The trip to get the metals was not so bad, but bringing the tubes home was an “e-word”. My left thumb, index, and second finger are cramping up so bad I can barely manage to get the fingers to the correct keys when I type. Seriously I need to backspace and correct about every third word, especially if there are lots of left-hand letters. Can we say “Ouch!”? I’m saying that and a whole lot more. Basically what the issue is the tubes were taped together to carry right-handed and my right hand is busy when I walk holding my cane. When I walk with my cane I almost never need to use it to catch myself from a leg malfunction, but when I don’t have my cane I almost always end up needing it and falling on my side or face. So I almost always have my cane in my right hand ready to catch me if the leg decides to “take a break” while I’m walking, and as I’m actively using the cane I think that also helps prevent the leg from “quitting” on me. But that meant I had to carry an unwieldy collection of tubing home on DART with my left hand and trying to keep the bundle under control ended up giving me cramps in my thumb and first two fingers.
Up first is a DUI fatality from CA. Update: 21-year old bike rider killed by 18-year old drunk driver on Santiago Canyon Road in Orange and Fire Chief Finds Downed Cyclist on Way to Work, Aids in Search for Suspect Hit-from-behind wreck from the report the driver was going too fast for a human cyclist to take evasive maneuvers mooting the protocols, the cyclist was reportedly hit in a bike lane on a highway with a 55 MPH speed limit so definitely infrastructure could have been better as the Dutch model has cyclists separated from highways like that with a sturdy barrier that even a loaded semi would be unlikely to jump. Now on a personal note as of this posting the driver is being held without bail for trying to run and destroy evidence, along with the person who was helping destroy the evidence. The car has been seized as evidence along with the contents. This should happen with every DUI wreck, fatality or not.
Still in CA is a bike-on bike wreck in SoCal. SDPD officer struck by Critical Mass bicyclist Note that in a bike-on-bike wreck people only get minor injuries most of the time especially in urban environments.
A wreck that I can’t figure out the geometry for in NYC. [Update] Cyclist Struck By Car Near Prospect Park The updated report says the cyclist crossed the road and hit the weapon vehicle head on, but the visible damages are all wrong for that geometry. Notice the pringled front wheel and the damage to the passenger side bumper with very little to no damage visible on the windshield. Had the cyclist actually crossed the centerline that far there would have been a crushed windshield with lots of damage, and the front wheel would have been crushed in a straight line not pringled from the side. Until the “official” story can account for the damages to the bike and the (lack of) damages to the car I don’t buy it. And until I can account for the damages seen I can’t tell you how to avoid the wreck. Getting the infrastructure right would prevent a wreck like this, but that would be ALL the infrastructure, legal as well as physical.
A wreck that’s 100% infrastructure on Scotland. Cyclists knocked off by Waverley barrier and Cyclists injured by Edinburgh station anti-terrorism barriers I was looking really hard at the picture in the first link to find the “no bicycles” sign, but I guess it must be over on the other side of the sidewalk (and the size of a sheet of notebook paper).
A wreck in Enn Zed. Cyclist injured in Hills Rd crash And aside from the fact that a cyclist was hit at an intersection I know nothing about this wreck. So..Infrastructure! Ultimately it is the infrastructure that is at fault for not segregating the cyclist by both time and space. And there is plenty of room for bicycle infrastructure because “Traffic was not affected by the crash, police said.” If there’s enough room to transport a cyclist to hospital without affecting traffic, there’s more than enough room to install appropriate bicycle infrastructure.
And this bit of Infrastructure! news from the 49th State just makes your eyes pop. Anchorage motor vehicle laws stack the deck against cyclists If I’m reading this right even when a driver runs a red light and hits a cyclist, it’s the cyclist’s fault for not dodging the motor vehicle? WTF!?!
Final body count for 2013 from NYPD. NYPD: 16,059 Pedestrians and Cyclists Injured, 178 Killed in Traffic in 2013 The numbers are just mind-boggling when you stop and think that this is just for one large city, granted one of the largest cities in the world. Add in the near 100% injury rate when cars hit soft and squishy unprotected humans… and the fact that there were over 16K drivers who hit cyclists and pedestrians and only 9 got tickets… TANJ!
Stay off the roads when it’s foggy out because drivers refuse to slow down for reduced visibility? Safety bike riding rules that can save your life Why not just give drivers tickets for failing to reduce speed in bad visibility (Basic Speed Law Tran. Code §545.351(a) & (b))
Chronicling the long struggle to establish rules that ban trucks with huge blind spots in the EU. Northumberland campaigner joins Olympic cyclist in Brussels ahead of safety vote That such vehicles are allowed to be made and nobody has sued the manufacturer yet just boggles the mind…
From Oz comes a not-surprising report that common activities are much more dangerous than riding a bike even without bicycle infrastructure. You’re 35 times safer on your bike than playing rugby I imagine that few people think more than twice about their kid playing rugby (or football in America), but how many would never allow their kids to ride a bicycle to school?
And those were all the links that gave me fits (and then some) today.
Billed @€0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 
I can hardly move my fingers, and the Feed
The trip to get the metals was not so bad, but bringing the tubes home was an “e-word”. My left thumb, index, and second finger are cramping up so bad I can barely manage to get the fingers to the correct keys when I type. Seriously I need to backspace and correct about every third word, especially if there are lots of left-hand letters. Can we say “Ouch!”? I’m saying that and a whole lot more. Basically what the issue is the tubes were taped together to carry right-handed and my right hand is busy when I walk holding my cane. When I walk with my cane I almost never need to use it to catch myself from a leg malfunction, but when I don’t have my cane I almost always end up needing it and falling on my side or face. So I almost always have my cane in my right hand ready to catch me if the leg decides to “take a break” while I’m walking, and as I’m actively using the cane I think that also helps prevent the leg from “quitting” on me. But that meant I had to carry an unwieldy collection of tubing home on DART with my left hand and trying to keep the bundle under control ended up giving me cramps in my thumb and first two fingers.
Up first is a DUI fatality from CA. Update: 21-year old bike rider killed by 18-year old drunk driver on Santiago Canyon Road in Orange and Fire Chief Finds Downed Cyclist on Way to Work, Aids in Search for Suspect Hit-from-behind wreck from the report the driver was going too fast for a human cyclist to take evasive maneuvers mooting the protocols, the cyclist was reportedly hit in a bike lane on a highway with a 55 MPH speed limit so definitely infrastructure could have been better as the Dutch model has cyclists separated from highways like that with a sturdy barrier that even a loaded semi would be unlikely to jump. Now on a personal note as of this posting the driver is being held without bail for trying to run and destroy evidence, along with the person who was helping destroy the evidence. The car has been seized as evidence along with the contents. This should happen with every DUI wreck, fatality or not.
Still in CA is a bike-on bike wreck in SoCal. SDPD officer struck by Critical Mass bicyclist Note that in a bike-on-bike wreck people only get minor injuries most of the time especially in urban environments.
A wreck that I can’t figure out the geometry for in NYC. [Update] Cyclist Struck By Car Near Prospect Park The updated report says the cyclist crossed the road and hit the weapon vehicle head on, but the visible damages are all wrong for that geometry. Notice the pringled front wheel and the damage to the passenger side bumper with very little to no damage visible on the windshield. Had the cyclist actually crossed the centerline that far there would have been a crushed windshield with lots of damage, and the front wheel would have been crushed in a straight line not pringled from the side. Until the “official” story can account for the damages to the bike and the (lack of) damages to the car I don’t buy it. And until I can account for the damages seen I can’t tell you how to avoid the wreck. Getting the infrastructure right would prevent a wreck like this, but that would be ALL the infrastructure, legal as well as physical.
A wreck that’s 100% infrastructure on Scotland. Cyclists knocked off by Waverley barrier and Cyclists injured by Edinburgh station anti-terrorism barriers I was looking really hard at the picture in the first link to find the “no bicycles” sign, but I guess it must be over on the other side of the sidewalk (and the size of a sheet of notebook paper).
A wreck in Enn Zed. Cyclist injured in Hills Rd crash And aside from the fact that a cyclist was hit at an intersection I know nothing about this wreck. So..Infrastructure! Ultimately it is the infrastructure that is at fault for not segregating the cyclist by both time and space. And there is plenty of room for bicycle infrastructure because “Traffic was not affected by the crash, police said.” If there’s enough room to transport a cyclist to hospital without affecting traffic, there’s more than enough room to install appropriate bicycle infrastructure.
And this bit of Infrastructure! news from the 49th State just makes your eyes pop. Anchorage motor vehicle laws stack the deck against cyclists If I’m reading this right even when a driver runs a red light and hits a cyclist, it’s the cyclist’s fault for not dodging the motor vehicle? WTF!?!
Final body count for 2013 from NYPD. NYPD: 16,059 Pedestrians and Cyclists Injured, 178 Killed in Traffic in 2013 The numbers are just mind-boggling when you stop and think that this is just for one large city, granted one of the largest cities in the world. Add in the near 100% injury rate when cars hit soft and squishy unprotected humans… and the fact that there were over 16K drivers who hit cyclists and pedestrians and only 9 got tickets… TANJ!
Stay off the roads when it’s foggy out because drivers refuse to slow down for reduced visibility? Safety bike riding rules that can save your life Why not just give drivers tickets for failing to reduce speed in bad visibility (Basic Speed Law Tran. Code §545.351(a) & (b))
Chronicling the long struggle to establish rules that ban trucks with huge blind spots in the EU. Northumberland campaigner joins Olympic cyclist in Brussels ahead of safety vote That such vehicles are allowed to be made and nobody has sued the manufacturer yet just boggles the mind…
From Oz comes a not-surprising report that common activities are much more dangerous than riding a bike even without bicycle infrastructure. You’re 35 times safer on your bike than playing rugby I imagine that few people think more than twice about their kid playing rugby (or football in America), but how many would never allow their kids to ride a bicycle to school?
And those were all the links that gave me fits (and then some) today.
Billed @€0.02, Opus
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Tagged anti-bike blatherings, blind driver syndrome, blind drivers, can you top this, cycling life, cyclist injured, cyclist killed, Dead cyclists, Don't read the comments, drunk drivers need to die, Enn Zed, good news, hit from behind, hit-and-run, infrastructure, Jolly Olde, miscellaneous ramblings, red light runner, signs of the apocolypse, Something smells, stupid drivers, stupid LEO, stupid politicians, waste of human skin