OOhh! my head, and the Feed

I’m taking the maximum allowed level of my allergy medication and I’m barely keeping ahead of the pollen. My head is so stopped up that I feel like my eyeballs are going to be rolling on the floor any second now, a symptom my allergy medicine can’t take care of so I just have to take a painkiller and tough it out. Add to that the post nasal drip and watery eyes, plus the Voice From The Gates of Hell I get from sleeping with my mouth open, and I look and sound like a member of the walking dead. I just smell better than they do. I have lost a full MPH off my average speed riding my bike because of not being able to breathe as deeply as I normally do, which mostly affects my getting off the line at stop signs and traffic lights. I don’t have the energy for that brisk acceleration like I normally do. Also I feel poopy 😛

Up first an article I was sent by a reader from just down the road in Houston. Hit-and-run driver smashes into cyclist returning home from work Almost as bad as my situation back in 2001, just trying to get to and from work when public transit is not running. She was hit from behind on the shoulder of the road by someone that didn’t even bother to make sure she was dead before leaving. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, but I honestly don’t think this was an avoidable wreck. Get the infrastructure right to prevent, including making hit-and-run an equivalent crime to attempted murder.

From AL, a cyclist suffers minor injuries from a right hook wreck. Cyclist suffers minor injuries after accident on Balmoral Drive Intersection protocols to avoid, get the infrastructure right to prevent. And in spite of what the officer on the scene said it is never the fault of the cyclist when this happens.

A NYC area cyclist was hit-and-run by a drunk driver who was caught. Cops: Deer Park man who hit cyclist was DWI Nothing on the mode of the wreck aside from one comment that the cyclist was riding against traffic without anything to back that up. Good that they caught the perp driver. They should throw the entire library at him and make an example out of him.

A wreck in CA that was rather unusual. Martinez: Wild turkeys cause bicycle crash, seriously injuring Benicia man, 51 Yep, you read that right, the guy was taken out by a turkey that came from the side of the road just as he passed the location…

Another CA bike wreck. Paradise boy injured in bike vs. vehicle collision The kid apparently rode out in front of the car just as it was going by. Intersection protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Still in CA another young cyclist runs a stop sign and gets hit. Young bicyclist seriously injured in Poway Intersection protocols to avoid, and anther wreck that getting the infrastructure right would prevent the wreck from happening. As the intersection was in a residential area the infrastructure would be a very low speed limit combined with a responsibility for the driver of the (potential) weapon vehicle to not hit cyclists and pedestrians.

And still in CA the final word on a double homicide of a man and his daughter as they rode their bikes. Youth sentenced for killing 2 in crash Because he was convicted as a juvenile he will get out in less than 3 years on a 7 year sentence. Apparently this was the best the DA could do as there was no guarantee he would be convicted as an adult much less get a sentence as stiff as 3 years. This link earns special mention as the “Waste of Human Skin” tag for today’s post.

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike, 4 people are injured in a bicycle/motorcycle wreck. 4 injured in motorcycle/bike crash in Lehigh Acres OK 3 people injured riding 2 bicycles, and the motorcycle rider means that one of the bikes was carrying a passenger. Since the article did not mention anything the bicyclists were doing as illegal I take this to meant that the 3rd cyclist was riding on a cargo seat or other legal means on the bike. The motorcycle was not street-legal, however. Hit from behind protocols to avoid, but I don’t think infrastructure would have prevented the motorcycle rider from riding illegally. Maybe, but not likely.

Another wreck in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bicycle 8 years running. Bradenton man killed after being hit while riding bike across First Street East I took a look in the street view and the intersection did not match what was described in the narrative, the biggest thing being no traffic light at this intersection but the next one down. It does look like the cyclist was hit in the left turn lane, so apparently he was trying to continue on the offset street on the other side of the major highway down the middle of a residential area. First things first, there should not be a highway with 3 lanes in each direction in the middle of a residential area, whoever did that should be put in prison. Second even though traffic is “stopped” that doesn’t mean all traffic is stopped. Intersection protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

More links to that bicycle/motorcycle double fatality wreck in Philly. 2 dead after motorcycle, bike collide in Philly and Bicyclist killed by motorcycle in South Phila. Still nothing about who had the right of way as both witnesses are dead.

More trouble in PA. Bicyclist injured after hit-and-run in Middlesex Township Typical buzz job. No way for the cyclist to avoid and only getting the infrastructure right including denying sociopaths the privilege of a driver’s license will prevent a similar wreck.

Infrastructure! news from The Great White North. Cut Bronson speeds, let cyclists use sidewalk, councillor suggests after death on Bronson bridge Well I guess that’s better than nothing…

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus