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
Witch on a Bicycle 