I got a call this morning from the surgeon I was referred to by the Lab Rat Keeper saying he couldn’t see me because he wasn’t on my insurance network. I thought my insurance was supposed to make my life easier not more stressful. Now I have to log into my insurance provider’s information page, find my policy, and find a doctor I can get to who is also in my network, make another appointment, do the consultation, and then after all that maybe I can get this huge lump removed from my neck so I can wear a helmet while riding my bike and finish a cup of coffee or can of soda without pain. Seriously, I feel like using bad language about this, which is something I almost never do except as something to make a joke.
Up first, a potential weapon in the war on distracted driving. New device in the works to catch texting drivers And in reply to the comment about creating a detector for such a device, ain’t gonna happen, the device detects a cell phone sending a text without creating any electronic signature of its own. Broadly put, it’s a radio receiver tuned to the frequency of a texting cell phone and is no more detectable than any other receiver.
Update on a hit-from-behind wreck in NM. UNM student charged in cyclist’s death to appear in court Drunk, (slightly) and high on pot (that must have been some good weed if they could still smell it on him and detect it in his blood a day later). Also hit-and-run drivers should never be allowed bail as they have already demonstrated a propensity to flee as long as they retain the ability to do so.
An OH wreck with most of the information blacked out by LEO. Teen bike rider injured after crash with car I see a completely undamaged bike supposedly ridden by the victim but I can’t tell if that brake handle is connected to a brake because of the unfortunate choice of background (the officer’s black pants). The undamaged bike strongly indicates a sideswipe wreck where the weapon vehicle struck the cyclist without ever hitting the bike. That would indicate hit-from-behind protocols as the best method to avoid but absent more information I really hesitate to make any recommendations about the wreck.
A CT cyclist suddenly finds himself getting “up close and excessively personal” with a motor vehicle. Bicycle Rider Injured In Ellington Car Collision Car making a U-turn means no reaction time for the cyclist as the turn would have begun after passing the car going the opposite direction, leaving infrastructure that separated the cyclist from drivers doing stupid things that could get cyclists killed the only way to prevent this wreck.
Update on a DE wreck. Police believe they have Audi that hit Hockessin cyclist I sincerely hope they catch and imprison the driver of the weapon vehicle for a very long time as it looks like the cyclist was hit riding the opposite shoulder of the road from the direction of travel for the weapon vehicle. This makes avoiding the wreck even harder than previously assumed, from “very difficult” to “OMG WTF!?!”. The cyclist was hit on the inside of a turn the driver obviously cut.
Another wreck in CA. Cyclist Injured Over the Weekend On PCH Mode not given but the injuries are consistent with a buzz job gone really bad so preliminary advice is going to be hit-from-behind protocols to avoid or reduce damages, and get that infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent.
Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Pasadena bike club refuses to support Gran Fondo in bike-unfriendly Beverly Hills Why should cyclists support a city that has shown so little support for doing anything for cyclists besides take their money?
Still in CA, some Infrastructure! news. New traffic law take effect today to improve cyclist safety I do wish they had chosen a better picture than the salmon cyclist dodging the skateboarder in the bike lane to illustrate this article.
Infrastructure news from OH. Bicycle safety stressed at memorial for slain cyclist The reason I put this one in “infrastructure” instead of “lifestyle” was the calls for enforcement and bike lanes in the original link.
I can think of no greater indictment against a locale’s infrastructure than this headline. One cyclist a day is killed or injured on Lancashire’s roads
And a further indictment against the entire UK. John O’Groats to Land’s End cyclists warned over safety At least one fatality every year!
I’m thinking this guy doesn’t spend too much time on the roads… Opinion: There is no war between motorists and cyclists That would be technically correct in that it’s more of a slaughter of unarmed non-combatants by the forces of motordom than an actual “war”. Wars usually have casualties on both sides, and I have yet to read of a cyclist hitting a car and killing everyone on board in any of my reports from Australia. It is worth noting that this is from the same corporate group that brings Faux Nooz to the US…
Maybe we will need these less if we get infrastructure built to CROW standards? The black box for CYCLISTS: Bike helmet has built-in data recorder to capture the moment a person crashes I find it funny that the country with the greatest mode share for cycling in the world also has the lowest helmet-wearing rate and cyclist death rate.
Last link, I got this in my inbox from at least 3 different FB friends… Daily Spin Class Only Thing Keeping Mom From Driving Car Full Of Kids Into Ocean
And those were all the links that gave me fits or giggles today that had something to do with bicycles.
Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet (thank you David Willis)
Witch on a Bicycle 