I was at the Lower Greenville Ave. St. Patrick’s Day Parade today which required getting up before dawn to catch 2 trains and a bus and then standing for 2 hours next to a temporary railing to watch people that were already drunk by noon throw beads. IOW I had a lot of fun that was physically tiring, but worth it because of the people watching. Then came the “fun” of getting home. We had to wait for 2 trains to get away from the parade site, had to wait on another at the transfer point because the first was full, then the train we were on broke down and we had to wait for the next train (our train would run, but could not carry passengers because about half the doors would not open) and when the next train showed up there it was already nearly a full train of people and we had to wait until the train after that. So essentially we took 90 minutes to make a trip that normally takes less than 20. The standing around has aggravated my injured leg to the point that I want to just spend the rest of the day in bed, but can’t because of having this blog post to do and RPG tonight.
A CA cyclist is hit from behind and killed. Bicyclist Killed on Santa Margarita Parkway The picture of the wreck scene shows ample number of lanes to move over to pass a cyclist, why that didn’t happen is unknown at this time. I don’t see any place the cyclist could have hidden to “dart” in front of the driver in this case, so he must have been in plain sight the entire time preceding the events that cause his death. Protocols might have helped, giving cyclists a separate place to ride would definitely have prevented it but I don’t even see a place to put a cycletrack.
Still in CA a cyclist that “won” the door prize has died from his injuries. Bicyclist Killed After Colliding With Car Door In Hollywood The injured cyclist hung on to life for a week before succumbing to his injuries. The proximate cause was failure of the driver to pay attention to the road before opening the door, contributory was a door zone bike lane and mandatory sidepath laws that forced the cyclist to use it.
A GA cyclist finds her lane filled with SUV going the wrong way. State Patrol releases details in fatal crash involving cyclist The narrative in this wreck is just awful, the driver left the road to the cyclist’s right, returned to the road in front of the cyclist, then went off the road to the cyclist’s left on the side of the road the driver was supposed to be driving on and flipped the SUV. This was a wreck that no human cyclist could have avoided, and infrastructure might not have helped either (unless it was far enough off the road or protected by a stout barrier). The kind of “infrastructure” that could have prevented this wreck would be strict licensing procedures that keep idiot drivers like this from ever getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. What I would like to see done to this driver in the way of “Justice” is not fit to print even in this rather liberal blog. Suffice it to say that I would have much pain inflicted on her as she slowly died a long and painful death.
In TN cyclists are injured inside a gated community. Briefly: Two young bike riders injured in accident, Grand jury to hear statutory rape case, Court hearing set in Savannah killing AFAICT this was a hit-from-behind use the protocols to avoid, and fix the infrastructure to prevent. Even for the 1% that can afford to live in gated communities need biking infrastructure…
And finally, e-bikes must seem like a threatnew market to car makers, now Toyota has a prototype. E-Bike News: Toyota E-Bike, New Factories, New Designs & Tech, E-Bike Book, Tours, & More! How about that 3-wheel scooter? Not much bigger than a e-assist bike or motorcycle, it would make a significant difference in city traffic if implemented in large numbers.
And those are all the links that gave me fits today.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 