Still putting things back together after vacation, and the Feed

Well things are still getting back to what can be loosely called “normal” around here. I have another visit to the Lab Rat Keeper tomorrow followed by a church meeting to plan our Lughnassad/Lammas service for next Sunday, but the main service will be the local Sumerian group on the Saturday night before. My shoulder-soaking gig with the widow woman has been put on hold as she tries to patch up her relationship with her boyfriend, so that’s a free breakfast out the window (for now). I’m still working on that frame design for the T-bucket, dealing with “The Devil” part now (old saying about the devil being in the details, I’m figuring out the details now). I had an interesting experience after I finished mowing the grass yesterday, I removed my belt and then my jeans without undoing the snap on my jeans, just wiggled my butt and off they fell. Time to get new “skinny clothes”?

Up first a horrific equipment failure and crash in OR. Cyclist, 71, injured after crashing under semi Note that this was not a hooking maneuver crash, the cyclist had a wheel collapse and fell under the semi-trailer to the left of the bike lane. There is no way that something like this can be predicted and avoided by the cyclist and infrastructure is likewise pretty useless to prevent it except that good infrastructure generally does not place cyclists next to large trucks without a barrier. Looking at this picture you can see there is no right-side handlebar on the bike, just a broken stub visible at the aerobar. If that was what caused the wheel collapse the cyclist had absolutely zero chance of controlling the bike to avoid the wreck. More Bicyclist hospitalized after crashing into Vancouver truck driver’s trailer and Bike rider seriously hurt in collision with semi

The kind of wreck a cyclist can’t avoid. Man arrested on charges of shooting bicyclist to death This death would not be included in making FL the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. But you just can’t dodge a bullet, Mythbusters proved that a while back MythBusters: Dodge a Bullet

The levels of wrongness in this wreck just leap off the scale. 11-year-old bicyclist hurt in collision with SUV driven by 15-year-old at Gardiner campground Intersection wreck, use the protocols to avoid. Keep under-aged people from driving to prevent. Seriously, this wreck should have never happened had the “parent” of the driver been a responsible adult and either made the kid walk or ride a bike to do whatever errand he was sent on, or if the vehicle was required (like for a parking permit or some other reason) then the “parent” should have been there doing it.

A PA wreck that may be infrastructure-related. Woman injured in fall from bicycle The bike ended up in a grassy field near the Cumberland Valley rail-trail.

Update on a cyclist left-crossed in Seattle. Bicyclist critically hurt Thursday expected to make full recovery I’m assuming “full recovery” means the driver or their insurance is picking up the tab for all medical expenses, rehab, and lost income due to being away from work.

A serious wreck in the Great White North. Cyclist killed in Ajax, hit by a truck Nothing on the mode or location yet, just a gawd-awful wreck. From the picture of the crime scene it looks like either a right-hook or the driver just ran the cyclist over from behind.

A wreck with a surviving cyclist in the Great White North. Cyclist seriously injured in Montreal North collision Intersection wreck but no mention of who was running the red light at the intersection. Somebody did and the fact that the media outlet did not immediately blame the cyclist makes me think that there is better than even odds the driver did. Intersection protocols includes being aware of drivers running traffic controls, to avoid. Get the infrastructure right to prevent.

From the UK an act of terrorism against a bike ride. Hit and runs reported at London Critical Mass ride + VIDEO Make that several acts of terrorism.

A deadly wreck in Oz. Two killed in separate crashes The motor vehicle fatality was well documented, the cyclist fatality is still under investigation and LEO have not released their report.

Infrastructure! news from Jolly Olde. Big Read: Dicing with death on Cycle Superhighway, CS2, from Tower Hamlets to Newham

How to prevent motor vehicle deaths. LEGISLATING FOR REAL ROAD SAFETY License bans for inadvertent infractions, jail or prison for deliberate infractions leading to death.

And the “Duh!” article of the month if not the year. Car-bike collisions in Ohio often result in injured cyclists On other news rain is wet and a cloudless sky is a pale blue.

Last link is a chance to win a Pedego e-assist bike. E-Bike News: Benelli E-Bikes, Win a Pedego, Rubbee Friction Drive, & More! [VIDEOS]

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

Billed @€0.02, Opus

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It has been an “interesting” week in my favorite sport, on Wreck-Free Sunday

Besides the job interview I mentioned one of the reasons I went home so early was I wanted to be in a house where I could catch the Eldora NCWTS race. This was an historic event, the first time a national NASCAR touring series raced on dirt since 1970. I remember reading about that race as a child and thinking that now the Grand National series (as the Cup was called back then) was no longer going to be as well-rounded as it had been, because they had always been on short ovals, mid-sized ovals and superspeedways, and road courses, but now they were dropping the dirt. Well, that was then, this is now.

One thing I did notice was the trucks had essentially no grip when a driver tried to drive like a dirt car. Pitching the trucks into the turns and standing on the gas was usually “rewarded” with a spin out. The fast way around for the trucks was to treat the track as a slick paved track and drive as straight as possible and not allowing the truck to get sideways. This is (IMO) because the suspension rules were not changed to allow the suspension to travel and maintain grip on the surface. The Cup car from 2 generations back (before the “Car of Tomorrow”) might have been able to throw on a set of dirt track tires and put on a “normal” dirt show with sideways driving and spinning tires throwing dirt up into the stands, but the current NCWTS vehicles were used to design the rules for the COT and the current Cup car, which both have very limited suspension travel. And without suspension travel you don’t have grip on the dirt.

