First off let me say that I went and did two personal PM errands today. First thing I did was to stop at my local nail spa and get my toes done. I have mentioned this before but I can’t get all the toenails trimmed on my left foot because the nerve damage makes the toes do weird things when I bend over and try to cut the nails. Basically I just can’t get the toes to unclench so I can get the clippers to the nails on the last 2 or 3 toes. Sometimes I can get that 3rd nail, sometimes not.
While I was at church tonight we had a man with a bullhorn show up across the street yelling at the Pagan Fellowship group about how we were lost and our journey could end if we would just accept Jesus. I took a picture but so far it has failed to show in my inbox to share.
Up first is a dumbass who failed the firearms handling course about as bad as you can fail it. Florida Cyclist Dies After Gun in Pocket Goes Off Accidentally I don’t know why he was packing heat (I have a suspicion that he was going to see if SYG applied to cyclists threatened with death or injury by motor vehicle, but that is just speculation on my part based on personal experience), but the reports all seem to say the gun discharged “by accident” while in his shirt or jersey. More Police: Florida man riding bicycle is killed when handgun in jacket pocket accidentally fires OK that one changed between filtering and composing, they now say it was in a jacket instead of his jersey.
More on the victim of a hit-and-run in Chuck SC. Bicyclist who was killed in North Charleston was doing everything right, family says Apparently a hit from behind on a guy lighted like the proverbial Christmas tree with 3 rear-facing blinkies. Seriously, this has all the hallmarks of a murder by motor vehicle. I’m betting that when they catch the guy he “didn’t see” the cyclist and “didn’t know” he hit anyone.
We get a two-fer on Our Daily Ted. 51-year old San Diego police detective died from solo fall earlier this month after being taken off life support and Weekend Links: Marathon Crash non-Race is back on for Sunday, along with a long list of upcoming bike events The Marathon Crash event is actually doing the LA Marathon organizers a huge favor by sweeping the course prior to the running race.
A little bit of cycling lifestyle from Beantown. Friends mourn for Cambridge songwriter, activist I had to click the link to find out which country’s “Cambridge” had this wreck. So many dead cyclists, so little safe bicycle infrastructure.
I stopped doing wreck reports, but this one is unusual. For one thing there are no cars involved. Cyclist did wheelie on road and hit pair on tandem That’s right, this is a bike-on-bike wreck caused by someone doing something stupid.
The timing on this wreck is too perfect to be on purpose. Spectator causes cyclist to crash hard by grabbing her handlebars and The horrific moment a SPECTATOR flicked his arm out from the crowd and knocked cyclist off her bike as she sprinted for the finish line You can’t see the spectator’s head until the cyclist hitting his arm pulls him around, but he is plainly facing away from the fence just prior to the impact when his arm comes up from the top of the fence and has a “WTF?” look in the fraction of a second he’s facing the camera. Although why he would be on the fence at the finish line of a stage expected to produce a bunch sprint and is not paying attention to the cyclists in the sprint is a mystery. My guess is he was looking for another cyclist in the pack instead of the group in the sprint. Still super stupid thing to be doing however.
And another UK driver uses the Universal Get Out Of Jail Free card when he hits a cyclist. HGV driver who killed cyclist found not guilty of dangerous driving You remember that one, right? “I didn’t see him” when I ran over him with tons of deadly force.
Another article I can’t link to right now suggests the spectacle of private prosecution in this death shamed prosecutors into taking this case for the government. Dead cyclist’s family win review over driver who killed dad on Regent Street The reason I can’t link to the other article is shortly after I read it the first time the site went down for maintenance and put a big 404 page where the article was before. Anyway this was another case of a driver exercising the Universal Get Out Of Jail Free card to “excuse” hitting a cyclist that was plainly in front of her for 200 meters before the wreck.
One thing the UK has that we don’t here in the US as a result of them having Universal Health Care is this little life-saver. Injured cyclist saved by new London Air Ambulance procedure There is something about the nature of calling for air ambulance in the UK that they take getting the victim there with less damage more seriously than their US counterparts so they have better equipment on board the chopper than our crews have. The only thing I can think of is there is absolutely no costs reduction or “moar profits” motive for the UK service, the only thing they are judged on is survival rate and secondarily on saving other body parts.
You know back in the day one of the criteria you used to judge a city by was the condition of their streets, mostly on the smoothness of the pavement. Streets Department: Digging its Way out of a Pothole Still a thing, but not as big a thing as before apparently. Maybe less money on tanks for crazy cops and more on pothole maintenance?
Other towns also face infrastructure issues. SUPPORT BIKING IN TYSONS ON MONDAY As this town repaves they have the golden opportunity to install semi-decent bicycle infrastructure at a far lower cost than at a later date.
A cycling blog reposts (I hope with permission) a news article on why a reporter no longer rides a bike to commute. News-Press Sunday 3/8/15: biking safety feature:
Why I stopped riding my bike on the road Spoiler: It’s cars.
What is causing most of the wrecks between cars and bikes, and cars and pedestrians, in SF? It ain’t a lack of helmets. PRIVATE AUTO RESTRICTIONS CLOSER TO COMING TO MARKET STREET Yep turning vehicles factor in to more than half of the injury collisions with motor vehicles.
Is an open pit mine sending more than 6 semi-trailer loads of sand an hour over a grade crossing really a compatible industry for a bike trail? Vote on Open Pit Mine by Elroy Sparta March 16th I didn’t think so either, because every truck load they send out requires an empty truck to cross the other direction first, so that is a truck crossing every 5 minutes or less unless they hold trucks so that the do both crossing movements at the same time.
Someone has been delaying completion of this bike trail for almost a decade. Stop the delay: Build the Burke-Gilman Trail Seriously, this thing has been “studied” one way or another since 2002, just build the damn thing already! For the accountants in the bureaucracy, think of it this way: The medical costs of the 45 people injured due to this languishing the last 5 years is more than the costs of construction for the 1.5 miles of the connector.
And last link is a little humor: 20 problems only modern roadies have
And I am finally devoid of any more links to include.
Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet
Witch on a Bicycle 