Yep, I haven’t even cracked the folder yet today and I can tell by the number of new messages in it and from previous peeks that I have a metric buttload (that’s 2.2 times the US buttload) of links to filter and post here. I have my coffee at hand and various charms and talismans scattered about intended to protect what little sanity I still possess after all these years of writing about bike wrecks, so buckle your seat belts and hang on tight. And just as I opened the Feed I lost my Internet connection slowing me even further. Added later, Internet is going in and out at the router, this is going to be slow and annoying.
Update on a NM wreck. Las Cruces police arrest man for running down cyclist last month The one thing I was happy to see in this wreck was the tampering with evidence charge, something that should be added to every hit-and-run with an unknown DUI status.
Compare and contrast these two stories from the same city. Nicole Kidman Injured At Fashion Week and No Charges For Running Over Schoolkids On Queens Sidewalk Driver on sidewalk puts 5 people in hospital with injuries ranging from minor to permanently crippling and gets nothing for 3 days in spite of no one in his vehicle getting hurt. Cyclist on the sidewalk causes a minor scuff on someone and is also injured in the incident gets 3 tickets totaling nearly $1k in fines before he can be hauled away in the ambulance.
A wreck in CT. Cyclist injured in Wallingford park Nothing on the mode of the wreck, a possible hit-and-run. And this update shows the wreck was infrastructure related as the cyclist was riding off-road. Biker falls injuring mouth in Veterans Memorial Park in Wallingford You guys riding off-road are on your own as traction off-road is impaired by even perfect conditions. At least you generally don’t have to dodge motor vehicles in the single-track.
A serious vehicle/bicycle wreck in VT. Police: Drunk driver plows into 3 cyclists Hit from behind by a drunk driver already on the lam for a previous DUI that he failed to appear at court for? I see body parts getting sold off to pay for this one, as insurance ain’t even going to cover it. The first victim went through the windshield and injured the driver, who then went on to injure 2 more cyclists before stopping… That implies high speed on the part of the motor vehicle, which makes avoiding this wreck nearly impossible.
Some links to a hit-and-run in OH. St. Francis DeSales High School Teacher Killed By Hit And Run Driver and DeSales Students Remember Teacher Killed in Delaware Hit-And-Run also DeSales teacher killed on bicycle and final link In memory of Robert Lennon High-speed hit-from-behind wreck with little to no chance to avoid, and I don’t know that infrastructure would have been any use either. One piece of infrastructure of the legal variety that needs to be in place as soon as possible is to make hit-and-run comparable to attempted murder if the victim survives, and actual murder (2nd degree or simple Murder here in TX) if the victim dies.
Update on a wreck in WI. Woman accused of driving drunk, killing dentist biking near Stanley pleads not guilty OK for those with short memories, the purported human in this case is accused of getting sloshed in a bar before getting in her car and running over the cyclist a short time later. She then allegedly called not police but her roommate for a ride home because her car was disabled in the wreck, leaving the victim to die from exposure and blood loss. Read my comment on the article (look for Gigi) to find my feelings on this wreck.
Update on a MN wreck between a little boy on a bike and a motorcycle. Boy hit by motorcycle in Lake Elmo dies of injuries Yes I’m sad, no I don’t blame the motorcycle rider who was trying to not crash as he pulled the bike off the road.
Update on a wreck in MI. Dundee Councilman Dies From Bike Crash Injuries You think the driver in this wreck is maybe going to see some charges as serious as the outcome (deceased cyclist)? Me neither. The wreck appears to be intersection, so maybe protocols to avoid or mitigate damages, infrastructure to prevent.
A wreck in CA that was initially reported as a buzz job is a two bicycle wreck? UPDATE: Crash in Saugus sends bicyclist to hospital Well this is a fine kettle of fish, which report to believe? The comment that claimed to witness the wreck, or the police report that claimed the driver of the car was uninjured?
