Large hunks of links are from Twitter, and the rest of the Feed

It takes longer to filter, but I’m finding more and better links on Twitter than I do in my Feed Folder in my e-mail. I think that may be due to having humans directly sending me the links from the articles as they post. Whatever the reason, I’m glad I can give you better links than I used to.

Up first, LEO have found the driver who killed a cyclist earlier this week. PD: Police identify woman who struck, killed bicyclist in Pasadena They haven’t arrested her, just “talked” to her.

More on the cyclist killed in MN by a driver who crossed the entire road to hit him. UMD mourns staff member killed while bicycling in Hermantown and SUV fatally hits bicyclist in Hermantown heading other way on shoulder I’m still trying to figure out why the driver is not in jail for this.

Since we are in “old wreck” mode at the moment, more on the cyclist killed in CA during a time trial event. In the News: Cyclist killed by car in California TT race and CHP Finds a New Way to Blame the Bicycle Rider Yep, getting blamed for the driver that hit you in your lane is pretty low, even for the CHP. Seriously, what would Jon and Ponch say? More Cyclist killed in Esparto was experienced Foster City rider

Still in CA, a hit-and-run driver attempts murder when the victim catches back up to him. Driver charges at cyclist, carries him on hood and Caught On Camera: San Francisco Cyclist Ends Up On Windshield In Apparent Hit-And-Run So two hit-and-run incidents, one that might have only cost the driver a ticket for violating the 3-feet-to-pass law, and a second that might end up with assault charges.

Another AZ cyclist hit from behind in the bike lane. Bicyclist killed in northwest Tucson collision I have lost count of the number of cyclists hit from behind in the bike lanes of AZ this year, but it seems to be too common even if there were only two. The danger zone in this wreck was the mixing zone before the turn lane. The driver failed to yield to the vehicle in front (the cyclist) and killed the cyclist as a result. I know what will stop wrecks like this, but I don’t know how well it would fly in the current legislative climate. When you hit a cyclist you lose your car, 90 days if there was no or non-serious levels of injury, a year for transport to hospital wrecks, and forever if the cyclist dies from injuries or in case of hit-and-run.

Not a bicycle wreck, but indicative of what you could expect as a cyclist if you get hit. NYPD: “No Criminality” as Cab Driver Runs Over Kids on Bronx Sidewalk and TLC: Driver Who Hit Children on Bronx Sidewalk Works for Uber [Updated] The car went completely across the sidewalk and bounced off the building that a commenter stated was 20-25 feet away from the curb, and in the video I thought I saw the left front wheel pointed towards the camera which means the suspension was broken when it hit the curb. I estimate the vehicle speed at 40-50 MPH. But the NYPD doesn’t suspect any criminality for driving 40-50 MPH on the sidewalk full of kids… TANJ!

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Cedillo condemns calls for safer streets, Coronado madness round 3, and more bighearted people Cedillo needs to be charged as an accessory for all the people killed and maimed since he stopped the North Figueroa project literally days before it was to begin for no apparent reason. I still say follow the money.

A restaurant named after the great Eddy Merckx. The Cannibal, a restaurant and butcher shop coming to Culver City, with bike valet Free beer when you wear your bike kit into the establishment.

A CT cyclist gets injured and he’s the guy responsible for getting other people to live more healthy. Norwalk Director of Public Health injured in bicycle accident over weekend This sounds like a buzz job to me. Or maybe a “punishment pass” for daring to ride in the street.

There are good people in this world. Woman injured riding bike wants to thank stranger who helped her Fortunately they filled the pothole but unfortunately not until after her wreck.

Another buzz job in NC kills another NC cyclist. Cyclist dies in road accident Another driver driving too fast to stop in the distance he could see clearly blames the victim for not wearing a glow-in-the-dark clown suit with body armor.

If you are going to carry cocaine on your person, know that you don’t have to submit to a search until after you get arrested, and put some lights on your bike. Bicycle stop leads to cocaine arrest “The pill bottle contained 0.2 grams of powder cocaine” or not enough to get a chihuahua high, much less an adult human being.

Another Wounded Warrior ride north of WoaB. Injured Service Members Ride toward Recovery in Oklahoma’s Capital City If you’re in the area give these guys a cheer when they ride by.

A wreck in Oz involving two cyclists and a car and they can’t figure out who was where and which way they were going. Cyclists injured in Monaro Highway crash How crazy is that?

Also in Oz they have another wreck they are trying to decipher. Police appeal for witnesses after cyclist injured – Dora Creek

Last link, I’m sure you are the kind of person who always makes sure the quick releases on your bike are done up tight, but you brother-in-law hasn’t checked his since Clinton was in office so he might want to check this out. Thirteen bike companies recall models over disc brake/QR concern This is the same QR as the Trek recall only on other manufacturer’s bikes.

And I’m out of links again for the day. Grocery day tomorrow.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

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It’s Bean Day again, and the Feed.

Yep, I’m slaving over a hot slow-cooker, stirring and adding spices and seasonings, to make the perfect pot of beans and rice. Still working on that, but I’m getting closer. Now it just so happens that I’m making beans because I like this particular dish, not because I can make 3 dinners for 2 people for about $0.75, but the fact that I can make this for that small amount of money is a good thing right now… As in there was only $5 to spend for groceries last week and the pantry is getting mighty bare, and we are dipping into the Strategic Ramen Reserves… I will be so glad when the check comes in and we have a positive bank balance.

