Getting ready for Yule, and the Feed

As part of the activities leading up to Yule this year my church is making a Yule Log to work beneficial magicks for the upcoming year. Since I have access to lots of wood following the ice storm I have chosen an arm-sized (one of my arms, so we’re not talking small here) hunk of ash from the front yard. Since this was a live tree just last week I have been using the oven at a low setting to force dry the wood so it lights easily and burns well. This has the delicious side effect of making the whole house smell like a burning ash log. This week we will be decorating and charging the log with desires and energy for the coming year and then Sunday after next we will burn the log in what will start as a solemn ceremony that turns to celebration when the log is consumed. Special beers and meads have already been selected for consumption. There will also be a selection of sausages and cheeses to go with the beers and mead. This is a tradition that hearkens back to pre-Christian Europe, so we’re gonna party like it’s 99BC 😉

Up first is a sort of wreck report and sort of lifestyle article from Houston. Houston bicyclists ride to honor woman killed in hit-and-run Cyclist killed riding on a residential street with on-street parking to act as traffic calming in a hit-from-behind wreck. Since residential areas are shared space under the Dutch model and traffic calming was already in place the only changes would be a lower speed limit and stricter enforcement of traffic laws when violations endanger pedestrians and cyclists.

I couldn’t believe that this took place just a few miles west of WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. Updatedx4: Teen Kills 4; Judge LITERALLY Lets Him Off Because He is Rich! Drunk kid runs into a crowd of people killing 4 and gets let off because he’s too rich!

Update on a FL hit-and-run where information is being withheld from LEO. Mom of teens in fatal hit-and-run suing suspected owner of Mercedes It seems the owner of the vehicle could be charged with interfering with an investigation unless invoking the 5th amendment right against self-incrimination.

Another MI cyclist is injured in a hi-and-run. College student injured in hit-and-run accident while riding his bike to work Aaaannnnd when they got back to the scene of the crime all that was left was the back wheel of the bike, all other evidence was taken either by the driver or confederates, or by ghouls looking to steal anything of value. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Apparently Milt Olin was hit by the only LACS cruiser without a dash cam. Sheriff’s deputy strikes, kills cyclist on Mulholland Hwy. Yes, the cruiser that hit the cyclist was not equipped with a dash cam. How they managed to do that is up for questioning, but that seems to be the case.

Also in CA a driver is charged after killing a cyclist while using a hands-free device. Ashley Bell charged after hitting, killing bicyclist while using hands-free device It’s the cognitive impairment caused by the phone call, not the inability to control the car with only one hand, that causes the wrecks. At least in this case they got it right.

Update on the CT driver that left-crossed a cyclist and left him for dead. Conn. man pleads not guilty to charges in road accident that fatally injured cyclist OK this is just SOP when dealing with the courts, everybody pleads not guilty unless they are facing such a mountain of evidence they think a guilty plea will get them a lower sentence.

In the Great White North another cyclist is injured by a chemically “enhanced” driver. Bonavista cyclist injured as driver charged with impaired Nothing on the mode in this article, so Infrastructure!

Infrastructure! news from CA. Fixed-gear bikes banned on county park trails OOoohh! can I get SUVs banned because one was present in a hit and run against a cyclist?

More from CA about infrastructure. SLO Ranks 7th Most Dangerous City for Cyclists That’s a ranking for CA cities, not US overall. Greater Miami is still the worst city for cyclists in the US.

AZ isn’t left out of the infrastructure news today, either. City rolls out pedestrian, cyclist safety campaign

More infrastructure from AZ. Cyclist calls for action from Marana PD The comments section should read “Cyclist calls for PD to enforce the laws, people get upset because cyclists break imaginary laws”.

Lifestyle from the Windy City. Community Rallies For Family Of Hector Avalos, Chicago Cyclist And Former Marine Killed In Crash

Another Lifestyle article. Bicycle brings newfound freedom to injured Stockton veteran

And lifestyle from Chuck aka Charleston SC. The Second Annual Bikes Brews & BBQ WoaB endorses this event. I especially endorse the pig riding a bicycle event poster.

And those were all the bike links that gave me fits today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

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I finally get to spend a whole day at home doing work, and the Feed

Today has seemed so… unrushed. I got up a little earlier than normal with pretty much nothing to do but read e-mail and web comics because I had already filtered the midnight report from the Feed, and when the mail came I did my thing with it and went back to reading the e-mail and then filtering the rest of the Feed when it came in about noon. Compared to yesterday where I spent most of the day with nothing to do until the bus got there today is almost languid. I mean sure I got lots of meditation in between and on the bus which does wonders for my BP and stress levels, it’s just that today seems more relaxed. I mean I haven’t wanted to kill anyone all day, which is rare for me. Yesterday I felt like I was always on the verge of a PTSD attack with the lack of ever getting anything done. That’s one of the reasons I spent so much time meditating.