Not that this is a bad thing when everybody is playing with the same deck of cards (rule book). It just means that NCWTS trucks (and by extension the Cup and Nationwide Series) are not going to look like typical dirt track race when they race on dirt. Visually they are going to look like they are still driving on a paved track, just a little looser (slightly sideways). But the racing is still going to be exciting. I haven’t seen the ARCA cars on dirt (who never quit racing their top series on dirt, they have two tracks they visit annually) so I can’t say if what I saw from the NCWTS transfers over to stock cars that still allow a pretty substantial amount of suspension travel and have always had to get dirty.

Moving on the Rolex Series sports cars on the road course at Indy was also a good race from what little I saw of it before I went to the drum jam at church, as they would bunch up 3 and 4 wide on the oval part and have to get down to single file for the infield part of the course, which made for some very exciting racing in the turn that transitions from the oval to the infield. It almost looked like Bristol or Martinsville going into that turn with all the beating and banging and rubbing going on between cars.

I also saw the Cup qualifying session and the Nationwide Series race at Indy. The Indy guys should be looking at the performance of the Cup guys when they set their formula next time, as the Cup guys were reaching speeds near 210 MPH at the end of the straights and averaging less than 190 because they had to slow down in the turns. I like that combination for Indy Car, instead of hitting 230 at the end of the straight and averaging 225 for the lap because the scrubbing in the turn slightly slowed the cars down. I don’t mind the 230 straight speed, I would just prefer that the drivers have to lift going into the turns and use all the controls when they drive the track, instead of just putting their throttle foot down and leaving it there for the whole race. Right now the race is almost entirely on car setup and driver bravery, I want to see driver skill added back to the mix, like it was back in the roadster era, with skinny tires and no downforce. And that might need to be part of the equation when the IRL does their new car specs, smaller tires and less downforce, at least for venues like Indy and Texas.

I’m beginning to run out of things I want to talk about, and the lawn needs mowing after my absence from the house, so I think I will end this missive now. Back to the Grind tomorrow…

PSA, Opus

Things are cooking this Saturday, and the Feed

Slowly getting back in the at-home routine here in Casa de El Poeta here in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell, minus the hot water since the water heater died while we were gone. I have been looking at replacements for the about-15-year-old water heater that was leaking steadily from the inlet fitting at the top of the tank, which means I get to make another trip to the home improvement stores around here to pick out a new one. This after I replaced the double cylinder deadbolts with single cylinder models that can be opened from the inside without a key so we don’t get trapped if there is a fire or other deadly circumstance and the keys are in whatever place we keep our keys when we are in the house and not in our outdoor clothing. So I get to choose (with input from Mrs. the Poet) the new water heater.

We went to a new burger place in town for lunch today. There was a place called “Burger Fi” that opened up in the giant strip mall north of WoaB World HQ and the kids and grandkid all went there with us for lunch. I had what they called the “B.A.D Burger”, not that it was bad, the “B.A.D.” stands for “breakfast all day”. What was ungood about it was one of the components caused rapid bottom bun disintegration that ended up with my having to finish my sandwich with a knife and fork as the fried egg was a bit on the runny side and leaked all over the bun and made a major mess of things. It was a very tasty burger, though. The fries were about as spectacular as french fries can get, crisp on the outside and tender on the inside with the skins left on after cutting into the standard french fry shape.

Another train wreck with a cyclist, this time in CA. JURUPA VALLEY: Metrolink train strikes, kills person There was next to nothing about the wreck, but a whole lot on how inconvenienced the passengers were. Nothing was said about how inconvenienced the cyclist was however. Being dead is a terrible inconvenience. Again train/bike wrecks are easy to avoid as they are only encountered on train tracks, they make a lot of noise, and are easy to see. And not to mention that most places where a bike encounters trains there is usually some kind of signal or crossing guard.

A SWCC wreck from Upstate NY. Bike-car collision sends teen to hospital And the headline changed as I was making the link. The original link blamed the cyclist right in the headline, while the link I have now waits until the third paragraph. Interesting that the driver saw the cyclist come out from behind the house all the way into the street and still managed to not stop before impacting the cyclist. Anyway every driveway is an intersection, so use the protocols to avoid or mitigate damages, and as this was a residential area this wreck probably would have happened there with the same driver, so make getting a license much harder and losing one much easier to prevent. Seriously the driver was tracking the cyclist from the time she came from behind the house until impact, in the Netherlands this would be an at-fault wreck for the driver because of the location and victim.

Update on a wreck in MA. Cyclist injured in P’town leaves hospital I’m assuming this was a different rider than the one hit by a garbage truck, mostly because I recall that the rider hit by a garbage truck was described as a local and this guy was from NY.

Another residential area wreck in UT. Youngster on bicycle runs into slow-moving pickup in Prospector Fortunately the weapon vehicle was moving at about walking speed when the cyclist was hit so everybody was fine. It should be repeatedly stated that the wreck was in an area where children play so the driver should have been alert to that fact.

A really bad wreck in CO. Cyclist seriously injured in crash north of Wolcott As of this posting LEO are not saying who was crossing the center line, but one of the two did. Given what I have read from this outlet in the past the driver was most likely at fault in this wreck because if there was anything to suggest the cyclist was in the wrong they would have been on it like white on rice. This is not a wreck that can be avoided by human cyclists, and getting the infrastructure right is the only thing to prevent a similar wreck.

A SWSS wreck in CA. Teen bike rider dies in collision near Marysville The cyclist was hit just to the left of the fog line, so hit-from-behind protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent. And the majority of the comments are ignorable.