My mood today without coffee:

i hope you are all having a dark as hell national coffee day http://t.co/gYUGA5MdPd pic.twitter.com/JjMOnsu1gz

— rstevens Ʒ (@rstevens) September 29, 2015

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
BTW I want that coffee cup…

Up first are updates on fatal wrecks, this one recent. Driver charged in deadly cyclist crash and Driver charged in Brecksville crash that killed two cyclists It’s a pity that those are all misdemeanor charge in OH, and that this is about as severely as a driver driving on the wrong side of the road and hitting 5 people can be charged.

The older wreck is at trial. Cyclist’s fatal injuries in hit-run detailed in court That sounds about right for a cyclist hit head-on by a car driving on the wrong side of the road in excess of the speed limit. I sincerely hope this driver is sentenced to the maximum permitted by law.

Speaking of drivers on the wrong side of the road, here’s a third. Cyclist killed after being hit by SUV and Superior man struck, killed while riding bicycle another one Cyclist Dies After Being Hit by Vehicle I’m sure there was no other meaning for the second headline than identifying the cyclist’s town of residence, but IMHO it also described the stature of the victim. Why the driver was not arrested and taken to jail at the scene is still up for question.

And refreshed and ready to go after taking a Mental Health Day it’s our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Gov. Brown signs hit-and-run alert law, bike park meeting Wed night, and SCAG says Go Human

Also in CA. Cyclist hit, killed in Mira Mesa “They” say the cyclist ran a red, but the only two people there were the cyclist and the driver that killed him.

LEO “proving” they are limited in IQ in the big city. Lee says he’ll veto legislation OKing rolling stops for cyclists Whoops, sorry that’s the mayor, Lee, not LEO.

Still in CA, in the same city as Duh Mayer up there. Mother Credits Police With Spending Time, and Money, to Help Injured Son Thus proving not all LEO are heartless. And if it seems like I’m a little hard on LEO most of the time, there is a reason for that: my son-in-law was recently promoted to chief of police in the town he serves.

More information about that cyclist killed during a time trial event in CA. Spoiler alert, it was the driver’s fault for making an unsafe pass. Cyclist Hit, Killed By Car During Time Trial Near Esparto The driver moved to pass a cyclist going one way, and ran head on into the cyclist going the opposite direction in the other lane.

Update on the ID kid hit and dragged riding home from school with his Dad. Boise 5-year-old boy injured in minivan-bike crash, slowly recovering after surgeries I’m still waiting to hear about at least a ticket for hitting a little boy riding legally with his father. Buehler?

And I’m with Maus on this one. Let’s find these tricycles stolen from a 65-year old wheelchair user The hand bike at least should have tipped the thieves that this was not a person that should get ripped off…

Another KY cyclist gets hit. Man injured in bicycle accident in Philpot Dogs are a constant problem in the rural South. And almost impossible to avoid.

Back in MI. Longtime physician at Bronson killed while riding bicycle Nothing on what happened, just who it happened to.

Back in Portland, infrastructure news. TriMet adjusts Orange Line crossing plans after community opposition – UPDATED Still planning on using the trailer-trapping gates at one crossing, but that is somewhat of an improvement. They had been planning on all three crossings having the bike traps installed. I still don’t see what the problem is with using the regular train crossing guards that have been in use for decades.

Still in PDX, I’m not certain how to classify this link. Portland company’s “Pot Tour” by bike includes free joint My brain chemistry won’t handle pot, I get a headache and then go to sleep since the wreck (even on the “contact high”).

Two links to a wreck in far West Canuckistan. Kelowna Cyclist Killed After Collision with Car and Cyclist killed in Kelowna car crash Some serious questions here, as they claim the deceased cyclist ran the stop sign, which can’t be proven or disproven after the wreck, but at the same time “don’t know” if the cyclist was wearing a helmet, which is easy to prove or disprove by just looking for the helmet at the scene. And for the sake of this particular wreck I’m going to go by the “car” version of running a stop sign, which is come to a stop then go.

A little infrastructure news from Oz. Cycling lane dividers have little impact on safety: government report

Also from Oz, the true story of how VW was brought down by 4 college researchers. The who, what and why of Volkswagen’s diesel scandal Yep, one of the drawbacks of the diesel engine is the high compression ratio and initial burn temperatures cause much more NOx emissions than spark ignition engines. There are catalysts that break up the NOx back into N₂ and O₂ but they can only do so much, which is where the delicate mixture control of the computer feedback controlled injection came in. It is my understanding that turbocharging is actually beneficial to this process by reducing the CR required to maintain the compression ignition and reducing that contribution to NOx production.

And those were all the links I had today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Things are weird again, and the Feed

Things are back to what passes for “normal” here at WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. In anyone else’s this would be slightly out of kilter, but for us it’s “just life”. Except for being out of coffee. I haven’t been this low on caffeine since the Great Coffeepot Meltdown of 2013, when we had 2 coffeemakers expire 2 days out of warranty each and I had to go without coffee for almost a week after the second one died. Now that was truly horrible…

Up first on an uncharacteristically light Monday Feed is this hit-and-run outside Houston. Pasadena PD investigating after cyclist found dead in front of bank I’m still trying to grasp what makes a broken bike, dead cyclist, and no driver remaining at the scene an “alleged” hit-and-run.

More on the left cross wreck of a driver turning through a paceline of 8 cyclists hitting 5 and now the death toll has risen to 2. 2nd cyclist dies 7 days after crash in northeastern Ohio I keep reading the cyclists were all well past the intersection and that the driver had crossed over into the oncoming lane of travel, but so far I have only seen one crime scene picture that corroborated that. I linked to that picture last week.

First of a long series of links from CA. Woman identified in crash involving bike, car People keep saying the teen driver in this case was not “distracted” and that he was a “good driver”. If that is in fact the case, this “good driver” deliberately ran into the back of a plainly visible cyclist in bright sunshine.