Something Interesting happened while I was out waiting for one of the buses that I had to wait most of an hour for. Someone pulled off the street to ask if I needed some money. I must have some kind of invisible neon sign flashing that says “Give this guy money!” following me around because this isn’t the first time that has happened to me, not even the first time recently. I mean really, WTF? I just got an unsolicited $2k to buy a bike, then people stop me on the street trying to give me money. Not complaining, just confused.

A buzz job baffles authorities in AL. Police investigating man’s mysterious death in Tuscaloosa Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent. And teach LEO how to investigate a bicycle wreck.

Another cyclist added to the list that makes FL the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Bicyclist killed in Punta Gorda crash In this case the cyclist left-crossed himself so intersection protocols to avoid a similar wreck. Get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Update from NYC. Cyclist Killed In Possible Hit & Run Was Brooklyn Record Store Clerk I’m glad to see that this is getting treated seriously, but with the news that the cyclist killed “always wore a helmet”, the fact that there wasn’t one at the scene causes me to have pause.

A report on a CO man injured in CA. Colorado bicyclist hit and critically injured pedaling on Lake Tahoe highway Hit-from-behind at highway speed in the bike lane, good luck in avoiding that one. Infrastructure was clearly inadequate in this case and a “bike lane” that is nothing but a glorified shoulder on the road would not pass muster in the Netherlands. If you are going to go to the expense of doing it, do it right the first time.

Continuing in a CO vein, more on the alleged human being that left a bleeding cyclist unable to move in the middle of the street. Police: Suspect in hit-and-run that injured CSU student confessed to friends So now add perjury to the other charges against this alleged human, who would have been allowed to go her merry way had she stayed at the scene and been sober, and even if not sober now faces more prison time than she would have gotten for a non-fatal wreck while DUI. Seriously, people, think before you drive.

A SD man has to live with the consequences of killing a cyclist and doesn’t like it. Record not wiped for driver who struck, killed bicyclist Boo hoo, he has a felony record. He also has a dead man’s family that has not been compensated for the death of their loved one. The jail term and community service are a very mild price to pay for killing while DUI.

Back to CA for a sad report. OC bike rider died a week after she was trapped under car; 80th SoCal cycling death this year Right hook that was covered in this blog back when it happened.

That ditzy and dangerous UK driver that bragged about her hit-and-run of a cyclist on Twitter has been found guilty and almost-sort-of-punished. #Bloodycyclists motorist fined over bike collision and Cycle tweet motorist ‘did not think he was injured’ The driver only got around £700 in fines and fees, of which the cyclist gets goose egg for his being the victim.

Weak justice in Oz. Driver charged with hitting cyclist Hit-and-run from ages ago just now getting charged when he was caught the same day as the wreck?

Infrastructure! news from the US Gov’t. Bipartisan bills promoting bicycle and pedestrian safety introduced in U.S. House, Senate Ratcheting the safety spending up from less than 1% to anything permanently over that would be a good thing…

A cartoon about SC bicycle infrastructure. Stegelin: The racket over Riley’s racks

I guess this is sort of infrastructure-ish? Study: Northern Colorado hospitals see 80 percent increase in bicycle injuries Apparently CO has become a “target rich” environment for cyclist-haters to drive in? But that wouldn’t explain the increase in MTB wrecks.

And those were all the bicycle links that gave me fits today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

On pins and needles about the bike, and the Feed

Sometime shortly I will be handing over a rather large check and a sad, soulless BSO in the expectations of getting a Clyde bakfiets from a local cargo bike builder . Then tonight I will be attending the Full Moon at my church. The local Sumerians are putting on the Full Moon tonight so all I need to do is show up and participate. This is part of the church’s outreach to local Pagan groups.

Up first a LA cyclist gets squished, and the driver gets blamed? Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office investigates injury accident Intersection wreck, so protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent. And I’m shocked they blamed the driver.

A wreck in AL. Cyclist struck by car in Florence Nothing about the wreck except that it happened and the time of day.

Another link about the extremely drunk driver in ME that hit 3 cyclists, a parked car and then knocked a house off its foundation. Maine man pleads not guilty in bicyclist’s death My opinion on this one is not suitable for a “family” blog.