Update on another CA wreck. Teen Arrested In Connection With Crash That Killed Cyclist In Pleasanton The charges seem appropriate to the crime, except there should be an assault with a deadly weapon charge for hitting the surviving cyclist.

A hit-and-run in FL. Cyclist Injured in Walton County Hit and Run This was either a drunk or distracted driver or a murder attempt. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right including taking sociopaths and psychopaths off the roads to prevent.

A minor wreck in far West Canuckistan. Cyclist slightly injured in Penticton Nothing on the mode, so I can’t tell you how to avoid or mitigate, but to be honest any more “mitigated” and this wreck would not have happened.

A wreck report from the Great White North that is almost UK-ish in the lack of information presented. Cyclist killed in Ajax Hit by a truck “near” an intersection, so I guess intersection protocols to avoid or mitigate but getting the infrastructure right almost always leads to wrecks not happening. Just look at the Netherlands and how few cyclists get hit by motor vehicles there in spite of almost as many cyclists in a country barely as big as some of the medium-sized eastern seaboard states. They got it figured out. More Cyclist struck and killed in Ajax

Really big news from the UK in that a driver was convicted of the most serious charge possible short of using your vehicle to commit murder. Cyclist killed after driver looked at sat nav and Distracted driver caused cyclist’s death also Driver killed cyclist while adjusting sat-nav more Distracted driver who killed cyclist convicted This is the most serious charge I have ever seen a driver convicted of in the UK except for the guy that used his truck as a weapon against a cyclist and actually confessed he hit the cyclist deliberately. That’s how unusual this conviction is. Now lets see if the sentence is anywhere near the guy with the truck, or more like the guy that got a $200 fine and 300 hours of community service. I’m pulling for the years in prison sentence but I’m expecting the hours of community service.

A left hook from Enn Zed, a country where they drive on the wrong side of the road. Injury highlights cyclists’ vulnerability As originally posted this wreck was totally the driver’s fault as he was not even halfway past the cyclist before turning across his lane and running him over with the trailer as it tracked inside the turn of the tractor. Nothing the cyclist could do to avoid this wreck and apparently he did everything he could to mitigate it which led to his survival. As the article points out this is something that will have to be taken care of by infrastructure because it was bad infrastructure that caused the wreck in the first place.

Lifestyle from Charleston SC. Cyclists gather Saturday for Edwin Gardner memorial ride This was the cyclist hit from behind on the shoulder of the roadway and knocked over the guard rail into a swamp.

Lifestyle from the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Widow of cyclist Aaron Cohen gives emotional talk at MADD event

Lifestyle from the Great White North. Cyclist uses helmet camera to capture bad drivers

Legal Infrastructure! from CA. Cyclists: What to Do After You’ve Been Hit by a Car

Infrastructure news from the uK. Medics call for measures to protect cyclists in London The medicos’ advice is simplistic in that it is impossible to avoid riding on routes frequented by HGV if there is any significant distance to be covered because of a lack of permeability away from major thoroughfares where those pesky killer HGVs are to be found. I agree the badly-named “superhighways” are a big part of the problem, they are glorified bike lanes not “cyclist superhighways” and in many places are not even bike lanes but mere wayfinding via blue paint on the road “if you keep going this way eventually you will find a bike lane”.

And this one just leaves me gobsmacked. Man who killed Patterson faces new charges Less than 3 months out of prison for killing a cyclist because of his bad driving he has a string of charges against him in another vehicle-related case. I want to beat some sense into him but I don’t think I have that much cardio endurance. He already went to prison once for his bad driving, how much more does he need to learn to drive right?

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

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Finally found all my clothes after unpacking, and the Feed

One of the bad things about coming home from a long trip is if Mrs. the Poet gets to my luggage before I recover from the bus ride at the end of the trip. Then she puts stuff away anywhere she finds a place to put it making me go on a scavenger hunt for my clothes, because where she puts things sometimes has little in common with where I put things. One of the things about this trip was I had more clothes when I came back than when I left (normal for Mrs. the Poet, not so much for me), so they did not have an explicitly established place to go when we got back. Hence the scavenger hunt for my clothes. Such is the peril of having OCD and living with another person. And I can’t blame the OCD on the wreck, either. I have been dealing with that one since I was big enough to begin controlling parts of my world as a child. I think it stems from having so little control over most of what went on around me when I was a kid.

A PA town is targeting aggressive drivers. Carlisle Police begin aggressive driver campaign If they want to catch a lot of “aggressive” drivers I suggest using an officer in hi-viz on a bicycle with a radio and another in a cruiser with a cannon. You would probably get several assaulting an officer charges a day…

Verification of what I keep saying about FL in general and Miami in particular. Miami Has Country’s Worst Drivers: Report No further comment needed. Original source Which U.S. City Has the Worst Drivers?

Update on that wreck in eastern MA. Cyclist Injured After Collision With Truck Still a left cross, but now there is a definitive statement from LEO that the cyclist had right of way in the wreck. More 13 Swimmers Rescued off Norton Point, Cyclist Injured on Katama Road

Update on a wreck in IL has the cyclist riding salmon. Man hurt when vehicle hits bike The fact that the cyclist was riding salmon didn’t really have much bearing on this wreck as the drivers were still going too fast for conditions because they hit the cyclist on the far side of a blind hill crest.

A CO LEO that ran into a sidewalk cyclist while crossing the sidewalk from a driveway actually gets a ticket. Fort Collins officer, cyclist ticketed for crash The cyclist was riding in the sidewalk because of no lights but still got a ticket for not having lights, but as the cyclist could have just as easily been a pedestrian hit in the sidewalk the officer got a ticket, too.