Cyclist hit during a time trial. Bay Area cyclist struck, killed near Esparto during event Nothing from this article on how the wreck happened.

I don’t know what to say about this wreck. Bicyclist Killed on the Milpitas-San Jose Border Cyclist was riding salmon at night, with no lights or reflectors. What was he thinking?

Our Daily Ted has Ted taking a Mental Health Day. Let’s call it a sick day Since I have done these a time or two (and eventually decided to take Saturday completely off and Sunday as a no-bicycle-links day) I can’t say as I disagree with the sentiment.

And of course you can’t make the dog quit hunting… Sidewalk cyclist killed in Cathedral City

Daily Ted, part 3. San Diego bike rider killed in foggy, early morning Mira Mesa crash after allegedly running red light

And just to show how poorly that Mental Health Day is working, part 4. Unidentified woman killed in Orange collision while riding in crosswalk

They’re still killing cyclists in FL. Ghost bike replaced to mark fatal date How bad are drivers in FL when a bike chained to the side of the road gets hit?

Drivers in KY miss the days when driver’s licenses were found in the bottoms of cereal boxes. Bicyclist Dead In Hit-And-Run Crash I’m sorry, those days are still here…

Another reported wreck where the cyclist was not paying full attention to the roads? Cyclist dies 4 days after being hit by bus That sounds an awful lot like a SWSS. I wonder if anyone reviewed the forward-facing camera footage? Because this sounds an awful lot like that wreck where the bus ran over the cyclists in CA, and the driver said she pulled over to pass and the cyclists “swerved in front of her”.

Serious wrecks outside of NYC. Bicyclist killed in Yonkers; arrest in Garrison crash Apparently Yonkers PD is no more competent than NYPD to their south. But at least in the second part of the story they arrested another driver for hit-and-run on a cyclist.

More from CA of a not-so-bad nature. Bike ride honors EMS personnel, stops in Vallejo

You know what would make this cool for the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell? Having enough bike lanes to make having a closure policy. Trail closure policy for construction and special events We have trails, but all they do is loop around whatever park they are placed.

A CT infrastructure demonstration. New bicycle tour of New Britain attracts 250 According to the guy who sent me this link they managed to hit almost every foot of bike infrastructure in the city with this tour.

A near-tragedy in far West Canuckistan. SUV crumples bike Sidewalk cyclist narrowly avoided getting hit by a driver not looking where the car was going.

Another ghost bike means another dead cyclist. Ghost bike left in memory of Montreal cyclist I hate Ghost Bikes. Not because I hate the sentiment behind them, the sense of loss, the casual waste of human life they represent. I hate the fact that every one that goes up means another cyclist has died by motor vehicle…

And we get another cyclist hit by a train on the same crossing as one was killed earlier this year. Edmonton police investigate collision between bicyclist and LRT train I have posted many, many times about how to not get hit by a train, but the simplest and still the most effective is the “don’t be there” method.

And now I’m out of links, thank [$DEITY].

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Another busy day at church on a Wreck-Free Sunday

This has been a very busy day, what between 2 services at church, a committee meeting, and getting ready for pot luck, and a supermoon total lunar eclipse on the one hand, and a Chase Race in the Sprint Cup on the other.

Let’s cover the Sprint Cup race first. It was a 300 lap race around the 1 mile flat oval at Loudon NH, and most of the race was dominated by Kevin Harvick in the 4 Chevrolet SS, and once again I had trouble staying awake for the first ²/₃ of the race. Happy Harvick wasn’t running away like the guy did last week in ChiTown, but it was pretty bad. Then it turned into a fuel economy race, and things started to get interesting, even though visually it was still the same race. Again it became a nail-biter of wondering who would run out of gas first, the guy in front or one of the guys behind him. This time Harvick ran out with 2 to go, giving Kenseth the lead, and most of the top 10 lead lap cars ran out on the white flag lap, except Kenseth, who won by a wide margin what with most of the lead lap cars having to get pushed by lap down cars to get back to the pits after the race was over. There were a lot of teams betting they would be the last ones to run out and betting wrong.

The other interesting moment was Kyle Busch blowing a right front tire and hitting the wall, because it totally changes the Chase for him to not finish the race and I don’t know if they got that car back out on the track before the checkered flag.

For evening service we had the first Veritan public Full Moon, which was a little rough around the edges mostly because this was their first public Full Moon and they didn’t quite have a handle on what a FM means in their theology. I know what it means in mine, but I’m not Veritan, I’m Eclectic Pagan. In my theology, a FM is time to celebrate women as well as mark the slide of the seasons from one to another. The quarters and cross quarters also mark the changes of the seasons but more abruptly and more male. I’m not going to get into any arguments about one being “better” because neither and both are “better”. You just have to go with what works for you and let it ride from there.

Also the Supermoon was peeking in and out of a high thin cloud layer tonight and was not really all that impressive because of it, although the dim red thing hanging in the east was cool when there were no clouds blocking it.

And that’s all I got tonight, aside from a severe case of allergy nose and eyes.

PSA, Opus

What does Boehner resigning mean for cycling, and the Feed

As I was running through the e-mails and web comics this morning I was assaulted by a certain orange-faced politician’s picture repeatedly. Clicking through revealed that the current Speaker of the House is quitting before Halloween. Now I really don’t like Mr Boehner for his stands on many subjects that are near and dear to my heart, particularly his stands on bicycle infrastructure in 2009 and earlier, but in this case we have a “devil you know” situation as far as active transportation is concerned, all the “heir apparents” are worse to terribly worse for bus, bike and pedestrian transportation modes. Unfortunately with my memory for names being what it is I can’t even Google the people next in line.