Another wreck from above the 49th is blamed on the cyclist for not having a helmet (I kid you not). On helmets and injured cyclists No, I’m not kidding, there was nothing about the wreck or what caused it except to say the cyclist was not wearing a helmet.
Another youth is injured riding his bike in the Great White North as a trailer becomes an unguided projectile. Cyclist airlifted to Hamilton hospital after being struck by homemade trailer And in this case struck by the trailer is accurate, it was not attached to the towing vehicle at the time of impact. I guess hit-from-behind protocols might have helped a bit, but only a barrier would have prevented the wreck, and I don’t see the area as conducive to a barrier-protected bike paths in the Dutch model of infrastructure.
A young cyclist is hit in a right cross wreck north of the 49th. 8-year old bike rider hit by SUV in Erin Woods, boy seriously injured Cyclist crossing with the light is hit by a driver turning right on red. Nothing a human cyclist can do to avoid, and the driver was already ignoring a traffic control when the wreck happened so infrastructure not likely to work either.
A pair of cyclists have a wreck in Canuckistan. Collision with bicyclist sends motorcyclist to hospital in critical condition Yep that makes 4 times this year that a cyclist of the pedal variety and the motor variety had a “meeting of the minds” resulting in at least one of them getting a ride to hospital. The direction of travel was given for the motorcyclist but not the bicyclist, so I can’t really say how to avoid a wreck like this, but as there was no intersection given in the location of the wreck we can either assume hit-from-behind or someone riding salmon, and since salmon isn’t on the menu, I would have it as a high degree of certainty the wreck was hit-from-behind, so use those protocols to avoid or to mitigate damages. Infrastructure to prevent, of course. I noticed that aside from being present at the scene the cyclist was completely left out of this report.
Lots of wrecks with vulnerable road users in this report from Central Canuckistan. Cyclist ticketed for crash Note that of all the wrecks in the article only the cyclist and pedestrian were given tickets. The first wreck was an intersection wreck that the cyclist obviously did not use intersection protocols, the second wreck no location nor mode was given, the third was not a bicycle. Infrastructure would have prevented all of the wrecks if properly implemented.
A SWSS wreck in West Canuckistan. Three incidents results in injuries for pedestrians, cyclist There seem to be a lot of cyclists swerving from sidewalks in the various parts of Canuckistan. Assuming the story is in the slightest bit accurate, use hit-from-behind and intersection protocols when merging into traffic from the sidewalk to avoid or to mitigate injury, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.
News on a UK hit-and-run. Stoke’s Steven Nzonzi Accused Of Cyclist Hit And Run The bad thing about this is that civilian cyclists had to track this driver down, UK LEO refused to even look for the vehicle registration. The cyclist not being a follower of UK football did not recognize the driver…
A UK wreck that the cyclist could do nothing to avoid. Cyclist seriously injured as two cars crash in Leeds Yep another cyclist injured in a “pinball” wreck. Getting hit or not is a matter of pure chance in something like this.
Infrastructure! news from the next town over from the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. Richardson City Council Approves Resolution for Work on New Trails This fills a gap in the trail system north of Renner but creates a new one north of PGB Turnpike. There is substantial retail just over the frontage roads for the toll road if access between the trail and the retail are created to substantially increase bicycle share of retail from near zero now on very bike unfriendly streets. Most of the retail I could get to on foot had bike parking hidden away, but some was placed where it was in view of security cameras (or boxes made to look like security cameras). So a trail with access to retail would be a good thing.
Infrastructure from the Great White North. Montrealers should shame distracted drivers, says injured cyclist
Infrastructure from Canuckistan. Port Hope councillor irked by bike riders
More on the ongoing battle in the UK over heavy trucks and their disproportionate numbers in fatal bicycle wrecks. Road Haulage Association & chair of Parliamentary Freight Transport Group to attend Isle of Wight Cycling Festival and RHA talking to cyclists on making roads safer When your vehicles are responsible for more than a quarter of the deaths of another group nationwide, and 70% in a major metropolitan area, there is something really wrong with your vehicles. Considering how many cyclists have been killed in the front blind spot while obeying the laws and using the infrastructure as it was designed to be used, there needs to be something done about having vehicles with huge blind spots in the area where the vehicle is going to be when it starts moving.