A WA cyclist gets left crossed by a driver running a red. Seattle bicyclist critically injured in collision with SUV Intersection wreck where the protocols might have mitigated the damages had the cyclist enough time to react. As the driver was not using the existing infrastructure properly I don’t think changing the infrastructure would have made a great deal of difference.

A SWSS wreck in CA. Former Marysville High student struck, killed on bicycle I really would like to see the pictures they took of the crime scene to find out where the cyclist was hit in relation to the rest of the lanes, if the shoulder was blocked, and what the back of the wrecked bike looked like. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, and as many who left comments agree the infrastructure needs improvement for all modes of travel, not just bicycles.

Another SWSS wreck, in MS. Boy, 14, Hit by Car While Riding Bike Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid or mitigate and get the infrastructure right to prevent, and in this case that includes educating LEO that cyclists belong in the streets and roads and that it is the obligation of the passing vehicle operator to execute a safe pass, even for a bicycle being passed.

A left cross in Upstate NY. Injured Canandaigua bicyclist released from hospital Left cross because the weapon vehicle operator did not look for himself and followed the direction of the driver waving him through the intersection. The cyclist had like tenths of a second to react and avoid this wreck because of the waving driver obstructing his view of oncoming traffic.

A wreck in the Great White North leaves a cyclist bleeding in the road. Cyclist seriously injured in Waterloo hit and run The weapon vehicle left the side mirror at the scene, which sounds a lot worse than it really is since the standards were changed that required side mirrors to break away at low impact to allow determining the make and model of a vehicle used to hit-and-run. Now if the weapon vehicle was made prior to 2006 than it was a significant hit on the cyclist…

Still in the Great White North an update on a wreck I seriously questioned last week. Local doctor succumbs to injuries The narrative still does not implicate a motor vehicle because they didn’t find motor vehicle debris at the scene, but I know from personal experience that a car or truck can hit a cyclist hard enough to cause injury or death with parts of the vehicle that don’t leave marks or debris behind.

An anti-cycling media outlet has a hissy over a cyclist carrying cargo. On your bike…Rider transports door frame with bicycle Note the tags with the article… bicycle crime indeed.

Update on a lifestyle article from IA and CO. Munson: Partial RAGBRAI ride is a total win for victim of brain injury As the Ozzies say, “Good on ya mate!”

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

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Totally blew a job interview this morning, and the Feed

Well I had my first in-person job interview this morning since August (I think) of 2006, for a “personal assistant” job, and I did not get the job because of my brain damage, specifically my aphasia. Part of the job would require me to answer phones from time to time, and the interviewer thought from my responses during the interview that I probably would not be capable of handling that part of the job on a regular basis. If the guy that hit me wasn’t dead for nearly 9 years already I would cheerfully do a Blanda to his nether regions until his grandchildren flinched in the future (I think I have the name right, for the last straight-ahead kicker in the NFL and the only kicker I can remember by name(and a wiki search tells me I got both the name and the credit right)). He cost me a $100/day P/T job… for 2-3 days a week with a possible raise and promotion to full-time with benefits. I could have been making $4K a month if it wasn’t for my brain damage.

A child cyclist in OH runs a stop sign. Boy treated after riding his bike into vehicle The weapon vehicle was described as a “Neo” (cue bad Keanu Reeves Matrix pun). Anywho, the kid was seen by multiple witnesses (including one that left a comment on the article) running the stop. And that person and at least one more said the street design was at least partly to blame because people treated the street as a race track or freeway through the neighborhood. I’m going to go with bad infrastructure on this one as well, if a kid can’t play in front of his (or a neighbor’s) house then the streets are seriously bolluxed, and the neighborhood is hosed. Residential areas should be for kids to play in, not cars to speed through.

Another child cyclist is hit head on in MO. Isabella Marco airlifted to Childrens Hospital after bicycle accident Nothing much about who did what in the article but plenty in the comments. People who claimed to live there say the driver most likely was going too fast or just crossed the centerline because there were no cars coming the other way, as both actions are quite common in that stretch of street. Again complaints are made about drivers treating a residential street with supposedly traffic-calming blind turns as a freeway or race track, making this infrastructure and (lack of) enforcement related. Nothing a human cyclist of any age could have done when faced with a motor vehicle coming at you in your lane, reaction time due to the blind turn would be as near zilch as to make no difference.

And a cyclist in the Windy City “sideswipes” a car while making a left turn. Rafael Ramirez, Suburban Cyclist, Dies In Chicago After Colliding With Moving Car In Northwest Side While this might have happened I call “windshield bias” on this one. Still unless the report is dead nuts accurate I say the same thing happened to this guy that happened to me last month (driver passing to the cyclist’s right in the same lane) hit-from-behind protocols apply, and better intersection treatments to prevent.