Up first, the drunk driver on the wrong side of the road was told by a passenger that he hit a cyclist prior to leaving the scene. After crash, son asked if Pardo ‘killed a person’ And a second passenger said he saw the bike spinning away, so he knew right away he had probably killed a person.

I had to put this one near the top of the queue. Cyclist charged with throwing keys of driver who hit him down drain Driver left-crosses the cyclist, cyclist survives the impact mosty unscathed but is now so hopped up on adrenaline that he would take on a momma bear and a cub, armed with a small stick, and reaches inside the car to remove the keys as far as possible from the driver and throws them in the storm drain… Yep, sounds about right.

Two links to a child cyclist riding home from school getting dragged under a minivan. Child Severely Injured in Bicycle, Minivan Crash in Boise and Boise minivan-bike crash sparks outpouring of concern, cash for critically injured 5-year-old You can see the gouges in the pavement left by the kid’s bike in some of the pictures that came with the second link. The cyclist was riding with his father home from school, so at this point we don’t know if the driver saw the father go and ran over the kid that went behind him, or what.

A GA driver makes a safe pass on a group of cyclists and they suddenly surround his vehicle, and then he “accidentally” hits one? And I have this bridge I need to unload. Bicyclist injured during confrontation with passing driver So, there were 4 cyclists involved and one was in the hospital with injuries, you couldn’t ask the cyclists what happened? BTW that bridge is currently located in AZ and will have to be moved.

A second cyclist died from that horrendous left cross wreck in OH where the driver hit 5 out of 8 cyclists in a paceline. UPDATE: Second cyclist dies in Brecksville crash and Brecksville crash claims second member of Akron Bicycle Club And still no mention of the name of the driver who was on the wrong side of the road and stopped several feet short of the intersection after hitting 5 out of 8 cyclists head on.

Motor vehicles are still the number 1 most deadly thing in NYC, even counting #pizzarat. DOT: Drivers Injured 1,323 Pedestrians and Cyclists in August, and Killed 14 These articles usually come with a table of statistics on who died, separating out drivers, passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians and what caused the wreck. What happened this month?

After a columnist for a major LA paper ranted about a road closure and taxing cyclists, someone took him to task on what a fair tax should be. Guest Editorial: A Fair Road Tax I calculated the fair use taxes for a fat guy on a bike (or a skinny guy riding a loaded cargo bike) back in 2006 using the AASHTO formula for computing the relative wear and came up with the lightest possible vehicle as 1100 fat guys on a bicycle, an option-loaded luxury SUV as 8000 fat guys on a bike, a mostly-empty semi and trailer at 10,000,000 fat guys on bikes, and a DOT max GVW semi and trailer as 160,000,000 fat guys on a bike.

This seems like a good time to link to our Daily Ted. Morning Links: LA Times columnist takes his anger out on us, and a section of LA River path closed for two years

Still in CA, another cyclist is hit from behind by a driver leaving the road to hit a cyclist riding on the shoulder. Woman killed in crash involving car, bike Seriously, they can’t figure out what caused the 17 YO driver to leave the road?

Schadenfreude! SF Cop Known For “Bike Crackdown” Rolls Through Stop Sign This was the guy who repeatedly said “Stop means stop,” while cars rolled through the stop signs behind him…

Still in CA. Antioch: Boy, 7, injured in bicycle collision with vehicle UGH! lethally bad infrastructure and kids.

Let’s get this straight: Cyclist killed because crap infrastructure is the only way from A to B, so bereaved family asks for better infrastructure so safer for cyclists and pedestrians who have to use to get from A to B. DOT says no, it will make the road too dangerous??? UPDATE: Family Asking for More Safety on Corridor G After Deadly Accident Tell me that’s not what it said, I’m sure I have to be imagining this.

Salmon cyclist hit by right-turning driver in UT. Bicyclist pinned under truck, seriously injured in collision near cemetery It was only taught by authorities for a few years in the ’60s and ’70s, but we are still seeing people getting hit because they were told to ride against traffic.

Drunken AZ cyclist falls off his bike and hits his head, and it’s all caught on video that we don’t get to see. Cyclist falls off bike and dies in hospital

Ever wonder what your city would look like without cars? Thanks to the Pope’s Visit, We Get a Preview of Car-Free Philly Looks pretty good to me.

Really, Portland’s transit system did not have a comprehensive bicycle plan? TriMet announces open houses for first-ever Bike Plan

And more infrastructure news from America’s Amsterdam. At open house, City hears overwhelming support for diverters on Clinton Diverters are wonderful devices that change a grid system to a cul de sac system for cars while retaining the grid for cyclists and pedestrians.

I thought this report from the Great White North was an update on the SIU report from earlier in the week but this is a separate incident. Cyclist allegedly fleeing Peterborough police struck by vehicle

Cyclist hit in Canuckistan. Youth cyclist hit by van in Grunthal At this point all they are saying is a kid riding a bike was hit by a van, very similar to the Boise wreck except nothing about a turning movement by the van.

They let this driver get away with murder. Carp firefighter sent to prison for drunk driving crash that badly injured cyclist OK not murder-murder as in dead cyclist, but they dropped the hit-and-run because he was too drunk to know he hit something? That’s insane.

And a cyclist doing a charity ride that was on his bucket list is killed within sight of his goal. Cyclist killed in crash and Brampton lawyer Ralf Jarchow killed during charity ride Wiped out on a rain-slick road on the final day of the trip.

And I’m outta links and ready to drop from exhaustion because it is after 0300 again.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Still basking in the post-party afterglow, and the Feed

Yep, things have been very rosy around Casa de El Poeta so far, very rosy indeed. I’m still eating the leftovers from the party, and enjoying my presents. And now I have to ruin it by reading about bike wrecks and crappy infrastructure. 😛 I guess there is only so long you can keep a great feeling going.

