Tonight is the regularly-scheduled night of the month to drum and dance around the fire at my church, something I look forward to with great anticipation. I have been involved with percussion in one form or another since childhood, getting my first set of bongo drums at 11, playing the bass drum in marching band and snare in orchestra. I have also been a (poor) dancer almost as long, having my first dance class as a senior in HS, and belly dance for men in my 30s and 50s. I am a creature of rhythm even if I can’t spell it on the first try, ever. (I keep trying to put the voiced short “i” in the written word.) I can’t explain it so I just revel in it…
Up first on a happy note, semi-famous bike blogger Bikeyface has a new bike that she gushes about here LEFT BANK BIKE I’m sure Gigi is as happy for her about this as I am, wherever Gigi is now.
Big story, what is being described by some as a right hook and by others as the cyclist failing to use brakes, with lots of links. Cyclist dies in SF garbage-truck crash and Bicyclist dies after striking garbage truck in the Mission also Cyclist killed in San Francisco garbage truck crash More Clayton Cyclist Hit and Killed By Garbage Truck in San Francisco and Bicyclist killed in collision with San Francisco garbage truck was 21-year-old from Clayton not done yet Cyclist in fatal S.F. crash identified nearly there Bicyclist killed in Mission District identified as Clayton resident Last link Dylan Mitchell Identified as Cyclist Killed by Recology Truck Earlier reports that have since been deleted had the cyclist impacting the truck just in front of the rear wheels on the right side and being trapped in the rear wheels and dragged for almost a block. Now they are just saying “back” of the truck and not explaining how hitting the back of a garbage truck results in massive blunt trauma and crushing injuries, or how a cyclist can be dragged almost a block after hitting the back of the truck. Anyway, right hook, intersection protocols to avoid and infrastructure corrected to prevent. The truck was signalling a right turn but there is some question if the cyclist was in a position to see that signal.
Another story with more than one link is a hit-and-run in AZ. Suspect arrested in Tucson hit-and-run death and UPDATED II: CYCLIST KILLED IN HIT-AND-RUN CRASH; SUSPECT IN CUSTODY last link Sun Tran driver killed while cycling to work Intersection wreck, but at this point it does not appear that intersection protocols would have helped avoid the wreck in any way as the drunk driver appears to have ignored a traffic control when he hit the cyclist. This also strongly implies that any at-grade infrastructure that relied on traffic controls to maintain separation would have been equally unlikely to prevent this wreck and the only thing that could have would be grade separated with a barrier infrastructure which would have been unlikely in this location. I mean there aren’t even any sidewalks for the nearby residences, bike infrastructure would be secondary after pedestrian infrastructure.
An AR cyclist is hit. 7-year-old girl struck and killed while riding her bike Nothing about the mode of the wreck except listing the location as “near” an intersection, so going with intersection protocols to avoid, and getting the infrastructure right to prevent. As the wreck was in a residential area “getting the infrastructure right” would consist of making sure cars were moving at a safe speed and that intersections had good sight lines so that children on bikes could be seen.
A cyclist’s death leads to charges in the Great White North. Vernon cyclist death results in charges The cyclist was struck from behind by a person driving a vehicle in the bike lane at 70 km/hr (44MPH). Given the lack of space to maneuver and the curb to the right hit-from-behind protocols would have been not-very-useful, and the wreck was in bicycle infrastructure the driver was ignoring, so no chance of preventing either except for inventing some way of keeping drunk drivers from being able to start the vehicle…
And those are all the links that gave me fits today… and one that didn’t.
Billed @€0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 