Hit-from-behind wreck in IN. Cyclist killed this morning in Middlebury had ‘best personality,’ says boss Again a wreck that does not appear to be avoidable by human cyclists, the bike was lit up like a Christmas tree according to the link as it reads as I post this, and the SUV driver still somehow managed to not miss him. Alcohol is suspected for the driver of the weapon vehicle. [rant] And this meme is already tiresome, I don’t like wrecks that the victim had no choice about participating in. And I’m still strongly in favor of drivers who kill losing cars first, licences second, and if there was any part of the wreck that involved behavior that required deliberate action to cause the wreck, loss of freedom up to and including the death penalty. I include drunk driving in that category as well as drivers who have made statements about running cyclists and/or pedestrians over for being in the road. [/rant] More Cyclist killed in Middlebury

And the next link to pop on my screen after that rant is a hit-and-run in NYC. Bicyclist struck in hit and run and Queens, N.Y., hit-and-run driver speeds away with bicyclist on roof, flinging him off I think I read something like this and decided it was a Hollywood fantasy. Not sure what the mode was on this wreck, so I don’t know what the cyclist could have done to avoid the wreck. Also not sure if infrastructure without a concrete barrier protecting the lane would have made any difference with this wreck, but running the car and driver through a recycling shredder would definitely prevent that driver and car from ever hurting anyone ever again…

A SWSS wreck in CA. Update: Bicyclist killed in Highway 129 crash The description of the wreck is just so implausible to me. If the cyclist “swerved” in front of the first weapon vehicle then how did it get punted to the oncoming lane of travel? Logically the “swerving” cyclist should have been hit by the passenger side of the vehicle and punted (back) to the shoulder. But everything after that I can believe. Of course if you think the cyclist really swerved from the shoulder to the inside of the outside lane I have some beachfront property in New Mexico I really need to unload…

Reasons why you never tell a driver you’re not hurt in a wreck volume MCLIX. Pickup hits cyclist in St. Cloud intersection Intersection wreck, not sure if the weapon vehicle was turning left or right but intersection protocols apply either way to avoid, and infrastructure to prevent. Even in bike-friendly MN.

A wreck in WI, on the other side of the Mississippi from MN. Bicyclist killed in Madison Wednesday morning and Police seeking witnesses to fatal East Side bike crash The second link suggests another blind driver, which makes this hit-from-behind in an intersection.

Something from the UK that makes me want to strangle drivers assembly-line style. Mother who killed cyclist ‘took her eyes of the road for almost 20 seconds as she fiddled with her sat-nav’ So we have another driver essentially blind to anything smaller than a Mini on the road in front of her, assuming her testimony is accurate. Or she could have been driving down the road with her nose buried in the GPS for nearly 20 seconds, and to be totally honest about this I don’t know which scenario frightens me the worst. More Cyclist killed after woman fiddled with sat nav

Infrastructure! news from Oz. Cyclists are not the enemy of drivers

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

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Home again home again jiggity jig, and the Feed

I’m back to blogging from the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell again. Also known as I’m working from my home. We had another lovely bus ride, with a 2 hour delay less than 50 miles outside of Nashville for a wreck with serious injuries that had traffic completely stopped. Our bus had it lucky because we were behind the exit they were using as a detour to move traffic around the wreck on I40 westbound, the bus that left 2 minutes in front of us was 50 feet too far to get off where we did and spent another 2 1/2 hours waiting for the mess to be cleared out of the way, and hasn’t arrived in Dallas yet as I compose this. So remember, things can always be worse as long as you still draw breath. Isn’t that an encouraging thought? 😉

Up first is something that is becoming more and more common and something a cyclist can do nothing to avoid. Man Riding Bicycle Shot, Killed In North Philly Really without knowing where the crazies with the guns are waiting, how can you avoid getting shot?

Update on the CO cyclist killed riding a recumbent trike. Cyclist killed in crash worked on moon project What I thought was a RANS Stratus from the pictures yesterday I can now see the whole vehicle and see that it is a Sun X-3 delta trike, about 1/3 the size of a modern compact car. So still no excuse for running one over from behind. And when I tried to post that the trike being low was no excuse for running it over from behind while turning through the bike lane I found the comments for the article were closed.

A CA cyclist discovers that roads under construction are not the best places to ride when the construction site is active. Bakersfield man injured after riding in closed Westside Parkway area Simple enough to avoid, just don’t ride in a closed construction area, and if this construction left the cyclist land-locked then separate infrastructure to get cyclists around the construction to prevent.

More on the hit-and-run after the San Jose Bike Party. Driver Sought In Hit & Run That Injured 2 Cyclists In Campbell I have been hearing through back channels that the driver is facing 2 criminal charges in addition to the leaving the scene charge, assault with a deadly weapon for the cyclist that was not badly injured, and attempted murder for the cyclist that was severely injured and still in the hospital.

More on the IL cyclist hit from behind earlier this week. Bicyclist killed near Wallace This would normally be when I suggest riding further out into the lane to make yourself visible but the narrative as I post this has the cyclist hit just after the brow of a hill, AKA as the driver was going too fast to avoid the wreck and would have hit him no matter what his lane position.

An OH cyclist is killed in a hit-from-behind wreck. Port Clinton bicyclist killed when struck by car Hit from behind protocols apply in this wreck, but I’m not sure how much good they would have done. Infrastructure done right to prevent.

A PA cyclist is killed when a driver fails to remain on the road. Bicyclist fatally injured in Richmond Twp. The driver drifted off the road an into the back of the cyclist, so maybe hit-from-behind protocols would have avoided this wreck or made it survivable, but preventing the driver from running off the road and into the cyclist with infrastructure would be the preferred way to prevent this wreck. And they needed to test the driver for chemical impairment as well as possibly being asleep at the wheel, because that is what this wreck strongly suggests to me.

A wreck in Upstate NY has serious consequences for a cyclist. Auburn accident seriously injures boy on bicycle Well, somebody failed to yield at the light, not 100% sure it was the cyclist but given the age and gender it is somewhat likely. Intersection wreck, use the protocols to avoid or mitigate results, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A MA cyclist is left-crossed by a garbage truck. Injured Cyclist Transported to Mainland Hospital Following Collision With Truck Interesting how many people in the comments blamed the cyclist for not yielding to the truck that suddenly blocked the bike path. Intersection wreck, protocols to avoid and as this took place on segregated infrastructure education for drivers would be the best change that could be made to the infrastructure as drivers will have to cross segregated infrastructure at some point, and vice versa, so education all around to prevent.