Up first I’m going to try to keep the good times feeling going with birthday boy Ted Rogers and our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Anti-bike lane madness grips Coronado, and OC police stop a one man bike-born crime wave

Staying in CA for a while. KTVU Stays Classy With Fearmongering Segment on “Bike Yield Law” Yep, thousands of pedestrians could be killed by stop sign running cyclists, except no they won’t. Two pedestrians have been killed by cyclists in S.F. since the turn of the century. That’s about S.F.’s normal pedestrian tally from motor vehicles in a week.

Still in CA, and another link to the driver who managed to kill a bicyclist and a motorcyclist on opposite sides of the road. Two killed in crash involving car, bike and motorcycle Not saying these guys are slow, but that wreck was 2 weeks ago. Still amazes me how someone could manage to kill 2 people on opposite sides of the road in the same wreck and not be actually trying to hit anyone. Just saying… :whistling:

Moving north and east of that wreck. Child severely injured in bicycle, minivan crash in Boise As the article is posted now they have no idea how the van ran over the kid, just that he was dragged about 40 feet after the initial impact and he was wearing a helmet (which does a bloody hell of a nothing against getting dragged by a motor vehicle).

South of the ID wreck we get a cyclist hit in my old college town. UPDATE: Bicyclist seriously injured in car crash “Vision problems”? As in “blind as a bat”. Yeah, if you “can’t see” a cyclist then you need to not drive. Seriously, of this guy wasn’t trying to hit the cyclist he needs to be taken off the roads permanently for incompetence, otherwise he needs jail and then permanent license revocation.

And moving north and east from the UT wreck we get a MT wreck. Cyclist Injured in Early Morning Crash They don’t even know which end of the bike got hit, but the cyclist only had a minor head injury? Possible buzz job with no bike damage, or possible salmon cyclist bailed in front of the weapon vehicle and not hit but the bike was mangled? Those are the only two scenarios that I can envision where the investigators can’t tell which way the bike was going from the damage it sustained. I’m betting on “buzz job” if only because the likelihood of jumping off the bike without getting hit is extremely low.

OK now we move to KS for another hit-and-run. Police find driver suspected of hitting cyclist, leaving scene and the reaction to the wreck Cyclists seek safer roads after hit-and-run wreck The debris looked like a hit-from-behind wreck.

Someone in NYC has a pair. Bronx DA Johnson Files Manslaughter Charge for Cyclist’s Hit-and-Run Death This was the cyclist killed riding the City Island Bridge earlier this month. That was a fast move by the DA, another thing not known to happen often in NYC when cyclists are killed or injured.

A cyclist is injured in GA. Macon cyclist critical after being struck by vehicle in Bibb County The cyclist was in a group of 3 and was the only one hit. This tells me the driver was not paying full attention to the road. And should probably be shot at dawn, smoking a low-tar cigarette.

Another one hit in IN ( I love that pun ). Bicyclist killed in accident on 500N Ugh! How can the make the claim that speed was not a factor when the driver was driving too fast to see what was in the road in front of him until he hit it?

They still kill cyclists in FL and every so often you have to take a break and remember the ones who died. Benefit ride for cyclist Chris Liddy Except this one didn’t die, was not riding his bike when he got hurt, and by all accounts seems to be a genuinely great guy. WoaB gives moral support (the only kind of support we can afford) to this ride.

And back in TX before rocketing across the globe, Houston wants better bike share. Houston Poised for Massive Bike-Share Expansion As at the moment we only have 1½ bike lanes in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell we are not yet ready for bike share.

Cyclist down in the Great White North. Cyclist injured in collision with van Nothing explicit on the mode, but implicit was the cyclist was directly in front of the weapon vehicle when he was hit from the right side. We may be dealing with a stale green wreck on this one.

And still more bad news for the drunk that killed 2 cyclists and his passenger in far West Canuckistan. Whistler cyclist’s wife sues car’s driver, owner, after husband killed in crash Yep, the guy driving was not the owner…

More good news from Jolly Olde. Serious injuries among Britain’s cyclists rising three times faster than distance ridden Given how hard it is to measure miles and minor injuries things may be even worse than they appear.

Last link, what if US law was like UK laws that allow people injured by bad infrastructure (both design and maintenance) to sue the responsible party? What If Traffic Engineers Were Held to Safety Standards Like Carmakers?

And I’m all done for the day.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

PS. Yanno, if everybody who subscribed to this blog would send the equivalent of €0.02 for every post I would be able to buy groceries every week and not worry about always getting the store brands. Or I would have money to spend on building bikes from raw stock instead of using donor bikes for things like forks and rear dropouts.

Well now that that’s over back to the Feed

I had a great day on my birthday, ate too much, was shown much love by my D&D group, and generally had a good time. I’ll try to repeat the process again next year.

Some things are just sooooooo annoying. Pet peeve: bike infra designed by people who don’t ride bikes. It’s like virgins making sex toys for the opposite sex when all they’ve seen is pictures of the intended useage area, not to scale. And who have never seen porn either so they have no idea of what is supposed to go where. Or how. And this simile is starting to go off the rails, so I’ll stop while I’m behind.

There were two big themes in today’s feed: The drunken idiot driving on the wrong side of the road who claimed a human being was a pile of branches, More about the truck that turned left into a line of 8 cyclists and only managed to hit 5 and kill 1, and the whole rest of the bunch of hit-and-runs, of which there are legion.