Another report on a MN wreck from earlier this week. PERSON RIDING A BIKE HIT BY CAR ON NORTHSIDE OF ST. CLOUD Intersection wreck still, protocols to avoid or to mitigate damage and get the infrastructure right to prevent. Looking at the Street View There was a stop sign for the cyclist, but as the cyclist was not immediately blamed for the wreck there is something else going on in this wreck.

Hit-from-behind in IA. CRITICALLY INJURED: Bicyclist Hit By Car I’m still trying to figure out what the lack of a helmet had to do with seeing the cyclist. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid or to mitigate damages, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A SWSS report from CA. Morro Bay man seriously injured in Oceano accident

Another link about the assault with a deadly weapon in S.F. CA. Fred G. Holt Accused of Plowing Down Cyclist in a Fit of Road Rage This guy is toast if there are any cyclists on the jury. And if I was the prosecution I would fight like mad to exclude people who identify as “drivers”.

A mystery wreck in the UK. Mystery death of cyclist found injured in road I think he got buzzed, but I’m just a bike blogger that has been writing about wrecks for seven years.

Sort of a wreck and sort of an infrastructure report from the UK. Large vehicles can be “killing machines” warns Britain’s top cop after spate of cyclist deaths The thing is almost all of the wrecks were of cyclists following the laws and using the infrastructure as intended and they still got killed by a big truck, partially because the infrastructure places cyclist dead square in the blind spots of the big rigs and partially because big rigs have too many blind spots to mix with dense urban traffic. More How many more cyclists must die before urgent changes are made to eliminate the danger presented by lorries?

And last link is lawyer blatherings about the curbing installed to protect the CitiBike stands. New York Bicycle Accident Lawyer Adnan Munawar Issues a Statement on Alleged CitiBike Safety Hazard

And those are all the links that gave me fits today as my old BSO leaves to become my new Clyde bakfiets… can you tell I’m excited?

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Still recovering from the doctor visit, and the Feed

The diagnosis of a pulled or torn rotator cuff from a near-fall on the train has been confirmed with a tear being the most likely injury because of the persistence of the injury, and the treatment has resulted in an arm I can barely lift to shoulder-high. The good news is I’m starting to get more range of motion in my hips, but still not enough that I might cross my legs on the floor. Sitting Japanese style on the floor is likewise not going to happen soon. [Chekov’s voice]I’m going to live, but I won’t enjoy it very much.[/Chekov’s voice] (Star Trek TOS)

Up first is an interesting report out of WA via a media outlet in SF. No criminal charges for driver who killed cyclist At first when I read this I was angry, again. Then I read the “wrote him a $10,287 ticket” quote from the second paragraph and did not feel quite as angry. The ticket carried a $5K fine and other costs that more than doubled the fine, but because it’s a ticket and not a criminal charge it only has to go before a traffic judge, and when was the last time you ever got anything off from a traffic judge after a wreck?

Lawyer blatherings about an OH wreck. Car strikes bike rider, throwing her to her death Boiled down, the cyclist was following the law and the driver is going to get away with it because, cars. Then the article goes on about the need to have a safe-passing law for incidents like this so that LEO can at least issue a ticket like the paragraph immediately above this one.

More lawyer blatherings. Bicycle accidents often due to the negligence of automobile drivers I would change the “often” to “usually” but that’s just because I read thousands of wreck reports every year where drivers “fail to see” cyclists riding the roads in front of them and the cyclists are blamed for somehow developing the ability to become invisible while in front of a car.

A terrorist act against cyclists in the UK. Edinburgh cyclist injured by clothes line strung across cycle path There were 2 clothes-line traps on the path with visual distractions spread on the ground underneath them, this was carefully designed to injure or kill a cyclist on the cycle path.

Infrastructure! news from Oz. Trucks to carry bike safety message Delivery trucks will carry a bill-board sized PSA about not passing too closely to cyclists.

Lifestyle in CA. Downtown Chico businesses support fundraiser for killed bicyclist

Last link is another “revolutionary” hub motor development. Smart Wheel By FlyKly Could Change Everything About Commuting Already known that e-assist bikes could drastically change commutes in the EU and UK, and their e-assist regulations are downright repressive while still allowing e-assist to exist. The big problem is not the bikes, it’s the infrastructure here in the Big PX and sprawl. Back when I was a member of the working world this bike would have barely been able to get me to and from work because of the sprawl here in the Metroplex. And this was after I started bicycle commuting…

And those were all the links about bicycles that gave me fits today.