A NJ cyclist is right-hooked. Man Injured When Car Strikes Bike Along Colonial Drive The driver should have seen the cyclist as he passed him on the approach to the intersection, but apparently didn’t. Intersection protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A wreck in far West Canuckistan. Cyclist injured in crash Intersection wreck use the protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent. If what I suspect happened did happen I don’t know what a cyclist could do to avoid the wreck, as the geometry of this wreck and the narrative suggest the cyclist entered the intersection just as the amber phase of the signal began (if you go to the Street View of the intersection the stop bar is about 20 feet behind the curb making the intersection effectively 2 lanes wider) and the driver wasn’t watching the road but rather the traffic signal and left with the green while the cyclist was still in the intersection.

A wreck on the same street as the previous paragraph’s report with a slightly better outcome. Injured cyclist urges caution Intersection wreck that human cyclists can do nothing about unless the driver stops at the road edge to take a look and allow those in the street to see what is about to happen. Infrastructure is equally helpless to prevent wrecks like this without the driver pausing before crossing the bicycle lane(s). Also the reflective vest is only effective when in the beam of a car’s headlights.

Lifestyle as the DA in San Francisco has a 100% conviction rate against cyclists that kill pedestrians vs the approximately 2% rate for drivers that kill. Family of bicyclist’s victim didn’t want jail time If you swapped “blacks” for “cyclists” and “whites” for “drivers” you would have a civil rights case that would have heads rolling six ways from Sunday. Not saying that cyclists are over-prosecuted, just that with numbers like that it just doesn’t pass the smell test.

And BikingInLA shows that LEOs ignorant of the law is not jut a TX phenomenon. Embarrassing video shows Sheriff’s deputy doesn’t know what a sharrow is or what it means

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

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Happy Tuesday, and the Feed

This post may take a while to complete and may not get actually posted until I get home to my own WiFi because I will be leaving for the Dawgbus this afternoon to return to the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. And I’m sitting in the Nashvegas bus station with WiFi showing a strong connection, but unable to open a link from e-mail. And after disconnecting and reconnecting I finally can open a link.

Up first is two links to a breaking story out of CO. Bicyclist killed after colliding with semi in Lakewood and Fatal semi-cyclist accident shuts down Lakewood intersection The wreckage looks like a recent model RANS Stratus, similar to the bike I used to ride inter-city for years after my wreck, until I bent the frame when the chain jammed. Anyway the wreck has already been identified as a right hook almost on top of the cyclist, and was witnessed by another cyclist following the victim. The cyclist had no place to go as he was essentially run over from behind by the back of the trailer as the truck turned on top of him, so the protocols are out the window on this wreck. I’m not sure what kind of infrastructure would prevent a similar wreck as long as semis had to turn into destinations on the opposite side of bike infrastructure from the motor vehicle traffic lanes.

More on the cyclist killed after getting hit with a train in Houston. Bicyclist Killed After Crashing Into Light Rail Train In Houston Still nothing on why the cyclist was hit by/with the train, but a lot on how.

A cyclist is killed by a blind driver in AL. Alabama man dies after bike hit by car for second time in a year One word: Infrastructure!

A cyclist is in critical condition after getting hit-and-run in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike 9 years in a row. West Palm Beach Cyclist Injured In Hit-And-Run Identified Intersection wreck so it may be assumed that intersection protocols may have helped avoid or mitigate the damages from this wreck. Getting the infrastructure right would prevent the wreck with a 90% certainty. Among other things the weapon vehicle needs to be taken away from the driver and shredded with live video on TV and posted to YouTube.

A journo in CA is harassed while gathering information on a bike wreck by one of the people collectively responsible for the wreck. Cyclist Injured on Polk Street Block Where Merchants Fought Protected Lane Intersection wreck, so the protocols may have helped but as it seems the hit-and-run driver crossed the centerline when the cyclist was hit the protocols are pretty useless in that kind of situation. Had the intended infrastructure been in place then this wreck would not have happened.

Another hit-and-run wreck near S.F. in CA. Hit-and-Run Driver Injures Bicyclists in Campbell Hit-from-behind in the bike lane (they showed the skid marks where the driver entered the bike lane to hit the cyclists in the video) so only a protected bike lane would have prevented this wreck. The driver of the weapon vehicle was observed turning off the headlights to avoid detection, so he (?) had to have either hit the cyclists on purpose or because he was drunk or distracted and then left on purpose. More Campbell: Hit-and-run driver sought after injuring bicyclists in San Jose Bike Party

The driver that ran into a group of cyclists returning from a farm trade show is charged in the death of the one that died. Illinoi man charged with felonies in accident that killed cyclist, injured 4 others Why no charges for the 4 other cyclists he assaulted with his deadly weapon?

A stop sign rolling cyclist is injured in IA. 12-year-old hit by car while riding bike in Norwalk Intersection wreck, intersection protocols to prevent and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Another KS wreck in the eastern part of the state. Another Kansas Bicycle Rider hit, killed UPDATE Intersection wreck, use the protocols to avoid and fix the sensor on that stop light to prevent. Looking at the Street View shows a traffic sensor for the light that is completely unable to detect a bicycle. The cyclist would have had to either wait for a vehicle coming her direction to trigger the light, or run the red light treating it as a stop sign.