So, scum bucket first. Lawyer: Driver in crash that killed cyclist thought he hit tree branches and Witnesses describe finding cyclist’s body And the rest of the links seem to have vanished when the computer crashed. Anywho, suffice it to say this guy gives “scum” a bad name. The cyclist was lighted and reflectorized well beyond the legal minimums, but that didn’t stop the defense lawyer from trying to blame the cyclist for being there to get hit by a drunk driver on the wrong side of the road.

Next up is more on the truck driver that missed 3 of 8 cyclists riding legally in the road. Bike ride in Cuyahoga Valley ends in tragedy for Plain Township father and Two bicyclists remain hospitalized after crash that killed man in Brecksville also FATAL CRASH KILLS ONE, INJURES FOUR this too “CRASH” NOT “ACCIDENT” and the letter “CRASH” NOT “ACCIDENT” Again I see reports that the driver of the weapon vehicle crossed the centerline a considerable distance before the intersection hitting the cyclists well after they crossed the intersection, and added to that the weapon vehicle stopped 20 feet before reaching the point at which he could have turned. The driver was either driving by braille, or terminally stupid. My bet is on the latter.

Speaking of terminally stupid, a drunk driver took out an Interstate-riding cyclist, for a case of the double-stupids. Driver arrested in death of bicyclist on I-94 in Minneapolis and Alexandria man hit, killed while riding bike on I-94 also Bicyclist riding in traffic lane on I-94 in Mpls. is hit, killed Near as I can tell from Google Maps there were plenty of alternate routes for the cyclist to take in that area, and there was no reason to be on the freeway. The closest area where the freeway could be considered a barrier to non-motorized traffic was several miles from where he was hit.

Since we didn’t have a post yesterday we have a surfeit of Daily Ted to share. Morning Links: 2nd officer faulted for beating of South LA bike rider, and a sad old song about careless drivers

And yesterday’s Daily Ted. Morning Links: Gov. Brown approves bike rider traffic school, too much Seth, and Peter Flax pens two must reads

And a sad one. Oxnard woman killed in bicycling fall in Port Hueneme

And because I feel like bouncing all the way to other side of the continent… Clinton Street Bike Lane Critics Tell DOT Officials They’ll Have Blood On Their Hands Oh Noes! I will get hit by deadly deadly cyclists if you give them a safe place to ride. /s

On the same subject but a broader perspective. DOT: NYC to Install Record Number of Protected Bike Lanes in 2015

Pretty pictures that most local DOT will gleefully ignore. Massachusetts’ Bikeway Design Guide Will Be Nation’s Most Advanced Yet

Hey lets go back to MN for no particular reason except this link. State DOT Wants to Get Drivers Off the Highways

This CA hit-and-run wreck could have been worse. Anaheim collision injures bicyclist; police arrest driver on suspicion of felony DUI As far as I can tell from the narrative the cyclist has serious but recoverable injuries, but since this seems to be three different reports mashed together, who knows. At this time the injuries are at least not life-threatening.

Another one of the hit-and-runs I mentioned at the top of the article. Local cyclist on mission to find hit-and-run driver who injured her Forensic scientists should be able to connect the mirror left behind to the make and model of weapon vehicle, assuming it’s OEM. So why does the victim not know what kind of vehicle hit her?

I don’t know if [grrrr] or [sigh] is the better lead-in for this. Bicyclist fatally struck by car on 47th Avenue This certainly looks like a SWSS wreck.

Another wreck that elicits the sigh or growl response. CHP Releases Name of Lompoc Cyclist Killed On Highway 154 Near Lake Cachuma The driver “attempted to pass the rider from behind and for unknown reasons, they collided,“. At least they aren’t claiming the cyclist was the agent of his own death.

Another driver giving scum bad name, this time in OR. Seriously injured woman faces soaring medical bills after hit on bike

An the hit-and-runs just keep coming. Fund set up to help injured University of Alabama student hit while riding bicycle

I have never seen a more convoluted way of blaming the cyclist for a driver’s mistakes. Lake in the Hills boy injured after bike collides with vehicle Really, the bike path crossed the driveway, making the bike path the through street, and they are trying to say that traffic in the left turn lane somehow had something to do with the wreck caused by the driver turning right from the driveway? Oh and “the sun was in my eyes” excuse? LAAAaaammme!

Another SWSS wreck. Bedford Teen Suffers Minor Injuries After Bicycle Struck By Vehicle At least this time the cyclist managed to ride away with minimal injuries.

Still another SWSS/SWCC wreck. Cyclist hit by car in Colonial Place seriously hurt Seriously, I’m getting a little frustrated at all the “suddenly entered the road from a sidewalk” and “swerved from the shoulder” reports today.

An indictment of L.A. infrastructure and LEO. The Ride of Way: A View of Los Angeles from a Bicycle Seat

In far West Canuckistan things just keep getting worse and worse for an accused killer driver. Family of well-known cyclist killed in Pemberton crash sues for negligence And there are still two more victims to be heard from, plus the cyclist he only grazed in the wreck. See, life just keeps getting better and better for him.

And from the Great White North. Cyclist injured, SIU investigating downtown crash “The SIU is automatically called in when there is a death, serious injury or allegation of sexual assault involving police.” WTF?

Also from the Great White North. Cyclist injured in collision with car Yeah this paragraph originally had a question mark because I missed the ON in the town description. anyway, left cross, you can read the protocols page just like I can and I need more page view clicks.

Ordinarily I don’t do breaking reports from Jolly Olde. Cyclist seriously injured in collision with two cars near Ashford I think you can deduce why I’m linking this one, the cyclist is still alive after getting hit by two cars. The dude is as tough or tougher than I am.

Something better and infrastructure-ish from Jolly Olde. Interactive map shows every London crash in which a cyclist was killed or seriously injured since 2005 This could come dangerously close to becoming a street map of London.