Billed @€0,02, Opus

Why can’t I give money away, and the Feed

Still waiting to hear from Rowan about where to send her check for winning the art contest last month and when to post the picture. It’s just a little frustrating to have money to give someone who honestly earned it and can’t when I get an average of 10 requests a day from politicians for campaign contributions for elections that won’t take place until 2014 or 2016…

Update on a PA wreck that was just a “person killed riding bike” story last week. Bicyclist Struck By Vehicle, Killed In Hays and Hays bicycle crash victim was former Pittsburgh firefighter Helmet use in this case was moot as there were cervical injuries that would have been fatal with or without a helmet. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, don’t ride salmon, and make hitting a cyclist from behind a crime along the same lines as assault with a deadly weapon as part of the legal infrastructure to prevent. The interesting part is the cyclist called in to his home and left a message that he had just been in a wreck after being run off the road just minutes before the wreck that killed him.

A NY cyclist hits a parked car during a triathlon. Police: Seneca County triathlon competitor dies The rider may have been in the aerobars at the time of the wreck restricting his forward vision. Not much I can say about this one except to watch where you’re going when you ride and make sure that there are no cars parked in the course when you run a cycling event. More Final Day of Triathlon Dedicated to Fallen Cyclist

The STP (Seattle To Portland ride/race took place over the weekend and was not as smooth as it could have been. 2 bicyclists injured in separate crashes during STP ride and STP cyclist hit by car near Roy Not much given in the way of information in either wreck, one involved a car with no other information given, and the other involved a curb on a median. But 2 minor injuries out of more than 10000 riders is a pretty good average.

An OH cyclist has a wreck on a “brakeless” bike. Boy on bike strikes moving vehicle I don’t know if the kid was riding a BMX bike or a fixie, because there is a huge amount of difference between them. Many BMX bikes have brakes removed for riding in Vert contests in pipes, because accidentally hitting the brakes while riding a pipe can get you killed. These bikes should never be ridden on the street or anywhere except a skate/BMX park. Fixies on the other hand have brakes but they are the same thing that makes the bike go forward, the cyclist’s legs. Anyway, intersection protocols to avoid, infrastructure to prevent, and that other stuff about brakes to also prevent.

A MD cyclist is hit crossing the street with the right of way. Boy on bicycle hit by car What I got from the article was the child was crossing with the right of way and the driver was not watching where he was going when he hit the cyclist. Intersection protocols might have helped avoid this wreck, but drivers watching where they are going is the only thing that will prevent a similar wreck, because all bicycle infrastructure sooner or later has to cross a street or road used by motor vehicles.

Update on a VA wreck from May. Man charged in hit-and-run that injured two Charles City cyclists The standard Poetic Justice in this case would be slightly difficult as the weapon vehicle was a semi that would not fit in a standard car recycling shredder.

A cyclist on a Bike Share bike is hit in the Great White North. BIXI cyclist in hospital after colliding with car The cyclist was crossing the street from the bike-share to the bike lane going his direction when he was hit apparently because he didn’t yield to traffic already in the street. Intersection protocols to avoid, and pretty much the same thing to prevent because the appropriate infrastructure was already in place.

More from the Great White North on a different wreck. Cyclist dies of his injuries after hitting bus Nothing on what happened aside from the cyclist hitting the bus in the side on a crossroad, so intersection protocols to avoid, infrastructure to prevent. Somebody failed to obey a traffic control device.

Still in the GWN a cyclist is killed in a hit-and-run. 19-year-old cyclist dies from hit-and-run injuries Hit-from-behind wreck, use the protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent. This wreck was so violent that broken spokes littered the road for several yards from the impact site, indicating a vehicle that as exceeding the posted limit by more than a fair margin.

Lifestyle in NC. ‘Ghost bike’ memorial remembers Vidal

And those are all the links that gave me fits today. Programming note, I’m about to hit the road again as I am leaving the quaint little burg with no service for my cell phone and intermittent Internet for the Music City on the next leg of our vacation. Mrs. the Poet and I will be on the Dawg bus for 23 hours travelling through PA, OH and KY on our way to TN.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

I went halfway across town for nothing, and the Feed

I was supposed to get together with some people from Occupy Dallas about setting up a bicycle co-op where people could learn how to fix their bikes and borrow tools to do so, but the place we were supposed to meet was very large and I forgot to ask exactly what part of this large place we were supposed to meet at. There was supposed to be a picnic and I waited at some picnic tables for over an hour and did not know there was more than one picnic area in the park until I got on the bus and had left the park when I saw what could have been more parking and picnic tables on the other side of the park diagonal to the place I was waiting. I just checked the web site, and I was at the wrong park the whole time. 😛