More on that left cross wreck that cost a cyclist the tip of her thumb in Seattle. Cyclist loses part of her thumb in South Lake Union crash Ow, OW and OWW!

A terrible reminder of why you should not carry unsecured cargo on your bike, especially on the handlebars. Bicyclist injured in unusual crash at Tumalo Park Not much I can say except to properly secure all cargo when you ride. More Bicyclist in Sunday crash dies of injuries

A SWSS wreck in OR. Cyclist hurt in freeway crash in satisfactory condition The cyclist was hit while legally riding in the shoulder of the road. Perhaps someone could tell me where the cyclist supposedly swerved from to be hit while riding the shoulder?

A cyclist left-crosses himself in far West Canuckistan. 80-year-old cyclist killed in crash Intersection wreck implies intersection protocols to avoid, and I guess infrastructure would have prevented a wreck like this if it was done right. What “right” would look like is a problem I leave to professionals. I just would like to see what it would work like in a simulator first before any concrete or asphalt are laid. That’s the problem with most bike infrastructure designed by “professionals”, it’s designed by people who haven’t ridden a bike since they were in elementary school.

A cyclist is hit by a car pulling out of a driveway in the Great White North. Cyclist injured after collision with car There was discussion that the cyclist was on the sidewalk but that would not excuse leaving the scene. Intersection wreck (every driveway is an intersection) so the protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right (which is apparently desperately needed if the cyclist was on the sidewalk) to prevent.

An entire article trolling for page hits by spreading F.U.D. about infrastructure. Could New Bike Sharing Program Increase New York Bicycle Accidents?

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

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Having a large Feed even for a Monday

I’m getting a late start today because of staying up til 0300 watching You Tube videos with my host here in TN, so this will be a bit rushed feeling as we have an engagement to attend this afternoon and the Feed is freaking huge in the number of links I will have to filter.

Up first, hit-and-run has become a nationwide epidemic. Fatal hit-and-run accidents common in N.O. Might I suggest making a hit-and-run with a fatality Murder (2^nd Degree Murder in states other than TX), and recycling the killer’s motor vehicle while the killer is strapped/chained behind the wheel, then showing the execution on TV so that people will KNOW that hit-and-run carries a worse punishment than anything you could get from staying around.

A wreck in Houston that is either 100% infrastructure or 100% cyclist negligence. Bicyclist killed in crash with METRO light rail in downtown Houston The one thing I wonder about with this report is why it is in the culture section rather than in the Metro News section. And after finally getting to read the full article we can see that the cyclist was at fault in this one as she crossed the tracks in front of the oncoming train that was blowing the horn. I still do not understand these kinds of wrecks, as the cyclist knows they are crossing train tracks, the train was making a lot of noise and they are really hard to miss visually… More UPDATED: Cyclist Killed When Struck by Metro Train Monday Morning

Update on a fatal wreck in San Antonio. Fundraiser planned for man killed in bike accident That the victim’s medical and life insurance were dependent on his longevity of employment and he had just changed employers which made him start all over on both are subjects that are outside the scope of this blog. I still say DUI laws in TX are too lenient for misuse of such a dangerous device as a motor vehicle.

A left cross with a drunk driver in Seattle. Police: Suspected drunk driver arrested after colliding with bicyclist Intersection wreck that could not be avoided by a human cyclist so the protocols would have at best just mitigated the damages from the impact. Get the infrastructure right (including taking away the vehicles of drunk drivers) to prevent.

A low-information report from OH about a bike wreck. Bike rider struck, injured in Hubbard As of this posting the bare fact that the cyclist was hit is all I have.

A cyclist is killed in a wreck in IN (I love that tiny pun). Former high school coach hit on bicycle, killed by Jeep And they used the wrong preposition, he was killed with a Jeep. The jeep had no volition of its own. I hate these low-information reports that don’t even give a precise location aside from “a rural road”.

An intersection wreck in IL. Two Injured In Bicycle And Minivan Crash In Litchfield The vision of the young teen cyclist was obscured by the trucks in the road next to his driveway and he pulled out in front of the weapon vehicle. I have no clue about how infrastructure could have prevented the wreck, but the cyclist being more cautious (a 13 YO male being “cautious”? Like that will ever happen) while pulling out when his visibility is obstructed probably would have avoided the wreck. No clue as to who the other person transported was, I assume the young driver might have been overcome at the carnage he wrought with his transportation of mass destruction and required a trip to hospital to calm down.

A cyclist is killed in PA. Teen cyclist, 17, dies nearly 12 hours after being hit by car in western Pa.; no charges filed And the headline covers almost all the facts in the report. No mode given, so no way of knowing what to be done to avoid or prevent the wreck. More Family, friends remember teen cyclist who died after being hit by car and Moon teen dies after being struck by vehicle while riding bike This link at least describes the wreck as a hit-from-behind, still not sure how a driver who hits another vehicle from behind and kills the operator avoids any charges.

Update on a wreck in NYC. Singaporean cyclist injured in New York crash faces $634k bill That comes to just over $500K in USD, at the high end of costs for survivable wrecks between cyclists and motor vehicles. As the driver was in the process of running from LEO after a previous criminal exploit, recovering any of those bills from the driver seem unlikely.

A right hook wreck in CA. Cyclist, car collide; woman injured I think that any time a driver “mistakes” the gas for the brake pedal while the car is in motion (presumably by placing said foot on said gas pedal) at a bare minimum a charge of negligent assault needs to be levied. Intersection wreck, use the protocols to mitigate what you can’t avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A serious wreck in the Great White North with undetermined participation of motor vehicles. Cyclist sustains serious injuries and Injured Bracebridge cyclist airlifted to Toronto hospital The second link explicitly states the suspicion of motor vehicle involvement but emphasizes the fact that it remains unknown at this point. More Cyclist found on Muskoka Beach Road with serious injuries The injuries the links all describe are consistent with a “buzz job” that may have only made glancing contact with the cyclist’s body and completely missed the bike.

