Back to work early after staying up late doing yesterday’s post, and the Feed

Between all the running around I did and taking care of other things yesterday’s post actually came out early this morning, or waaaayyyyyyy late last night depending on how you look at it. Because I was just trying to get the post done I missed one of the important things I wanted to say, so I will say that now.

Yesterday we remembered the 12th year since the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, where just over 3000 people died from terrorist attacks. That is terrible and what I am about to say in no way is meant to diminish how wrong those deaths were, in any sense of the word. But every month for the last 12 years we have had the equivalent number of people killed on our roads by with motor vehicles, that’s 144 9/11s for the math-impaired among my readers. One Hundred Forty Four Twin Tower collapses with nearly nothing done to stop them. That’s nearly a half-million people dead because we insist on treating driving as a right rather than a privilege, while treating the body count as just another cost of doing business. An average every year of 4000 of those dead were pedestrians, with a yearly average of about 650 cyclists, or more than 4500 people killed who were not in motor vehicles at the time of their demise by a motor vehicle (sometimes more than one, but that’s rare) for a total of more than 60,000 people killed outside of motor vehicles in the years since 9/11/2001, or about 20 Twin Towers. But because the vast majority of these people were killed in single or rarely double amounts, and the victims mostly the poor and the “eccentric”, the numbers have been “swept under the carpet” and for the most part ignored. Well, not by me and not by this blog.

A low-information wreck report from KS. Bicyclist injured in accident And other than the location and time the total information in the report is contained in the headline. The comments make me believe this was a hit-from-behind by a blind driver proceeding into space he could not see into. Protocols for all the good they can do (not much) to avoid or to mitigate the damage, and get the infrastructure right to prevent, including making driving while blind a criminal offense until segregated infrastructure can protect vulnerable users (and after as the act is incredibly dangerous and stupid).

Update on a wreck in IN. Goshen bicylist dies after collision with SUV last week Intersection wreck, protocols and infrastructure always apply.

Another cyclist is killed in a wreck in IL. Rockford Bicyclist Killed After Being Hit By Truck At this point all I know is hit-from-behind so use the protocols to avoid or to mitigate damages, and maybe infrastructure? The location Shows the cyclist was on a minor highway with 2 lanes in each direction so the driver should have been able to move over if he was paying attention to the road and not something inside his car or other than in front of the car. Late night so alcohol is suspected in both the “participants” in the wreck.

An unlikely but possible wreck in MO. Joplin teen on bicycle injured after police say he ran into a pickup truck As the link reads now it appears the cyclist deliberately rammed the other vehicle, I’m hoping that is just a matter of unfortunate writing.

A wreck in MI that is getting taken seriously because the boss was involved. Dundee Councilman Seriously Injured In Bicycle-Car Accident Wreck, not “accident”… 😛 Cyclist was riding in the crosswalk so protections for pedestrians apply including right-of-way, and it also appears the cyclist was crossing with the traffic signal in his favor. Nothing about if the weapon vehicle was making a right or a left turn. Intersection protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A wreck that leaves me staggered with the callousness of the outcome. Man drops off injured child after hit-and-run Run over a kid and leave him in an office? TANJ! The comments show that people in CO expect kids to be able to ride their bikes as transportation, not one person blamed the cyclist for being in the street when he was hit. Remember, every driveway and parking lot entrance is an intersection and intersection protocols will always apply. I don’t know that infrastructure would have helped much except to move the wreck to a different spot in the street.

Lifestyle and update on a CA wreck. Benefit barbecue planned for cyclist injured on Labor Day This is for the cyclist that wasn’t killed in the DUI homicide of a cyclist on Labor Day by the driver that plead guilty earlier this week.

Update on a wreck in far West Canuckistan. Cyclist critically injured in in Vancouver-to-Whistler race The victim is still in hospital, and as of this posting they still don’t know what caused the wreck or even how many were involved in that wreck.

Update on the wreck in Enn Zed that took out 5 riders at once. Injured girl cyclists keen to get back on bikes

Good news about Dale Stetina as he recovers from wrecking after getting run off the road by an SUV going the wrong way in his lane. Family describes recovery of injured cyclist Dale Stetina as an ’emotional roller coaster’ Go, Dale, go!