A bunch of follow-up links on the Seattle semi v bike wreck. Federal Way man ID’d as bicyclist killed in Sodo and Friends remember cyclist killed on East Marginal Way At this point they are still trying to find out the “what and how” of the 5 Ws and 1 H of news (Who, What, When, Where, Why and How) Right now they have a solid grasp on Who, When, and Where, but What, Why and How are either unknown or a deeply held secret. More Bike riders honor Seattle cyclist killed during commute And Friends hold memorial ride for cyclist killed in Seattle

A cyclist is killed in SC. Bicyclist killed in Raleigh accident and Cyclist killed in Raleigh Thursday was prominent developer The mode of wreck was a left cross as the cyclist descended a hill at what would be a high speed for a bicycle but probably under the speed limit. Intersection wreck means intersection protocols to avoid but that may not have been humanly possible, and get the infrastructure right to prevent. More Cyclist’s death highlights tension between two wheels, four and Cyclist remembered as ‘community servant’

An IL cyclist is killed in a hit-from-behind wreck. Bicyclist killed near Lake Villa Hit from behind is all we know now, so hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent. More Identity of cyclist killed in crash released

An interesting wreck in ID where the driver was also injured. Cyclist, driver injured in Boise crash It wasn’t clear if the cyclist was riding in the sidewalk when he was hit or just hit after the driver went up on the sidewalk going the wrong way, but either way there was no way for a human cyclist to avoid this wreck when the driver crosses from their side of the road to yours. Maybe infrastructure would help, but as the driver was on the sidewalk when he hit the cyclist I would say probably not.

A MD cyclist gets left-crossed. Cyclist hit in Pikesville Left crosses are always the fault of the driver for failing to yield to oncoming traffic. Intersection protocols to avoid, infrastructure to prevent.

Update on a wreck in CA from a while back. One year after cyclist’s death in North Coast hit-and-run, family searches for answers

A Canuckistani cyclist is injured in a left cross wreck. After serious collision, officials urge drivers and cyclists to take precautions Let’s see, precautions. The cyclist was proceeding through an intersection with the green light when the driver made a left turn without looking, what did the cyclist do wrong? Anyway, intersection protocols to avoid injury if not the wreck, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Another cyclist is hit in Canuckistan. Injured teen can’t remember possible collision between bicycle, motor vehicle The report sounds like there might have been a hit-and-run with the driver leaving a head-injured cyclist to fend for himself. Without being able to see the bike I couldn’t hazard even a guess about what happened with any assurance.

The other Big Story today is the UK driver that was given community service for killing a second cyclist with a motor vehicle. Motorist given community sentence for causing death of second cyclist also Motorist who caused death of cyclists spared jail A cyclist was fined more than $1300 for punching out a commercial driver Cyclist found guilty of assaulting van driver so one would think that actually killing someone would merit a steeper punishment than just what was given for just punching someone in the face after they almost killed you. But that is not the case. More Daughter of cyclist Audrey Fyfe calls for tougher sentences and Fury at sheriff’s helmet claim in cyclist death case

From Oz comes this report on a pair riding in an SUV who were convicted of assaulting 2 women on bikes. Pair fined $3000 after backside slap leaves female cyclist seriously injured One of the cyclists has not been able to ride her bike since the incident because of a crippling shoulder injury. Again, not the kind of thing a human cyclist could avoid.

Also in the news from Oz, the trial of an accused cyclist-killer has gone to the jury over the weekend. Jury in trial of a cement truck driver accused of killing cyclist Richard Pollett has retired to consider its verdict This was the driver that drove a 2.5 meter wide vehicle through a gap of 3.1 meters and tried to share that 3.1 meters with a bike, or for the metric challenged drove an 8 foot wide truck through a 10’2″ gap with a cyclist in the same space, and says it wasn’t his fault the cyclist ended up wrapped around the back tires of the truck. The standard in TX is anything less than 14 feet of pavement with no other obstructions is too narrow for cyclists to safely share with motor vehicles.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today, less the UK links without any information, and the motorcycle wrecks that didn’t have any bicycles in them.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Can’t think of a funny headline, and the Feed

My comedy writing skills are eluding me at the moment and I can’t think of a short description of what I plan or what has been going on today. I was up until way after 2AM today because a mockingbird has roosted outside my bedroom window and has decided that midnight is the perfect time to start a 3 hour set of bird cover songs. I never hear this bird during daylight hours, but midnight to about 3 he cranks out (I’m assuming it’s male mockingbird that does the concerts) hit after hit from his extensive repertory. And that is why I can’t come up with a short funny headline.