Infrastructure news from Enn Zed and it is not encouraging. Cyclists and drivers wage Waikato road wars Any time there is a “war” between people in armored vehicles and people wearing spandex or just regular clothes it is never good for the people not in the armored vehicles.
Lifestyle in Va. Beach VA. Tired of bikes getting stolen, riders turn to Facebook
Ghost bike in the UK. Ghost bike placed on Carholme Road in memory of cyclist death
E-assist bike news. New 2014 Haibike, eFlow, & IZIP E Bikes from Currie Tech. Lots of Pictures! and Preview of the NEW 2014 ProdecoTech Electric Bikes! [VIDEO] Cargo bikes with e-assist Life With An Electric Assist Cargo Bike – Part 2: Kids
Another gadget in the illumination arms race between cyclists and stoopid drivers. The laser light that could cut cyclist deaths Even brightly lighted cyclists are hit with motor vehicles, for this gadget to be effective there has to be a good reason for drivers to not hit cyclists. Appealing to their basic humanity appears to be a dry well for a large number of drivers, perhaps confiscating the weapon vehicle for a period of time when a vulnerable user is hit might do the job.
And those were all the links about bicycles that gave me fits today, I had some others about the DC shooting that caused me some psychic difficulties as well but they are not fit fodder for this blog.
Billed @€0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 
The Feed folder is bulging at the metaphorical seams
Yep, I haven’t even cracked the folder yet today and I can tell by the number of new messages in it and from previous peeks that I have a metric buttload (that’s 2.2 times the US buttload) of links to filter and post here. I have my coffee at hand and various charms and talismans scattered about intended to protect what little sanity I still possess after all these years of writing about bike wrecks, so buckle your seat belts and hang on tight. And just as I opened the Feed I lost my Internet connection slowing me even further. Added later, Internet is going in and out at the router, this is going to be slow and annoying.
Update on a NM wreck. Las Cruces police arrest man for running down cyclist last month The one thing I was happy to see in this wreck was the tampering with evidence charge, something that should be added to every hit-and-run with an unknown DUI status.
Compare and contrast these two stories from the same city. Nicole Kidman Injured At Fashion Week and No Charges For Running Over Schoolkids On Queens Sidewalk Driver on sidewalk puts 5 people in hospital with injuries ranging from minor to permanently crippling and gets nothing for 3 days in spite of no one in his vehicle getting hurt. Cyclist on the sidewalk causes a minor scuff on someone and is also injured in the incident gets 3 tickets totaling nearly $1k in fines before he can be hauled away in the ambulance.
A wreck in CT. Cyclist injured in Wallingford park Nothing on the mode of the wreck, a possible hit-and-run. And this update shows the wreck was infrastructure related as the cyclist was riding off-road. Biker falls injuring mouth in Veterans Memorial Park in Wallingford You guys riding off-road are on your own as traction off-road is impaired by even perfect conditions. At least you generally don’t have to dodge motor vehicles in the single-track.
A serious vehicle/bicycle wreck in VT. Police: Drunk driver plows into 3 cyclists Hit from behind by a drunk driver already on the lam for a previous DUI that he failed to appear at court for? I see body parts getting sold off to pay for this one, as insurance ain’t even going to cover it. The first victim went through the windshield and injured the driver, who then went on to injure 2 more cyclists before stopping… That implies high speed on the part of the motor vehicle, which makes avoiding this wreck nearly impossible.