Infrastructure! news from the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Cyclist’s death may prompt tougher hit-and-run laws There is a Petition to get more legislators on board with this law. Opponents say, “Any injury would result in someone going to prison for three years. I can tell you, there are a lot of cases where someone is charged with leaving the scene and a couple of days later, someone may claim they are injured. Now, someone is looking at three years if the state attorney up-files that charge. That’s a very slippery slope,” said Haenel. Actually if the driver stays at the scene then they don’t have to worry about going to prison, as FL LEO seldom find the driver at fault if they are sober and have a valid driver’s license…

Programming note, I am retiring the tag “Waste of Human Skin” from my active tag list, because too many people were qualified for it and I seemed to be using it in every post. So even if you don’t see the “waste of human skin” tag, you can rest assured there will be at least one story in every post that qualifies for that tag, outside of Sunday posts.

And those are all the bicycle links that gave me fits, my Facebook friends already know about the non-bicycle links.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

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When life hands you lemons, make talismans of citrus protection, and the Feed

OK that headline requires some serious explanation, which I will now provide. I was making new mirrors for the helmet to replace the one that was stolen last month with Blue, but the spokes I got were too short to work. So I’m using the too-short spokes to make pendant hangers out of the mirrors to use as talismans of shielding and protection from evil to sell at various pagan gatherings and festivals. For the uninformed this will look like a shiny bauble of pop culture, a mirror inside a beer bottle cap. For the customer it is a shield to deflect away bad intentions that has been built to last as long as she does. I’m thinking (there’s that dangerous word again) that a fair price for one would be in the $5 to $10 range, personally I’m of the $5 price point myself. If any of you have pricing suggestions leave a comment below.

I had to leave for a while to pay for the window unit and I have never experienced such a cluster fuck as a cash customer in my entire life. First of all the store I went to did not hold the window unit AC like they said they would, but this was 2 days later so I’m understanding about that. Then I find out the closest window unit of the size I need is in Richardson, but they can get it delivered to my house no problem. Right… the problem was I was paying cash, pieces of paper with pictured of dead presidents on them that I got from the ATM. Well they couldn’t figure out how to transfer the merch from one store to the other and just drop it at my house on the way, I had to go to the other store and physically present my cash there, riding the bus. What should have been done by 1500 didn’t get done until 1815 because of the extra transit time courtesy of DART. And I have spent $1020 this week getting hot water and cool air for the other people that live here. And when I got home I found the codes guy had been sending me letters about the fence on the neighbors leaning when he should have been sending notes about the parts of the fence I took down four years ago at the order of the city. Turns out they didn’t really want me to take down the fence, they wanted me to replace the fence. They should have specified that when they sent the first notices back four years ago. So I am even less happy than usual today as I begin to compose the body of this post. You have been warned.

Sob stories awash this report of the “poor picked-upon driver” that killed a cyclist in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bicycle. Friends And Family Plead For Mercy For Driver In Death Of Cyclist On Rickenbacker Causeway I vote that the driver gets every scrap of the “mercy” he gave the cyclist he killed. The loser had 46 moving violations (well 34 if there were actually 12 committed by his brother stealing the killer’s ID) and if he gets a day less than the maximum he got off way too easy, even the maximum is not that bad a deal for the loser, he gets to keep his skin. unlike the cyclist he ran over and dragged down the road. And this late link makes it look like the brother is throwing the killer under a bus. Brother of man who struck and killed cyclist pleads the fifth Oh, if only there had been an actual bus to throw the scum under instead of a figurative one. More Brother Pleads Fifth in Carlos Bertonatti Trial Over Fatal DUI Crash With Cyclist

Update on a NY wreck. Bicyclist hurt in June dies from injuries Still can’t say how to avoid or prevent this wreck. Some things are just “accidents”.

A NJ cyclist gets hit by with a car. Long Valley bicyclist flown to hospital after head injury, cops say Apparently LEO at the scene have never heard of a buzz job. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right (including LEO) to prevent.