I don’t remember this wreck from before, but there was a flurry of wrecks in CA the last few days so I might have covered this one and don’t remember. Bicyclist hit by car in Chula Vista dies Not much in the way of information on this one, intersection wreck so intersection protocols to avoid, a comment left by someone claiming to have been a witness said that the cyclist was at fault without supplying any information to back that up. Infrastructure to prevent, but getting all the infrastructure right is required, not just putting some paint on the road.

Another CA wreck with more questions than answers. Two bike riders injured in weekend crash Head-on wreck, and nothing was mentioned about salmon riders or crossing the centerline? This was either bad reporting or something is being covered up by LEO. But because this is a binary situation we know there is something missing, because there are only two ways for vehicles to crash head on, one has to be on the wrong side of the road, or in this case either the bikes were in the wrong because of bad education, or the driver was in the wrong because of …?

A UT cyclist is injured in a wreck with little information as of the posting of the link. Cyclist critically injured in Salt Lake City accident Intersection wreck but other than that I can’t say much, this was a crossing point for going to the other side of the freeway and as such was a bottleneck that jammed bicycle and motor vehicle traffic together without any alternatives for getting across the barrier of the freeway. More Bicyclist hit near freeway onramp in critical condition Interesting comment on that link as I post this Vehicle strikes bicyclist in downtown Salt Lake City and Driver who hit bicyclist likely won’t be cited With the other links the official story is the cyclist was trying to beat the light and didn’t make it.

A GA cyclist is killed in a confrontation with a police cruiser. 14-year-old boy on bicycle run over and killed by police car in Georgia From the witness reports it appears the young cyclist did not look before he pulled from a driveway into the highway. This is another case where the infrastructure was built for rural needs and the area became residential without any changes to the speed limits, a common situation in the southeastern US. Intersection protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A wreck in MO that has weird written all over it. Bicyclist who fell in road is run over by vehicle and killed in Smithton The cyclist had been riding salmon but had stopped because of a problem, then fell off the bike for some reason and as another witness was calling 911 to request medical assistance for the rider the weapon vehicle ran the cyclist over. From my reading of this report the cyclist may not have even been on the bike when he fell into the road. More Bicyclist Killed On His Way To Work and Police: Cyclist falls onto road, killed by vehicle and a page of mostly good comments Comments for: Belleville man falls from bike, dies after being run over by car

A MI cyclist is killed crossing the street. Bicyclist killed in Holland crash The text reported the cyclist was riding salmon but the video said he was crossing against the light, so until they get the story straight I’m not saying how to avoid the wreck, but getting the infrastructure right still most likely would have prevented it. More Elderly Man On Bike Killed After Being Hit by Car also Holland Bicyclist Killed at Busy Intersection still more UPDATE: Police identify bicycle rider killed at U.S. 31-16th Street not done yet Holland Man Killed While Riding His Bike Identified another link Police: 70-year-old bicyclist dies after crash Getting close now Bicyclist struck by car, killed and last link 70-Year-Old Bicyclist Killed In Crash As the later links have come in the story is settled on the cyclist running the red into traffic moving “at highway speeds” after leaving a grocery store. So intersection protocols to avoid (especially the one about not running red lights), and as suspected infrastructure also had a great deal to do with the wreck. The grocery store the victim had just shopped at was located in such a way that the victim had to negotiate a busy highway in order to shop there. That should never be allowed to happen.

Death in the Great White North. Cyclist killed after hit by bus in L’Assomption At this point the narrative is the wind blew the cyclist unexpectedly, leaving the bus driver with no time to react. I don’t know if the cyclist was blown out of a bike lane or just in front of the bus as it passed him. The report as I read it now makes it look like the cyclist was not pointed in the direction he was headed, hence the suspected gust of wind.

Signs the economy is still down the tubes. Bike-By Shooting Wounds Two Teens In Crown Heights At least this time the guy on the bike was dishing it out instead of having to take it. 😛

A wreck in Oz that was particularly gruesome. Luke Stevens pleads not guilty to death of cyclist Richard Pollett, 25, on Moggill Rd, Kenmore in 2011 The driver “Jerry Browned” the cyclist who was left with no room to move away from the truck and went under the rear wheels. Not a wreck that a human cyclist can avoid without being willing to dive at speed from the bike onto the side of the road. The truck was right at 8 feet wide give or take a few inches, and the lane was less than 14 feet wide, or under TX laws not wide enough to share and the cyclist should have taken the lane. I’m not sure what Oz laws are on taking the lane, from what I have read they are not very good for cyclists.

Infrastructure! news out of DC. League Statement: Nomination of Anthony Foxx for Transportation Secretary I reserve judgement until I see more facts.

The modern-day version of the bake sale to get stuff for your school. Students ‘crowdfund’ bike racks for school One question, do the students have to go begging to get the parking lot paved and striped? If not then why do they have to go beg to get bike parking restored?

And those are all the links that gave me fits today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Running way late getting started on the post, Wreck-Free Sunday

I had to work today (more wrenching for the camping trip as I have a number of bikes that never see the light of day except when they go camping, which usually means replacing rock-hard brake blocks, lubing chains and pumping tires that haven’t been filled in 6 months or more. These bikes will be used to transport people from one end of the 101 acre camp site to the other as there is about a half mile from Refugee Camp in the back to Guardians’ Camp at the front of the camping area, which is quite a haul if you’re in a hurry. Even at just $10 per bike if you do enough bikes you can pay for your trip…

Something I have been wanting to discuss with you for a while is the guns vs cars comparison. You would have to be living under a rock with your fingers in your ears to not know that there have been a few million words flying back and forth in the gun debate, about who should own one and what hoops they should be made to jump through to buy more, and how many bullets you should be allowed to carry. That’s all well and good, but a gun is only 0.45% fatal average for every time the trigger is pulled in anger with only 1 in 20 bullets actually hitting someone, and 1 in 11 bullets that hit someone actually causing death. Motor vehicles on the other hand are 5% fatal against unarmored targets (pedestrians and cyclists) when traveling at 20 MPH. But up the speed to just 30 MPH (the statutory minimum speed limit in the state of Texas) and the death toll rises to 50% of cyclists and pedestrians. Interestingly enough from what limited data I have been able to find salmon cyclists are killed at a rate consistent with combined bike and motor vehicle speed, while the rest of us are killed independently of the cyclist’s speed and entirely dependent on the speed of the weapon vehicle. If you think about it it makes some sense, but it would be nice to have more bike speed equal less danger for the struck cyclist, if for nothing else as a reward for the effort expended… 😛

Anyway, getting back to cars vs guns, cars have a slight edge in deaths with 30K gun deaths vs 36K killed by motor vehicles last year. The number one killer of adults under 35 is motor vehicles, guns are not far behind though with gun deaths spread pretty evenly across the age groups while motor vehicle deaths concentrate near the young end of the range. This points out that not everyone killed in a car is driving it, or even inside the motor vehicle. Many killed by motor vehicles are walking or riding bicycles, or not anywhere near a street or road inside a building. Yep, several people every year are killed inside buildings by motor vehicles crashing from adjacent streets and highways. There is a good reason why I call motor vehicles WMD used as transportation…

And this is where I feel I should stop this post, that I have made my point and any further exposition is flogging a deceased equine.

PSA, Opus

Waiting to lose the hair, Wreck-Free Sunday

Yep, I’m waiting on the shear the sheep ceremony still, we were supposed to do it this morning but none of the people that showed up were willing to participate in shaving my head (actually clippers with no guard that leaves about 1/32″ of hair behind) I’m losing everything except the eyebrow; hair, beard and moustache will be gone at the end of this ceremony The hair will be set out in a way that enables the local birds to use it as nesting material, the idea being my sacrifice of a warm head will result in warm baby birds.

I’m watching the Cup race in Vegas while I’m trying to figure out what to write in the post today.

The tattoo contest is progressing nicely with several submissions at the moment, remember they all have to be in my the end of May, see last week’s Sunday post for rules and the image of what you will be working with. Shout out to Giselle Lagase for posting the contest in the news section of Ma3 . That link has been sending most of the site views to this blog about the contest, and that single post had more views in the last week than I normally get in an entire month. And what really makes me feel good, most of you have been hanging around and reading the other posts, too. I hope I can help a lot more people because of this contest, even thought that was not the idea behind it. The idea was I wanted a tattoo but had no idea what I wanted on the tattoo, and that idea is also working out great.

I have been looking for a better way to document the danger and destructiveness of motor vehicles. I’m trying to find a tally of gun deaths to compare to motor vehicle deaths as published by the NHTSA in the FARS reporting system. The links I have found so far for gun deaths do not even come close to the tally published by the NHTSA. What I have been able to find has not been favorable for motor vehicles, with the most complete tallies I can find putting gun deaths at several thousand less than motor vehicle deaths per year, year after year. Something I had not expected to see was gun deaths roughly paralleling motor vehicle deaths per year. I hope to pursue this further with good links to hard numbers to make my point.

OK the race is over and Matt Kenseth won in the Dollar General Toyota run by JGR, Great race with drivers riding the ragged edge of “loose” and “too loose” all race long as they had major condition changes between practice and the race. I tell you it was a great race to watch, with the last 20 laps being a real nail biter.

PSA, Opus

Waiting on a delivery, and the Feed.

Well Fed Ex robocalled yesterday as I was finishing up the blog post and left a message that a package requiring a signature for delivery was going to be here today and someone needed to be here to sign for it. So I’m up at 0800 waiting for a delivery that might not happen until 1600 or could be here in the next few minutes. So in the meantime I read some comics, and left comments on some comics, filtered the first part of the Feed. had a “cup” of coffee (my coffee cup holds a full pint), read some more comics, had another “cup” of coffee, read the newspaper (yes, they still make those), had another “cup” of coffee and a peanut butter sandwich, read some more comics and started to read the bike blogs of other people, had another… well you get the idea. I’m waiting for the rest of the Feed to hit my inbox and also for the FedEx guy to show up with this package. What I have so far in the Feed that I can use is entirely from Enn Zed again.

OK the FedEx guy just showed up with an envelope that had a Kroger gift card in it from their Portland OR office, nothing else on the envelope to identify the origin, why I got a Kroger gift card or anything else to explain why I just was handed the equivalent of a month’s grocery budget. Suffice it to say I’m more than slightly confused, as I have entered several contests for Kroger gift cards both online and at various events in the area and you would think that had I won they would have mentioned it somehow as part of the promotion instead of the card just showing up on the doorstep, and had it been one of you fine readers I would think that it would be a heckuva lot easier to just buy the card at the local Kroger and just mail it to me. So now I have a mystery on my hands: Why would Kroger send me a gift card directly via FedEx with signature on delivery? To add to the confusion, the contact information was my land line, not my e-mail. Well actually this clears it up a tiny bit, as the land line would mean that it was from one of the various contests and promotions I signed up for at the State Fair last year. Still trying to figure out which one it was, though…

Speaking of Portland OR, our first link is about a shooting and hit-and-run in that city. Man shot at with paintball gun and assaulted by man driving a car while riding in North Portland Fortunately the shooter was using a paintball gun, not an actual lethal firearm, but I can state with utter assurance that getting hit by a paintball fired at close range is no picnic, and being menaced with a motor vehicle is about as far from a walk in a park as you can get outside of a war zone.

A CA cyclist who was hit-and-run and dragged into a freeway after a left cross wreck loses a leg and is about to lose the other leg. Bicyclist in hit-run near Griffith Park left for dead, loses leg Let’s find this low-life and make him pay for the crimes he has committed. Intersection wreck, but as the guy was breaking line in a traffic jam I don’t think even intersection protocols would have avoided this wreck, nor would any infrastructure that had cyclists crossing motor vehicle traffic at grade level have stopped it. The only thing that would have prevented this wreck would be a driver’s license program that managed to filter out “drivers” like this.

Rampant windshield bias in this article about an AZ cyclist getting killed. PD: Elderly bicyclist hit, killed in Mesa The driver of the weapon vehicle was operating on a private road AKA a driveway. while the cyclist was riding on the public right of way, meaning the cyclist had the right of way and the weapon vehicle should have yielded to the cyclist instead of running him over. Intersection protocols to avoid, and educate PD about right of way laws to help prevent, as well as get the infrastructure right. I mean seriously, if they get it that wrong when a vehicle pulls from a driveway onto a public street and kills a cyclist when the cyclist clearly had the right of way, what will happen in wrecks where right of way is more nuanced? This is the Google Street View of the site. If the link came up right you should see an alleyway behind a shopping center. This was the only “private road” visible on the map view that had an east-west orientation (the driver was “westbound on a private road near Main and 48th streets“), all the rest were north-south.

The first of the Enn Zed links is an intersection wreck. Cyclist injured Note that the cyclist was seen to be wearing the hideous glow-in-the-dark clothing dictated by recent judicial findings, yet still was hit anyway…

And in the same paper a cyclist is hit from behind while being passed too close, and they blame the cyclist! Cyclist’s death an awareness reminder “Mr Crerar said that shortly before colliding with the car, Mr Scott had veered toward the centre of the road, into the path of an oncoming car.” and then”He did not know whether it was a deliberate manoeuvre by Mr Scott or the result of a wind gust“. If the wind was blowing that hard, shouldn’t the driver have been aware that the cyclist might get moved over a bit while being passed? And this is another case where the cyclist was doing more than required to ride his bike getting hit while riding with the right of way, and still getting blamed for getting hit. TANJ!

And those are all the links that gave me fits…

Billed @$0.02, Opus