Some links to a hit-and-run in OH. St. Francis DeSales High School Teacher Killed By Hit And Run Driver and DeSales Students Remember Teacher Killed in Delaware Hit-And-Run also DeSales teacher killed on bicycle and final link In memory of Robert Lennon High-speed hit-from-behind wreck with little to no chance to avoid, and I don’t know that infrastructure would have been any use either. One piece of infrastructure of the legal variety that needs to be in place as soon as possible is to make hit-and-run comparable to attempted murder if the victim survives, and actual murder (2nd degree or simple Murder here in TX) if the victim dies.
Update on a wreck in WI. Woman accused of driving drunk, killing dentist biking near Stanley pleads not guilty OK for those with short memories, the purported human in this case is accused of getting sloshed in a bar before getting in her car and running over the cyclist a short time later. She then allegedly called not police but her roommate for a ride home because her car was disabled in the wreck, leaving the victim to die from exposure and blood loss. Read my comment on the article (look for Gigi) to find my feelings on this wreck.
Update on a MN wreck between a little boy on a bike and a motorcycle. Boy hit by motorcycle in Lake Elmo dies of injuries Yes I’m sad, no I don’t blame the motorcycle rider who was trying to not crash as he pulled the bike off the road.
Update on a wreck in MI. Dundee Councilman Dies From Bike Crash Injuries You think the driver in this wreck is maybe going to see some charges as serious as the outcome (deceased cyclist)? Me neither. The wreck appears to be intersection, so maybe protocols to avoid or mitigate damages, infrastructure to prevent.
A wreck in CA that was initially reported as a buzz job is a two bicycle wreck? UPDATE: Crash in Saugus sends bicyclist to hospital Well this is a fine kettle of fish, which report to believe? The comment that claimed to witness the wreck, or the police report that claimed the driver of the car was uninjured?
Another wreck from above the 49th is blamed on the cyclist for not having a helmet (I kid you not). On helmets and injured cyclists No, I’m not kidding, there was nothing about the wreck or what caused it except to say the cyclist was not wearing a helmet.
Another youth is injured riding his bike in the Great White North as a trailer becomes an unguided projectile. Cyclist airlifted to Hamilton hospital after being struck by homemade trailer And in this case struck by the trailer is accurate, it was not attached to the towing vehicle at the time of impact. I guess hit-from-behind protocols might have helped a bit, but only a barrier would have prevented the wreck, and I don’t see the area as conducive to a barrier-protected bike paths in the Dutch model of infrastructure.
A young cyclist is hit in a right cross wreck north of the 49th. 8-year old bike rider hit by SUV in Erin Woods, boy seriously injured Cyclist crossing with the light is hit by a driver turning right on red. Nothing a human cyclist can do to avoid, and the driver was already ignoring a traffic control when the wreck happened so infrastructure not likely to work either.
A pair of cyclists have a wreck in Canuckistan. Collision with bicyclist sends motorcyclist to hospital in critical condition Yep that makes 4 times this year that a cyclist of the pedal variety and the motor variety had a “meeting of the minds” resulting in at least one of them getting a ride to hospital. The direction of travel was given for the motorcyclist but not the bicyclist, so I can’t really say how to avoid a wreck like this, but as there was no intersection given in the location of the wreck we can either assume hit-from-behind or someone riding salmon, and since salmon isn’t on the menu, I would have it as a high degree of certainty the wreck was hit-from-behind, so use those protocols to avoid or to mitigate damages. Infrastructure to prevent, of course. I noticed that aside from being present at the scene the cyclist was completely left out of this report.
Lots of wrecks with vulnerable road users in this report from Central Canuckistan. Cyclist ticketed for crash Note that of all the wrecks in the article only the cyclist and pedestrian were given tickets. The first wreck was an intersection wreck that the cyclist obviously did not use intersection protocols, the second wreck no location nor mode was given, the third was not a bicycle. Infrastructure would have prevented all of the wrecks if properly implemented.