A drunk driver in Oz. Cyclist injured in Rockingham crash At least he didn’t hit-and-run.

The tester who passed this driver wasn’t real happy about it, but passed him anyway. Elderly motorist had ‘borderline’ driving skills before hitting cyclist, witness tells Adelaide inquest This is why testers should default to failing in case of a doubt. The alternative is giving Mr. Magoo a howitzer.

A hit-and-run follow-up. Man charged after cyclist injured in hit-and-run in Perth suburb of Mount Pleasant I don’t think that’s bondo on the front fender.

Two links to another hit-and-run in Oz. Cyclist injured in early morning Kwinana Beach crash and Cyclist injured in early morning Kwinana Beach crash At least this driver used the passenger side of the vehicle…

The latest fashions in foam hats. Preview: Bicycle Helmets for the 2016 Season The only thing I see worth while would be the “enduro” full-face helmets with adequate ventilation for long rides but protection good enough for downhill or street use, something that might have a shot at protecting your head in a wreck with a car.

And last link is a guy having a good ride in the early morning darkness. 5:33am: guy rides up our street blasting music weekly

And either I’m out of links or I’m out of sanity, and I don’t want to bet on either one right now.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Here’s hoping someone paid attention to my B-Day list, and the Feed

I’m going to start this post with a program note, I won’t be doing a post tomorrow because I have been told that I will probably get “kidnapped” again for my birthday like I was a couple of weeks ago to play D&D. So I’m just going to plan on it so nobody gets worried if there isn’t any post. I may still do a post anyway if the “kidnapping” thing is just a ploy to distract me from what’s really going on.

Anywho, tomorrow I will be turning 57. And now I have two ages, the one since I died in the wreck, and the one since my mother went through hours of pain to pop me out. Thanks Mom! My list of desired things is not very long this year as I have accumulated enough junk in my life that I don’t really need much, and it’s the same list as I had for my Deathday: A working string trimmer (you can swipe the busted ones out of the garage and fix them as far as I care), and some more d6 for RPG. And maybe a car. 😀

Up first because links, and national international attention, is the White House staffer killed on a charity ride. Obama ‘heartbroken’ as White House employee killed and White House staffer and husband of Fox News personality dies in tragic cycling accident also Cyclist, a White House staffer, dies in collision with SUV in Howard County this too Cyclist, a White House staffer, is hit and killed in charity ride not done yet White House staffer killed in charity bike ride recalled for ‘brilliant mind,’ giving heart still more White House tech advisor killed by car during charity bike ride in Maryland; Obama calls him ‘one of the best’ another one Obama Mourns White House Staffer Jake Brewer and Officially From The White House “Jake devoted his life to empowering people and making government work better for them.”

After that, we need some Daily Ted. Morning Links: LA Mobility Plan under fire in Sherman Oaks tonight, and bike theft warnings in Brentwood

This is an interesting pair of links. Column: Safety in Numbers for Cyclists More cyclists means fewer injury wrecks per cyclist. Better infrastructure means more cyclists. More cyclists means more demand for better infrastructure and fewer injuries per cyclist.

The counterpoint to this link. When cyclists die: A closer look at Dane County crashes between bicycles and motor vehicles Most wrecks are at least partially if not wholly the fault of the driver of the weapon vehicle. Whodathunkit? (Except most of the regular readers of this blog, I mean.) Only one of the wrecks presented in the article could be blamed on the rider, who had a documented history of mental health problems and was a firm advocate of the “You can’t hit what you can’t see” bike ninja philosophy.

And this SC wreck looks familiar, but I couldn’t find anything about it in the post where I would have posted anything about it. Aiken County man fatally struck while riding his bicycle and Gloverville Man Killed in Bicycle Crash The thing about this that bothered me was the blaming the cyclist, and claiming his grocery bags were blocking the taillight. I haven’t seen the bike, but seriously how would they know where the grocery bags were on the bike prior to the wreck if the guy died was unconscious at the scene? Getting hit from behind has a tendency to disarrange the back end of a bike…

More on the left cross of 8 cyclists in OH. Bicyclist killed in Brecksville crash identified as Canton man and Mother of slain bicyclist makes plea to drivers Interesting comments in that first link as people rode/drove out to the scene and looked at the physical evidence and reported back that the driver seemed to have hit most if not all the cyclists long before he got to the intersection, which explains how he could near-miss and hit so many of the victims.

Memorial for the rider killed by a deranged driver during the Horsey Hundred bike ride. Memorial ride planned for Lexington man killed while riding his bike

This PA cyclist was hit-from-behind as well as hit-and-run. 24-year-old killed after being struck while riding bicycle on Steubenville Pike and Cyclist Killed By Hit-And-Run Driver In North Fayette Twp.

Another example of why NYPD is hated. 24th Precinct CO: We’re Making Streets Safer by Cracking Down on Cyclists I have posted this before, and I post it again here: for ever pedestrian struck or killed by a cyclist, there were 250 struck or killed by drivers. Ticketing cyclists takes manpower away from the real killers in the city, by 8 binary orders of magnitude or 2½ decimal orders.

MA cyclist spaces out and hits a car, nobody dies. Bicyclist injured after hitting motor vehicle in Bridgewater The only way this report makes sense is what one of the comments said, the cyclist was trying to make the turn too fast and slid out.

NOLA has a bike death problem. Hundreds of NOLA cyclists fill street for ‘ghost ride’ It has been recognized, but one of the biggest problems in dealing with the problem is entitled drivers who think the streets and roads are theirs and theirs alone. I reiterate my suggestion that hitting a cyclist or pedestrian results in the instant loss of the weapon vehicle to crushing and recycling.

