I’m going to go to the Full Moon service at church tonight between filtering and posting, because it’s the Blue moon and because that is just something we do, celebrate the Full Moon. And before I do that I was invited to a D&D session, so this will probably go up very late. Back from the Moon, not a good service as the group that had been doing the services for the church removed the event from the Google calendar for the church but didn’t tell anyone about it, and nobody has been replying to texts or phone calls. The people who showed up did a quick and dirty blessing of the moon and went home. At least we had a good time at the D&D game.
Up first is Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: The Feds look at road diets, including three LA area case studies, though LADOT’s stats falls flat This link shows the importance of gathering good before and after data when doing a bike project. This kind of data is readily available going back decades for motor vehicles, almost nonexistent for bicycles.
The Big Story for today is the charity cyclist killed by a drunk texting driver across the state line from WoaB World HQ. Man Bicycling Across America Killed In Oklahoma Wreck and Distracted Driving To Blame For Fatal Crash In Washita County also Cross-Country Cyclist Killed, Another Injured After Being Hit By Distracted Driver this, too Cyclist Killed After Helping Tulsa Habitat For Humanity last link Cell phone distraction to blame in death of charity cyclist Basically it boils down to this: driver not paying attention to the road and only enough right-of-way to pave two lanes, one in each direction, plus a few rolling hills and BANG! two cyclists are hit from behind on the only route through that area. They were on what was reported to be a low-traffic route but it only takes one distracted driver to make a low-traffic road a death trap.
This is why hit-and-run needs to be treated like attempted murder. Second teen cyclist hospitalized after Metairie crash involving cabdriver And this is why any wrecks not reported need to be treated as a hit-and-run. The driver did not render aid, he threw money at the kids and left the scene. One of the kids had a broken hip. That is not something you get up and walk away from a wreck with. Second kid had a brain injury that kept him from thinking clearly at the wreck and went untreated until his mother took him to the ER. The driver needs to be taken into an alley and whacked with a frame pump a few dozen times about the head and shoulders.
In CA what had been reported as a salmon cyclist earlier has been changed. Cyclist hit by car suffers serious head injury The updated link now says only that the wreck is being investigated. I was thinking that the damages to the car and bike did not look like the results of riding salmon. Apparently the witness report has been discounted as unreliable now.
Good news as the GA cyclist who almost died when a road-raging cager made multiple passes in order to finally hit him returns to work over a year later. Injured cyclist Greg Germani returns to the airwaves Yay!
Aftermath of a FL car wreck with a bicycle. One Lee County bike crash changes many lives forever This was the wreck that I posted should have been charged as attempted murder after the driver said “I should have hit them harder”. Amazingly it wasn’t even charged as assault with a deadly weapon.
Another deadly wreck in IA leaves us with few answers. Riceville woman on bicycle struck, killed by car and Female bicyclist killed in Mitchell County IA has a minimum clearance passing law, but it is seldom invoked when a cyclist is struck from behind.
Today’s winner of the “crap infrastructure” tag. Injured bicyclist files $13.5M claim against Pima County The speed limit on that stretch was way too high to use a right turn mixing lane, by about 10 MPH. That design is intended for mixing low-speed motor vehicle traffic up to about 30 or 35 MPH. In addition there is supposed to be a sign instructing drivers to yield to cyclists when crossing the bike lane. That particular intersection was designed so that motor vehicles making a right turn did not have to slow below 20 MPH when making a protected right turn.
The PGH works to become more bike-friendly. More bike lanes coming to Oakland streets I just hope those bike lanes don’t turn into sharrows. Sharrows are the abstinence-only sex ed of bicycle infrastructure, you’re spending money and seem to be making the effort, but in reality you are not doing anything.
A Ghost Bike in MS. Ghost Bike Memorial Honors Pascagoula Cyclist
Another reminder that MI cyclists have to follow the same rules as motor vehicles, except when they don’t and have to pull off the road. Rules of the road
More on a wreck in the Great White North. Driver Charged After Cyclist Seriously Injured In Huron County Crash and Charges laid after cyclist injured If those are not the same wreck then it is an incredible coincidence that two women on triathlon bikes were hit by drivers failing to move over to pass.
And a little infrastructure news from the Great White North. Market St. Bicycle Corridor to provide an east-west trail linkl This is supposed to connect two bike paths/lanes that had hitherto been marooned amid hostile automobile-centric infrastructure.
Should bicycle infrastructure make cyclists less likely to get hit? Cycling fatality suggests safety be re-examined I say not just yes, but “Hell, yes!”
Also from the Great White North comes this review of a documentary. Bikes vs Cars: Documentary cycles through the motions without a theme When you try to be “too fair” to cars, you end up with a film that doesn’t really say anything about the problem of too many cars.
There isn’t any bias against cyclists in the UK legal system /s. Cyclist fined for leaving toddler with cuts and bruises after he hit her and rode off Compare this wreck where a cyclist hits a child and causes minor abrasions (admittedly painful but not life-threatening) to the cyclist killed by a driver failing to see him as he drove into the bike lane and hit the cyclist from behind. Cyclist hit the child in May and the trial was completed by the end of July, less than 3 months after the wreck. Driver hit the cyclist in 2013 and brought to trial in 2015, almost two years after the wreck. Cyclist was fined £829. Driver got 100 hours of community service for killing a cyclist, and 3 points on his license.
So, basically they will be ignored completely then? Tessa Jowell promises police ‘will enforce London’s 20mph zones like 30mph ones’
Yep that helmet really protected him… NOT. Injured cyclist: ‘My arm landed about 20ft away from me’ OK helmet in two pieces means the helmet failed to function in the job of protecting the rider’s head, and the severed arm? Yeah, it did about the same job there. And yes I’m being extra snarky tonight because my butt hurts from this chair, and I’m tired.
Some people get the message. Minister backs campaign to protect cyclists on Manx roads
And If I understand this article, the Bafang factory team won a 24 hour e-assist bike race. TEAM BAFANG WINS AT THE 24 HOUR E-BIKE RACE AT THE NURBURGRING IN GERMANY There is some stuff in this that screams “machine translated”. Like every paragraph.
And that’s it, I’m all done.
Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet
Witch on a Bicycle 