A SWSS wreck in West Canuckistan. Three incidents results in injuries for pedestrians, cyclist There seem to be a lot of cyclists swerving from sidewalks in the various parts of Canuckistan. Assuming the story is in the slightest bit accurate, use hit-from-behind and intersection protocols when merging into traffic from the sidewalk to avoid or to mitigate injury, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.
News on a UK hit-and-run. Stoke’s Steven Nzonzi Accused Of Cyclist Hit And Run The bad thing about this is that civilian cyclists had to track this driver down, UK LEO refused to even look for the vehicle registration. The cyclist not being a follower of UK football did not recognize the driver…
A UK wreck that the cyclist could do nothing to avoid. Cyclist seriously injured as two cars crash in Leeds Yep another cyclist injured in a “pinball” wreck. Getting hit or not is a matter of pure chance in something like this.
Infrastructure! news from the next town over from the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. Richardson City Council Approves Resolution for Work on New Trails This fills a gap in the trail system north of Renner but creates a new one north of PGB Turnpike. There is substantial retail just over the frontage roads for the toll road if access between the trail and the retail are created to substantially increase bicycle share of retail from near zero now on very bike unfriendly streets. Most of the retail I could get to on foot had bike parking hidden away, but some was placed where it was in view of security cameras (or boxes made to look like security cameras). So a trail with access to retail would be a good thing.
Infrastructure from the Great White North. Montrealers should shame distracted drivers, says injured cyclist
Infrastructure from Canuckistan. Port Hope councillor irked by bike riders
More on the ongoing battle in the UK over heavy trucks and their disproportionate numbers in fatal bicycle wrecks. Road Haulage Association & chair of Parliamentary Freight Transport Group to attend Isle of Wight Cycling Festival and RHA talking to cyclists on making roads safer When your vehicles are responsible for more than a quarter of the deaths of another group nationwide, and 70% in a major metropolitan area, there is something really wrong with your vehicles. Considering how many cyclists have been killed in the front blind spot while obeying the laws and using the infrastructure as it was designed to be used, there needs to be something done about having vehicles with huge blind spots in the area where the vehicle is going to be when it starts moving.
Infrastructure news from Enn Zed and it is not encouraging. Cyclists and drivers wage Waikato road wars Any time there is a “war” between people in armored vehicles and people wearing spandex or just regular clothes it is never good for the people not in the armored vehicles.
Lifestyle in Va. Beach VA. Tired of bikes getting stolen, riders turn to Facebook
Ghost bike in the UK. Ghost bike placed on Carholme Road in memory of cyclist death
E-assist bike news. New 2014 Haibike, eFlow, & IZIP E Bikes from Currie Tech. Lots of Pictures! and Preview of the NEW 2014 ProdecoTech Electric Bikes! [VIDEO] Cargo bikes with e-assist Life With An Electric Assist Cargo Bike – Part 2: Kids
Another gadget in the illumination arms race between cyclists and stoopid drivers. The laser light that could cut cyclist deaths Even brightly lighted cyclists are hit with motor vehicles, for this gadget to be effective there has to be a good reason for drivers to not hit cyclists. Appealing to their basic humanity appears to be a dry well for a large number of drivers, perhaps confiscating the weapon vehicle for a period of time when a vulnerable user is hit might do the job.
And those were all the links about bicycles that gave me fits today, I had some others about the DC shooting that caused me some psychic difficulties as well but they are not fit fodder for this blog.
Billed @€0.02, Opus
Leave a comment
Posted in Daily Feed
Tagged anti-bike blatherings, blind driver syndrome, blind drivers, cycling life, cyclist injured, cyclists killed, Dead cyclists, Don't read the comments, Enn Zed, ghost bikes, hit from behind, hit-and-run, infrastructure, Jolly Olde, Left cross/right hook, rant, salmon cyclists, signs of the apocolypse, Single Witness Suicidal Swerve/Single Witness Crossing Cyclist, smart politicians, Something smells, stupid cyclist, stupid drivers, stupid LEO, stupid politicians, UK media wreck articles suck, updates