Daily Archives: March 24, 2014

Light on links despite the pause, and the Feed

Today is day 1.5 without hair, and while my ears are a bit cold without the hair that sometimes draped over the tops of them, my cheeks and chin are the body parts suffering the worst. My beard had gotten to the point that it was a very effective insulator, and losing it all at once was a bit of a shock especially when a chilly wind blows. Wearing a hat takes care of most of the problem with the rest of my head, but there just isn’t anything I have to cover my face that doesn’t look like I’m getting ready to rob someplace.

Even with 3 day’s accumulated links in the folder I just didn’t have much to work with today. I expect that to change when summer arrives in the Northern Hemisphere. But then I was expecting a spike in bike wrecks involving children right after Christmas that never materialized, so who am I to make predictions anymore?

Right now the Big Story is the cyclist hit head-on on his own side of the street last week in NE. Authorities say Neb. woman whose vehicle killed a cyclist was trying to avoid another car and Omaha officials give details of fatal cyclist crash How big a hurry could someone be in to pass a stopped vehicle at speed like that? Or not paying attention to the road in front of them? These links are updates to previous reports linked here.

The other Big Story is an OH man killed while taking part in a 200 mile brevet. Bicyclist fataly injured in Saturday morning crash and Dublin Cyclist Killed During Biking Trip In Miami County Another driver not paying attention to the road in front of him/her. Hit from behind protocols to avoid or to mitigate the damages, and get the infrastructure right to prevent. As part of that infrastructure they need to make hitting a vulnerable road user from behind a misdemeanor, and a felony if the person dies as a result of the wreck.

Update on another wreck in OH. Police: Cyclist Hit and Killed By Intoxicated Driver He must have been exceedingly drunk to be charged after a hit-and-run.

Just across the MI-OH border we get another hit-and-run. Monroe bicycle rider seriously injured in hit and run Hit-from-behind at night with nothing about the cyclist’s lighting or lack of indicates this cyclist was at or beyond the legal minimums of lighting. Use the rest of the protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent including that legal change noted above.

A wreck in CT. Two injured in New Milford bicycle crash It is possible to have a serious wreck without a motor vehicle. This is one of the hazards of riding in a peloton, but the only way to learn to ride in a peloton is to ride in a peloton. There is nothing that can simulate it in a safer environment.

Hit-and-run in the former most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Bicyclist, 23, critically hurt in hit and run Why am I unsurprised the weapon vehicle is suspected to be a pickup truck? Hit from behind protocols to avoid or mitigate damages, and get the infrastructure right to prevent. A big intermediate step that can be done immediately until the physical infrastructure is fixed would be to require all vehicles used by hit-and-run drivers be confiscated and recycled. We don’t give back the guns used in robberies, they get melted down, we should do the same for crimes committed with motor vehicles.

On the other side of the country a driver turns himself in after a hit-and-run. Police: man turns himself in after killing cyclist My inner cynic says he had to wait until he sobered up before he allowed himself to be arrested.

A case of being in the right place at the right time and taking pictures shows a cyclist flying through the air after impact with a motor vehicle. Cyclist hit on the Snake This was on Mulholland in SoCal. The driver was reported as being on the wrong side of the road and the rider going downhill at the speed limit.

UK cyclists hope for a proper sentence in the death of one of their own. Jail term plea after death of Bristol cyclist in Avonmouth One would hope that killing a cyclist would merit a harsher sentence than littering…

A cyclist in Oz relates that he and his friends are assaulted regularly as they ride. Injured cyclist calls for awareness

Your daily dose of BikingInLA goodness. A year in jail for killer Moorpark driver, cyclist hit by Maserati on Rock Store climb, and your Morning Links

An AZ cyclist discovers that you have to use both halves of the bicycle equation. TUCSON WOMAN IN CRAIGSLIST POST: ‘EITHER THE BIKES GO OR I GO’ For those who don’t know the bicycle equation, it is the solution for N + 1 = S – 1, where N is the number of bikes you currently own and S is the number of bikes that will cause your significant other to leave you and take the dog/cat/kid with him/her. I try to stay well below S – 1.

Apparently nothing can be done about distracted drivers so we should all cower at home and only go out in light armored vehicles. Study: pedestrians and bicyclists should watch out for distracted drivers I firmly believe that treating distracted driving like drunk driving and crushing the vehicles of distracted drivers after a wreck (and widely publicizing it) will cause distracted driving to drop. I suggest putting it on one of those home shopping channels about every 20 minutes or so with a video of the discharge chute of a car shredder and the voice-over saying “Drive distracted and this may be the last time you see your car. Hit someone while driving distracted and this will definitely be the last time you see your car.”

Our first Infrastructure! article comes from north of WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. Tulsa’s first mile-long stretch of bike lanes ready to ride, but neighbors split on street design I have to apply the requisite Okie joke that every TX resident must use when reading about our neighbor to the north. “You know why Texas doesn’t drift into the Gulf? Because Oklahoma sucks.

This is what happens when single-mode infrastructure is forced to become multi-mode on the cheap. Road Runner: City must act for bikes, cars, streetcars to coexist, Kozachik says Throw a streetcar into the mix with bikes and motor vehicles when there isn’t enough room for bikes and cars together and you will get conflict.

More on the cyclist winning a settlement over a pothole. Pothole crash cyclist wins £70k pay-out from council

Last link is design details that some people would like to see restored to modern bicycles. Bicycle Design Archeology – Top Ten Details We Want Back I would like to see chainguards for IGH and singlespeed bikes.

And those were all the links that gave me fits and giggles today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus