Well things did not go too well for the mule duties yesterday. There was some kind of mechanical malfunction on the bus Mrs. the poet was taking to the grocery store (same one she takes to get home from work) and the 1530 bus did not make it to the transit center until 1710, which is more than two schedules after it was supposed to be there. Our local transit agency has been hit with declining revenues from their allowable 0.5% sales tax and rising fuel costs and an aging fleet and has recently raised fares to compensate for the difference in income and outgo, but has not been able to station service protection buses at transit centers like they used to do. So we consumers of transit get a more expensive but lower quality service. Mythbusters notwithstanding that will fly like a lead balloon. Mythbusters did a show where they built a balloon out of lead foil after calculating the crossover point where the weight of the foil surface (l2) was overcome by the volume of lifting gas (l3). They built it as a cube but it turned out to be a lumpy sphere which increased the volume even faster than as a cube and actually had to stop filling it because it had excess lift. So I used some money I had taken out of the bank since the check finally cleared that day and bought the emergency things we had run out of (milk, bread, sugar) bought a microwave dinner for the family and also got Mrs. the Poet a new bus pass for March as her old pass would expire today. The sum total of all that is that I will have to go to the grocery store again today, plus I have a meeting at church tonight. So lots of bike fun for Opus today.
Up first, a cyclist who was victimized by a hit-and-run driver gets victimized again by Rick Perry’s cuts to health care. Injured Cyclist Brian Lindquist Faces Discharge From Rehab Center [Updated] and Severely injured cyclist needs continued help to recover It’s bad enough that the driver who did this is still driving while waiting trial (after having alcohol and drugs in his system at the time of the wreck), but to have the agency who should be taking care of you (and subrogating the costs from the driver) say “sorry, we don’t have any money”… and there used to be a fund set up to pay the victims of hit-and-run (who picked up the majority of the $250K of hospital bills I ran up after my wreck/assault with a deadly weapon) but that fund is also dry as there are more people hit-and-run than the fund can cover.
Up the road in the other direction an OSU teacher gets hit. Injured cyclist a university faculty member The wreck description makes it appear to be a left cross, as after hitting the cyclist while making a turning movement the vehicle then ran over him causing crushing injuries to his torso. While this is a possibility in the right hook, it is much more likely in the left cross scenario where the driver either “doesn’t see” the cyclist or misjudges the speed the cyclist is going (on the low side) and hits the cyclist with the front of the vehicle. Intersection protocols to avoid, and fix the infrastructure to prevent. In that “fix” make sure that drivers can actually see. And recycle any motor vehicle involved in injuring a vulnerable road user. We take guns that have been used in crimes away from the criminals, why do we give back cars when they have been used in crimes?
Going back the other way, a cyclist is hit by a driver with faulty headlights in SA. Teen struck and killed while riding bicycle The cyclist was hit in the left lane by a driver that did not see the cyclist until she hit him. Even allowing for the clothing and having any reflectors facing away from the headlights as the cyclist crossed the road, had the headlights been aimed properly and fully functional and the driver driving at a speed where the vehicle could be stopped in the distance the driver had clear vision of, then this wreck would have never happened. To avoid use too many lights and reflectors, to prevent make any wreck that uses the words “I didn’t see (the cyclist)” automatic fault of the driver, and issue equipment violations for faulty headlights, because you can always see a cyclist if you are looking for things in the road that you might run into. More Cyclist stuck and killed on northeast side roadway and Cyclist who died is identified
A cyclist is killed in what seems to be a hit-from-behind wreck near Seattle WA. Bicyclist Killed After Struck by Taxi Van in Pasco and Bicycle rider struck and killed in Pasco The cyclist was carried by the weapon vehicle for “about 75 yards” which indicates both a hit-from-behind and a high rate of speed on the part of the taxi driver as well as a lack of attention to surroundings. Until more information comes out I’m going to say that this was a wreck that no human cyclist could have avoided, and that since it was in a residential area directly in front of an apartment complex they would have been in shared space anyway so the infrastructure would not have helped either except that vehicle would have been moving much more slowly and the cyclist or the driver would have reaction time to avoid the wreck.
A CA cyclist is killed apparently riding salmon. Cal Poly Pomona student dies after vehicle hits him on campus and Cal Poly student on bicycle struck, killed by car on campus street From pictures posted with these articles at the time of filtering the links it looks like there was plenty of room for a bike lane (even a bi-directional bike lane) at the scene of the wreck and that the cyclist was trying to be where he could see the high-speed traffic and hopefully avoid it. This doesn’t work, and the additive nature of the impact makes survival chances much less.
Witness account of the hit-and-run assault of a group ride in AZ. Tyler Wren Journal: A first-hand account of the Jamis hit-and-run The best thing to come from this wreck is that having photo documentation of something, as well as physical evidence of the event, can be crucial to getting justice.
From the UK insult has been added to literal injury as thieves steal a bike as the owner lay in the road bleeding. Injured cyclist hits out at thieves who stole his bike after crash From my currency converter that comes to about $500US give or take a few bucks.
Infrastructure! news from TX. Not in my backyard: Hike and bike trail too close for comfort? I wonder if the trail was described as a road for people not using cars would the NIMBYs change their tunes? The “reason” of more crime is just stupid, how many times have you seen someone carrying a TV, stereo, or computer (desktop) on a bike path?
And speaking of insults and injuries from across the Pond. Suspended prison term for driver who killed cyclist That’s right it’s perfectly fine to just leave a cyclist dying in the road after you hit him with a couple of tons of motor vehicle. I think the tenor of the conversation in the court was “Just leave”. The suspended sentence was on condition that the driver left the country and did not return for a minimum of 10 years, I would say that under the circumstances this was about as effective as deporting him, but I would still like to see that he wasn’t a threat to others.
And it’s Friday, so there must have been an article on e-assist bikes in the Feed. E-Bike News: Concept E-Bike, Pedego Trail Tracker, Belt E-Drives, Sales Up, E-Bike Action VIDEO! I like that mid-drive add-on assist and the bike that had the batteries in a “gas tank” on the top tube.
And those are all the links that gave me fits today.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 