Another link to yet another Ghost Bike story. Where Cyclists Once Rode, Ghost Bikes Stand Vigil I would love to live in a country where there was no need to install another ghost bike because nobody had been killed with a motor vehicle while riding in the street.

Lifestyle from L.A. CA. From Claremont to Whittier, a 21-mile bike commute is a way of life: Sam Pedroza My former commute was only a bit over 15 miles back from work after the bus quit running and 5 miles to get and from the bus on the way in, so this guy has me beat by a substantial margin (not counting the fact that I lost that job in 2002 after the extent of my brain damage became clear).

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

Billed @€0.02, Opus

After visiting the museum, Wreck-Free Sunday

Between composing and publishing yesterday’s post we went to a local museum in Nashvegas, the Lane Motor Museum. Mrs. the Poet, our host, and myself wandered about the exhibits and I queried Mrs. the Poet as to the acceptability of each so that I can design the creature comforts of the car I’m building to her desires.

Broadly stated Mrs. the Poet demands “windshield, roof, and trunk” as her bottom-line criteria for a car. A canvas top meets her specifications as long as there is some kind of way to keep rain from coming in the sides of the car. So it looks like a bikini top over the roll cage that attaches to the top of the windshield, and side curtains that attach to the underside of the top so that the rain flows over them, are going to be on the agenda for design. Or a complete top with side curtains that fits under the roll cage would also do the trick with a little less headroom. What to do about the shoulder harness mounts on the rear roll hoop are another question entirely, but not insurmountable.

Size does not seem to be a stringent requirement for Mrs. the Poet’s motor vehicle specification. We looked at several cars that would fall under the “sub-compact” to “micro car” category and as long as the engine and suspension would allow extended freeway cruising for our long trips she would be happy. There was a Citroen 2CV that was set up for people to sit in and take pictures that Mrs. the Poet found “not bad” for interior space, and the Austin Bantam also met with her approval after I mentioned the convertible top had been removed to make viewing the interior easier. I can even get a fiberglass replica of the 1932 Bantam from Speedway Motors should the pendulum actually swing to the stop and stay there on the Bantam vs. T Bucket debate. While there is less legroom fore and aft in a Bantam, there is much more in the other direction for feet to “spread out”. And there is nothing that says the footbox has to stay completely behind the original 1932 firewall location. I could make a footbox that extends on either side of the engine for both the fore and aft and left to right foot/legroom. Or I could use the deep section frame to allow the feet to extend more down than out in a chair-like seating arrangement rather than the flat floor with the legs in front, or some combination of the two so that there was someplace to stretch out while on the road.

So, it looks like we can find common ground for a vehicle that both of us can be happy driving/riding in. I’m still looking mostly at the T Bucket formula, but Mrs. the Poet has given me criteria that will allow modifications from that formula to fit her needs and desires while not compromising my own. The big thing is she demands the top be up any time she rides in it. I can live with that and might even make it a hard top with soft side curtains.

PSA, Opus

Hey, Happy Saturday, and the Feed

Things are pleasant here in TN, after I finish posting the blog and mine host completes his daily computer work we will be visiting a museum, so everything is just ducky here.

Hit-and-run a few towns over from WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. JPS nurse refused to give up until a badly injured cyclist was identified Another story on why you need wearable ID while riding a bicycle, Hit-from-behind wreck, the protocols would have been useless as the cyclist was stopped and unable to avoid the wreck. Infrastructure might have prevented the wreck by moving the cyclist away from the psychotic driver and his transportation of mass destruction.

A RI wreck kills a CT cyclist, but beyond that there ain’t much. Canton man killed riding bike in Rhode Island And it’s not that big a thing the cyclist was from a different state, there is not much actual distance between his home an where he was killed. But there was nothing given on the mode or location of the wreck in relation to intersections and the like so I can’t help you avoid or prevent any similar wrecks. More links with no more actual information Canton Man Killed In Rhode Island Bicycle Accident and Connecticut bicyclist struck, killed in Rhode Island

Today seems to be the day for links that are heavy on words and light on information as the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike 9 years running claims another victim. Bicyclist killed in Coral Springs crash That no blame has been assigned to the cyclist has my hopes up that something will be done to actually punish the driver of the weapon vehicle. Aside from that there was not enough information to say what happened but the location was given as an intersection the cyclist was attempting to cross so maybe intersection protocols to avoid or survive, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

SWCC wreck in PA. Boy on bicycle injured in crash with SUV OK making a huge assumption that the report was factually true the only way to do anything about this wreck is infrastructure that everyone 8-80 can use. Or you can make drivers responsible for all the harm they cause with their motor vehicles of mass destruction. Either way works for me…

A CA wreck that as of this posting nobody is sure of what happened before the impact, but they know the driver fled the scene. Cyclist Badly Injured In Tenderloin Hit-Run The cyclist in this wreck appears to have been impaired, or perhaps had been hit previously, but the driver did leave the scene which makes it automatically his (?) fault. More Investigators Seeking Information After Possible Hit And Run

Infrastructure! news from the Great White North. Better city infrastructure could mean fewer cyclist injuries And in other news the sky is blue where there are no clouds, water is wet, and the sun rises in the east.

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

Billed @€0.02, Opus