Well I still haven’t gotten the hang of riding the new bike, so still getting the ride from the son from the store with the groceries today. The new bike steers oddly, to be mild about it. Turning left is limited by the tire hitting the tie rod connecting the remote steering to the fork, turning right is limited by the tie rod and steering arm on the fork approaching a straight line and not having any lever arm, but this is at a much higher steering angle than the left turn. I’m still constantly dabbing when trying to make a turn in less than the full width of the street, and that ain’t good. This is not a crank forward bike and in order to be able to reach the ground to dab without grounding the box I have to ride with the seat too low for my knees. This is what they call “adaption” to the bike, but I don’t know if I can do it at my age. I have been riding recumbents and crank forward bikes since I got back on a bike after the wreck, except for a few times to test a repair job and that one time to just see if I still could right after the wreck, and I have gotten used to putting my feet forward from the seat to find pedals.
Up first in this infrastructure-heavy post is another drunk hitting another cyclist from behind in a bike lane. Another drunken OC driver, another fatal hit-and-run; arraignment tomorrow in death of Pasadena cyclist As much as I hate drunk drivers, there is something else wrong here as well. Look at the speed limit of the street where this happened, and see the narrow bike lane adjacent to the street. Also witness the curb on the outside of the bike lane. This “design” would get the designer tossed in jail if not an insane asylum in the Netherlands, but in the US this is considered “good” bicycle infrastructure, even when it puts cyclists at risk from drunk or distracted drivers. The death rate for cyclists and pedestrians hit at this speed is roughly 85%.
From the former most deadliest and new #2 killer of cyclists we get a hit-from-behind wreck. Driver, bicyclist both cited after North Naples crash Another hit-from-behind in the bike lane by a person who legally should not have been driving. The cyclist’s lack of rear lighting contributed as did the lack of physical segregation from motor vehicle traffic by the infrastructure. Another bike lane painted on the wrong side of the curb on a 45 MPH speed limit highway.
A cyclist in far West Canuckistan is left crossed. Cyclist injured in vehicle-bike collision on Quadra Intersection wreck, protocols to avoid, get the infrastructure RIGHT to prevent.
A UK wreck with slightly more information than usual. Family loses a loving father This appears to have been a hit-from-behind wreck partially caused by bad infrastructure design. I suggest not riding in the UK to avoid. If that is impossible because you live there then the normal hit-from-behind protocols modified to fit riding on the wrong side of the road.
Another link to that $DEITY-awful sentence for running a cyclist over from behind and not budging an inch from his lane. Argos lorry driver who killed Wearside cyclist walks free
Not even idyllic Enn Zed is immune from the dreaded hit-and-run zombie. Cyclist killed in hit-and-run Near as I can tell this is another hit-from-behind wreck, protocols to avoid and infrastructure to prevent. Heavy emphasis on the part LEO has to play in the infrastructure portion of this fix.
Infrastructure! news from SC. Ashley River bridge biking path hits skid “Oh, heavens we could never give up a single lane of pavement from our holy death machines!” “We can’t ride bicycles we’re ‘Mericans. And too fat.”
Portland sends a missive in the infrastructure debate. Portland designer/planner unveils ‘protected intersections for bicyclists’ This design is actually a couple of generations behind the current standards in the Netherlands. That makes it 30 years ahead of anything in the US. 😛
And West Canuckistan sees a problem that killed a cyclist and tries to fix it. Stanley Park causeway bike lane survey underway This was the area where a cyclist was thought to have been pushed off the shared path in front of a bus last year.
UK infrastructure is death-driven. Death of cyclist sparks calls to make ‘lethal’ Watlington Road near Garsington safer
And those were all the links that gave me fits about bicycles today.
Billed @€0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 