They finally finished counting the votes and I’m screwed, and the Feed

The votes are counted and batshit insane won out over just crazy. I’m screwed because batshit has made public statements against government spending on any bicycle infrastructure as being “socialist”. News flash for you Batshit, all infrastructure is socialist to some extent. Installing bicycle infrastructure just gives people a choice as to how they use it. Right now we have a choice between cars, trucks, and SUVs when selecting our mode of transportation, but public transit is kinda sorta useful if you have the time. Riding a bicycle is physically uncomfortable because of the climate and emotionally uncomfortable because there are so many cars, trucks, and SUVs using the infrastructure that the operators have no earthly idea of how to share with bicycles. And Batshit wants to make that worse for people riding bicycles. Of course opposing bicycle infrastructure is a minor issue with this guy, oppressing women and voters of the “wrong” kind is much higher on his agenda. This is still not good for me because I’m the “wrong” kind of voter: “not-rich”.

Up first is a hit-and-run from down south a few day’s ride. Deputies: Hit-and-run suspect later found unresponsive behind the wheel and Driver arrested in FM 1960 hit-and-run Let’s see, line of cars moving over a lane to make a legal pass on a cyclist legally using the road, one driver moves out of the line and hits the cyclist then merges back in line and leaves the scene, later found slumped over the wheel of the weapon vehicle and unresponsive to LEO commands. No toxicology report back yet but I’m willing to bet alcohol, drugs, or possibly an out-of-control blood sugar level. I’m putting my money on good old-fashioned ethyl alcohol.

Update on an OH left cross fatality. Trial date set for truck driver charged with death of cyclist The cyclist’s family is being very understanding and Stockholm Syndrome about it claiming the fact that the driver is disturbed about having killed “is punishment enough”. Listen people, everyone is disturbed about the first time they kill if they have any shred of compassion in them. The ones that aren’t just need to be placed where they can’t hurt the rest of us ever. But if drivers are allowed to kill and face no sanction for killing, no matter what the mode of transport of the victim, then there is zero incentive for the drivers that don’t have that shred of compassion to not run over the cyclist or pedestrian that causes them to have to slow down a bit. Swerve enough that the vehicle isn’t damaged too much to drive and keep on trucking, because you will get a worse ticket for tossing a cigarette butt out the window than for leaving a dead or dying human on the side of the road.

A MD driver that killed a cyclist tries to get the sentence dismissed because the felony conviction interferes with her life? Sentence in death of bicyclist stands Another sociopathic driver thinks it’s all about her after leaving a corpse in the road. Consequences are a bitch, aren’t they honey? Less than a year in jail with work release after killing a human and discarding the body like a cigarette butt and you want that expunged so you can “get on with your career”? You changed your career path when you left the person to die on the road, now you have to live with that choice. And this was not the first time you hit a cyclist either, you hit one in 2008 that left the victim with a permanent and life-altering brain injury, for which you essentially skated.

A cyclist in the UK is killed by a pothole that the relevant authority was notified about weeks before the wreck. Cyclist mown down during charity bike ride after hitting a four-inch deep pothole that police had warned about more than a month before One thing I like about UK tort laws is they specifically allow local governments to be sued when they commit an action or an inaction that results in people getting injured, unlike here in the US where most municipalities invoke “sovereign immunity” at the first hint of a lawsuit.

And another cyclist hits the pavement because it has holes in it. Exeter pharmacy staff help “pot-holed” cyclist The cyclist was lucky to not have been hit by a motor vehicle like the previous paragraph.

Even comic strip characters can’t escape the pothole monster. Frazz by Jef Mallett I do hope that one goes to “freeze-thaw cycle”, it’s impossible to test.

Lots of infrastructure news today. This one is from America’s Copenhagen, Portland OR. Video of right-hook collision shows risks at NE Couch and Grand First up this video is a near-perfect example of using intersection protocols to minimize damages from a right hook, the cyclist ran out of road before the driver finished the turn.

Infrastructure news from CA. Beverly Hills tells bicyclists to drop dead; LAPD to focus — finally — on traffic violations this year As I commented in the article Beverly Hills needs to be sued for violating CA’s Complete Streets law. They have been reminded several times of the law’s requirements, I think a little smackdown from a judge would be appropriate. More Beverly Hills City Council Disses Road Safety, Slaps Riders in Santa Monica Boulevard Session

A slightly fun infrastructure link. If Your Local Elites Have Gone Completely Bonkers, You May Have Bikelash It would be impossible to tell here, our “elite” varies between “disturbed” and “batshit crazy” every other minute.

An infrastructure link that is only marginally about bicycles. Detroit study to examine effects of bad air quality As we all know installing bike lanes reduces the local pollution on streets that have them, I don’t know how well that transfers to networks of bike lanes in entire cities. That’s something that hasn’t been studied.

A really unhappy lifestyle story from CA. Popular pre-L.A. Marathon bike ride canceled after city permit snag I thought that the powers that be liked the Crash because it acted like an additional sweep of the course the organizers did not have to pay for.

And those were all the links that gave me fits about bicycles. There were a couple more that just were kinda “blah” so I thought “Why include “blah” in my blog?” Also apparently I have been missing a lot of clicks to this blog because I don’t put a tag on the Daily Feed posts that this is about bicycles. What, they can’t look at the blog title and tell that most of the posts are going to be about bicycles? But anyway I’m going to be adding a “Bicycles” and “bikes” tag to the Daily Feed posts so that people looking for information about bicycles can find these posts.

> sigh <

Billed @€0.02, Opus