A MA cyclist is hit trying to make a left turn. Bicycle-car crash on Grafton Street Intersection wreck, use the protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A KS salmon cyclist gets hit from behind. Bike rider avoids injury in collision The impact was very slight fortunately for the cyclist. This demonstrates another reason why riding salmon is plusungood. Intersection protocols to avoid (above and beyond riding the correct side of the street) and get the infrastructure right so cyclists don’t feel obligated to ride facing traffic to avoid a wreck. You can’t avoid a wreck riding salmon, but some cyclists feel they have to.

Update on a WA wreck from a while back. Charge: High driver killed cyclist Now it has been confirmed the driver was not in total control of the weapon vehicle. Still hit-from-behind, so protocols to avoid or to mitigate the damages, and infrastructure to prevent. “He had a medical marijuana card, so it was OK.” Uhh, no it wasn’t “OK” to kill someone riding a bike, it would not be “OK” to kill anyone regardless of their mode of transport…

An OR cyclist is hit by a red-light-running driver. Oh, the irony. Woman Injured in Bicycle/Vehicle Collision-UPDATED Intersection wreck, but the protocols assume drivers will obey traffic controls. Infrastructure does likewise. Putting drivers that cause injury by violating traffic signals in jail for a few days and letting making them walk, take transit, or ride a bike for a year after might prevent wrecks like this and make bike infrastructure actually work the way it’s intended.

An assault by a CA cyclist. Man riding beach cruiser sought in near-fatal punch OK I don’t really know what happened here, but this sounds like there may have been some prior interaction between these two, or someone who looked like the elderly victim of this assault. Or it just could be a random psychopath acting according to his disease since he has been deprived of a motor vehicle. Killing random people is just so much harder without a car or truck to crush them with. And the perp in this case was riding a black beach cruiser, but the one they showed in the article was peach. Really, they have this program called Photoshop now, or GIMP if you’re cheap or poor, and one of the things that it can do is change the color of objects in a picture…

Another updated story, this time in CA. Cayucos woman pleads guilty in bicyclist’s death Drunk driver throws herself at the mercy of the court. I hope there is not much mercy in the court.

A blind driver hits a cyclist in SD. Cyclist struck by car Saturday Cyclist was still in the street when the light changed and the driver only looked at the light when he pulled forward, hitting the cyclist and injuring her enough to require a trip to hospital. Intersection wreck but the protocols make the assumption that drivers are not going to attempt to drive through you when you have the right of way and are directly in front of their stopped vehicle. Infrastructure also assumes drivers will pay attention to more than just the traffic signal.

North of the 49^th a cyclist is dragged to death by a person driving a motor vehicle. Cyclist dragged by vehicle dies in Saskatoon hospital And this link changed as I was composing this post, the headline is now :”Struck cyclist remembered as loving father” instead of what I just put up. The narrative suggests the driver deliberately rammed the cyclist before driving off, making this a murder rather than an “accident”. I can’t tell you how to avoid a murder, and I don’t think anything short of a Jersey barrier would have prevented this murder.

Lots of reports from north of the 49^th this week. Here’s one from far West Canuckistan. 1 killed, 2 injured in separate rush hour collisions Other than “hit by a semi” neither the mode nor location of the wreck are in this report, so i can’t say anything about how to avoid it, but infrastructure that did not mix bicycles with semis weighing hundreds of times more would probably have prevented this cyclist from getting run over by a semi. Update. Two dead, one hurt in separate accidents on Metro Vancouver roads

A serious wreck takes out an entire group of cyclists in Enn Zed. Top schoolgirl cyclists injured in collision with car A driver hit six cyclists and put 5 in hospital and they haven’t decided who was at fault? And are sitting on reporting the location and mode of the wreck? Something stinks here, very bad.

Infrastructure from Canuckistan. Winnipeg cyclists call for improvements, awareness

Infrastructure from the UK. Cyclists ‘in danger’ on Cheltenham’s pothole-littered roads When you have to divide your attention too much between the road surface and other traffic around you as well as navigating, you get wrecks.

Lifestyle from CO, Brenda have you read this? Fort Collins Cycling Club Plans Benefits for Injured Cyclist Wanda Roche

Lifestyle/infrastructure from the Czech Republic. Fallen cyclist gets memorial in Prague 7 A silver Ghost Bike, that’s unique.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today/tonight. Now I’m going to try to remember to tag this post properly.

Billed @€0.02, Opus