A wreck victim on the road to rehabilitation. Hollingsworth returns to the road with a new vision

Meanwhile in Oz… Police hunt for person who hit professor and left him injured on ground

Slow building infrastructure in Jolly Olde. Rye bike path opens 11 years after cyclist’s death Yeah stopping construction for 6 years tends to slow things down a bit…

This sounds like tons of money for bike infrastructure until you stop and think this is 1 mile of urban Interstate Highway… Colorado Will Spend $100 Million to Become “Best State for Biking” And less than 2% of the CO highway budget…

And a little e-assist news to wind up the post. LAS VEGAS PLANT CRANKS OUT LITHIUM BATTERIES Ping is one of the best-known and most highly respected of the commodity e-assist battery pack vendors.

And I’m out of links and patience.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

I’m late because Dallas Pride Day on Wreck-Free Sunday

Yeah, short post tonight. I worked a 2:15 shift in the HRC booth at Dallas Pride Day today, quietly letting people know about membership options and what we do at HRC. Yes, I said “we”, because I am a dues-paying member of the Human Rights Campaign (two years now, officially). Fortunately the day was cloudy and cool, but dry. I don’t know how we managed that, but I’m certainly not going to complain about it. After my shift I made a lap around the festival area picking up about 6 pounds of swag of varying degrees of usefulness (I now have enough SPF 15 chap stick to last for a couple of years, and I also have several dozen condoms of varying sizes with about a half-dozen lube samples). I also picked up 3 grocery totes including one that is insulated for frozen and refrigerated foods, and 3 more drawstring bags/backpacks. The grocery totes will always be useful (until they wear out), but I guess the drawstring bagpacks will just hang around gathering dust because I already have stacks of those from other places where they throw around a buncha free stuff. There are some of those that are falling apart because they were not made too well to begin with and they have seen at least one year of hard service totin’ stuff around, so those will get put in recycling and the new ones rotated into service as the old ones expire.

Anyway, after the festival I was supposed to get a quick D&D session in, but one of our players was in the Pride Parade with the Sisters of Indulgences and nobody could contact her to find out if she wanted to play. Turns out that after the parade the Sisters were granting indulgences in exchange for “adult” beverages for a couple of hours after the parade, because have you ever walked a mile and a half in stiletto heels? It hurts the feet and exhausts the calves and nobody wanted to move after the parade, and they had to leave their phones turned off so as to not interrupt the important business of Pride Day. So our healer was incommunicado most of the day, and as she and the DM are GGF there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth (not really, worried looks and frantic phone calls with no answers). With no healer and no tank because I didn’t know my character sheet was at home well there wasn’t much reason for playing a game that was almost guaranteed a TPK. So when our Wayward Sister finally returned we went to Taco Bell for dinner because we were all about to pass out from hunger.

Then I came home. The End (headdesk).

PSA, Opus

The Long Day just got longer, and the Feed

Friday is my day that doesn’t end until halfway through the next morning, because I wait until the midnight posting to my Feed Folder in my e-mail. Usually though I get enough links to filter that I don’t get a lot of downtime, or I go out and do something and get the post started way after 1800 so that I’m not just sitting around and waiting for links. But today I have the coincidence of nothing on my social calendar combined with nothing in the 1200 post to the Feed Folder leaving me with very few links and lots of time to look at them…

Because why not? I’m putting the Daily Ted first. Morning Links: Protect your bike on Metro buses, motorists behaving badly, and more kindhearted people

Just down the road from WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. Few Protections for Cyclists

Proving that it can be done, NJ demonstrates how. Man indicted in hit-and-run crash that killed cyclist Wow, three felony charges including two homicides.

And in the UK… Alan Cartwright murder: Joshua Williams guilty of cyclist’s fatal stabbing Proving that cyclist’s lives are only valued when they are killed by something other than a motor vehicle.

Back in CA, where is his bike? Man ‘Sleeping’ in Bike Lane Was Victim of Hit-and-Run Crash: Police I think the CHP officer that reported the man “sleeping” will be called in for re-training soon.

CO cyclist is blamed for getting right hooked. Cyclist injured in crash with SUV “The motorist was not at fault, but the responding officer used “officer discretion” and decided not to cite the cyclist, Cunningham said.” Umm, driver turning across a pedestrian crossing and hitting someone in that crossing is most definitely at fault, unless the person is crossing against the light. And I bet the only one the officer talked to was the driver.

A driver left crosses 8 cyclists, hits 5, and kills one. Bicyclist killed in Brecksville truck accident, others injured And the comments section goes wild, blaming the cyclists… SMH

Update on a cyclist hit in the Great White North. Cyclist hurt in Oshawa collision expected to recover I hate that LEO are still trying to excuse the driver because the visibility was restricted by rain and darkness…

And update on a wreck in Canuckistan. Police seek more info on injured cyclist I don’t see what the problem is, the cyclist was left crossed. That is automatically the fault of the driver no matter what the cyclist was doing.

In Finland they take hitting a cyclist seriously. Motorist who hit cyclist to be indicted on manslaughter, other charges The driver was seen to deliberately hit the cyclist during a road rage encounter…

Meanwhile in Oz. Cyclist seriously hurt, man killed in Mandurah in horror night on WA roads How do you hit someone from behind with the driver’s side of the car and drive off? More Cyclist injured in hit and run in Mount Pleasant, Perth

I have been making this argument from the other side for years… Breaking the Cycle Nobody in their right mind these days would blame women for wearing the “wrong” clothes or being in a bad part of town, at least in the Western world. Well we need to stop blaming cyclists for not wearing helmets or glow-in-the-dark clown suits when they get hit.

And I am out of links, and also my mind 😀

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet