than 4 decades later. Weird News: Mass. woman finds bike she lost 42 years ago

And to close out, some bike porn from Campagnolo. Campagnolo presents the Triathlon/Time Trial Project Isn’t that the sexiest crankset you have ever seen?

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Running late because of a doctor appointment, and the Feed

Dad has having some unexplained pains in his eye lately, so we took him to a doctor to find out why and fix him up. It turns out the pain was caused by his eyelashes growing in instead of out and rubbing on the eyeball. The doctor removed a few of the worst of the offending lashes and prescribed some drops to ease the inflammation in the lid and eyeball. He thinks the root cause may be related to Dad’s recent weight loss moving his eye back away from the lid and letting the lip of the eyelid curl the wrong way. So another reason for my Dad to eat more…

Up first by dint of massive number of links is the story I mentioned yesterday about the 8YO that was killed in a pinball wreck. New information now shows he was hit on the sidewalk, not in the street as I originally thought. Skokie Police Investigate Crash That Killed Boy, 8 and Boy Killed By Car In Skokie Identified The driver may have been smoking pot Prosecutor: Skokie woman smoked pot before crash that killed boy also Boy Killed in Crash Recently Asked About Heaven OK this wreck was even less avoidable than what I stated yesterday, which is a major statement because I said the only way to avoid a wreck like that was to not be there. The kid wasn’t even in the street, but on a sidewalk protected by a curb. This is about as “not there” as you can get without actually being in a completely different location from the wreck, like a different city or something… now if the driver in this case turns out to have still been impaired by the pot in her system (THC residues can be detected by tests as much as 48 hours after the impairment wears off) then my usual punishment for drivers that kill while impaired will apply: chain the driver to the wheel of the car and then recycle the car in a shredder (more humane than a crusher).

Not a wreck, but more links (not more news, unfortunately) about the missing cyclist in LA. Search intensifies for missing bike rider and Continued support for search efforts to find missing cyclist I sincerely hope they find this girl alive, but as time progresses this becomes less likely.

In the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike for 6 years running now, a 19YO gets hit. 19-year-old bicyclist killed Monday night, charges pending The “driver” swerved into the bike lane, hitting the cyclist from behind and killing her instantly. This was a murder, a cold-blooded random killing that the driver thought no more about than swatting a bug… I say we should “swat” the driver a time or two. More South Walton Car – Bicycle Accident Kills One Person

An OH cyclist is killed Police Need Help Identifying Bicyclist Struck, Killed Along East Broad Street From the appearance of the bike this was a hit-from-behind wreck, from the description it was an intersection wreck, and from the description of the cyclist it was another reason to have wearable ID like RoadID or a set of dog tags with your ICE information on it. RIP Unknown Cyclist.

Another OH cyclist is slightly injured in an intersection wreck. Bicyclist collides with vehicle in Centerville Intersection wreck is all I know about this one, so intersection protocols to avoid, and get the freaking infrastructure right to prevent a similar wreck.

In the Great White North a case that has dragged on most of the time this blog has been hosted here at WordPress started its end game. Cyclist testifies against cabbie accused of maiming him Who could have known the only thing that Star readers hate more than cyclists are cabbies from other countries? I posted links to video of the attack way back in 2009, but those links are dead and gone now.

A cyclist is killed and a picture of her lifeless body is shown with this link by a citizen journalist. Cyclist Killed in Crash on Higgins Avenue I don’t understand why there is a question of the cyclist wearing a helmet when you can plainly see a pink and black bike helmet on the body in the picture… And I have no idea how to avoid a wreck like this when LEO can’t tell if the thing on your head is a bike helmet or not. It sounds like they blame the cyclist for being there to get hit…

A rare UK link to a rare kind of bike wreck. Cyclist seriously injured after colliding with cat in freak accident As of right now the cat was not believed to have been seriously injured…

LifeStyle as a UU minister raises money to buy 100K lunches for hungry kids that would not get fed otherwise. Help package 100,000 nutritious meals for hungry children The minister rode a bike cross country to raise awareness and money for the cause.

A cyclist and blogger in UT finds that ditching the car for a bike can save the average Utahn over $8K/ann. Pedaling Over Obstacles and Toward Prosperity What could you do with an extra $8k a year?

And finally, a pretty bike picture courtesy of cycle Twin Cities. Twin Cities Bike Picture of the Day: 5.23.12 That so reminds me of pictures from the Colin Classic bike ride just north of WoaB World HQ in the beautiful suburbs of Hell.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Still wondering if I’m making a difference, and the Feed

I know that on the scale of making a difference in the world there’s Ghandi at one end and bike bloggers at the other end, but I would hope I was close to the Ghandi end of the bike bloggers. Unfortunately I think I’m about in the middle of the bike blogger pack as far as actually making a difference in the world. I know what needs to be done, and I frequently put in posts what needs to be done (like nearly every day, sometimes several times in a single post), but what needs to be done is such a slow process that I can’t tell if I’m making any difference at all. In the nearly six years this blog has been going at many different blog services, I have seen a tiny bit of progress made in bicycle infrastructure in various places that had strong bike communities, but nothing outside those areas. It is like trying to move a mountain with a teaspoon as a shovel.

Up first is something from the same state as WoaB World HQ in the beautiful suburbs of Hell. Bicyclists injured in crashes involving SAPD cruiser, car Red lights and stop signs are part of the intersection protocols, the major part of them. Everything else is for when following that part of the protocols fails. Part of this is infrastructure that doesn’t “work” for people riding bicycles, like stop signs every block. Having to stop and start again is very tiring for cyclists, and for those that are bicycling to get somewhere and not primarily for exercise it’s enough to make them either stop riding or fail to stop at stop signs. And traffic lights that don’t change for a cyclist no matter how long they stand at the intersection are also training cyclists to ignore traffic controls. But that is still no excuse for running red lights with traffic coming, or stop signs. Yield at stop signs with traffic, that is stop until it’s your turn to go…

A pinball wreck takes out a kid on a bike. 8-year-old struck, killed riding bicycle in Skokie This was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, “wrong” being where an out-of-control car was going to be at the same time as the car arrived in that location, not that the kid was doing anything wrong. Aside from getting the infrastructure so that speeding cars are not anywhere near kids there is nothing anyone could do as a cyclist to avoid a similar wreck. The fool hit 3 parked cars in the process of killing this kid, could you predict that kind of path and avoid it, and still be able to use the street to get where you are going?

A drunk in SD hits not one, or two kids on bikes but a group of 3 on a gravel residential road. Authorities Say Drunk Driver Injures Kids On Bikes The kids did everything right in this wreck, there was nothing a cyclist could have done to avoid this wreck. To prevent, I think I mentioned something about requiring breathalyser interlocks on all motor vehicle ignitions earlier…

A cyclist is missing in LA. Mickey Shunick Missing As Police, Family Search For Louisiana College Student I suspect a hit-and-run that left the girl and her bike out of sight from the roads, or some other kind of wreck with the girl unconscious in a hospital without ID. or it could be like one of the comments left on the site, someone hit her from behind to incapacitate her then took her and her bike…

From the deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike, one that survived. Bicyclist injured in hit-and-run on U.S. 98 in fair condition The cyclist was in the turn lane and either waiting for oncoming traffic to clear to make a turn, or waiting for the car that hit him to pass so he could merge into the travel lane after making a turn. Either way this wreck was not in any way avoidable by the cyclist. Preventable with proper infrastructure including laws that make hit-and-run with serious injury a felony that gets serious prison time just like any other attack with a deadly weapon.

From CA, a person in illegal possession of a deadly weapon gets 2 tickets after hitting a cyclist and trying to flee in the damaged vehicle. Campbell Bicyclist Injured by Teenage Driver Not a lot you can do when you have the right of way and some jerk that should not be driving tries to drive right through you. To prevent get unlicensed drivers off the roads and impound their vehicles (in a crusher/shredder).

Update on an older wreck, the cyclist has been transferred from out of state back to his hometown hospital. Injured Cyclist’s Girlfriend Speaks Out This was a terrible hit-and-run made all the worse because the charges against the driver were so weak. There was nothing the cyclist could have done to avoid this wreck, and it’s doubtful that infrastructure could do much to prevent it, unless the driver was drunk. Then installing mandatory interlocks on all motor vehicle ignitions might work to prevent it, or maybe making driving while stupid a felony.

A wreck in AZ that was so violent LEO can’t tell if the bike had lights or reflectors installed when it was hit. Cyclist killed in crash on Ajo Highway; Driver and passenger arrested I hope they find lots of drugs and alcohol in the driver, because in AZ that is the only thing that gets real prison time in a wreck like this. No way for the cyclist to avoid at the speed the vehicle was traveling, and the only way to prevent it would be a barrier of some kind for the cyclist to ride behind when riding intercity.

In the Great White North a cyclist is hit by a train. Woman cyclist killed by Via train in Les Coteaux I would say that trains are easy to avoid by not riding where they are and also not trying to cross the tracks when the signals are telling you that a train is coming, but the article states the signals may not have been working and the rider is an experienced cyclist, so I don’t know on this one. It might have been a case where there was more than one train at the double track crossing…

Infrastructure! news from the most deadliest state to walk or ride a bike for 6 years running now. Key Biscayne Bridges To Undergo Safety Changes Rumble strips between the travel lanes and the bike lanes are a step up, but still not enough to stop a car or truck.

More infrastructure from CA. Lawsuit filed over fatal SR-56 bike path crash What is going to make or break this case is how predictable would it be that a vehicle could leave the highway and wind up on the bike path?

Infrastructure news from Oz. New Westgarth tram stop an accident waiting to happen, warns Darebin bike riders group I don’t know about this one, as it looks like they are trying to cram 2 pounds of stuff into a one pound sack, from the description. If they are trying to keep cars away from the street they could just make the area next to the tramway a bike lane and be done with it, or a bike-priority lane with double or triple fines for traffic violations.

Lifestyle news from the Twin Cities (someplace I would really like to live, with real seasons and summers that aren’t 110°F for days on end, and real bicycle infrastructure). Urban Assault Ride By: Jon Vick This looked like fun…

And another entry from the Twin Cities is this nice picture to give you a relaxing end to the post. Twin Cities Bike Picture of the Day: 5.22.12 Isn’t that nice?

And those are all the links that gave me fits today, and some that didn’t.

Billed @$0.02, Opus