Back to the bike stuff temporarily

I was reading some of the online newspapers like Gothamist and BikePortland, and the same old anger that made me quit writing about wrecks a few years back came bubbling up, mostly about people in cars making life dangerous for cyclists just to save a few seconds or a few steps. Gothamist was talking about towing cars from bus lanes (but not from bike lanes), and BikePortland was talking about right hooks in general and an injury wreck that appeared to be a right hook in specifics. Basically it was all about cars in bicycle infrastructure and not getting penalized for it. I don’t want to go down that road again, because the eventual destination is not good for me, but I do want to make a statement: If you see a car parked in a bike lane you should put down road flares to direct bike travel around the car and car travel around the car, and the tow truck, and bikes that will have to move into the general travel lane to get around the car. And if the flares happen to get too close to the car and maybe cause a tire to blow up or the gas tank to catch fire, well that’s just one of those things that “happens”, you know? Kinda how cars hitting cyclists “just happens”. Because putting down flares to direct traffic around an illegally parked car is all for safety, not to “accidentally” give the entitled driver an extra-judicial “traffic ticket” and fine. And if a bunch of illegally-parked cars catch on fire or blow up the left rear tire, they shouldn’t have been parked illegally, right?

Because traffic enforcement should never have to be a DIY project.

Advertisement

It’s nice to have money on Grocery Day, and the Feed

Well all the checks cleared this week, so we had basically an unlimited budget for grocery day today. I finally have a full week worth of yogurt, enough for both me and the cats, and there was a 12 pack of Shiner in the cart as well. That will probably last until mid-March as much as I drink. We splurged on the mid-priced frozen pizza, on sale for about $2.50/pizza before we redeemed a coupon that took $0.33⅓ off each one. Some habits are hard to break, we bought the $1.99/gal milk instead of the $5.99/gal. The strategic ramen reserves are topped off, and the $0.79 instant meals are likewise at reserve levels. Those make a great light lunch or dinner when it’s just me or Mrs. the Poet and we don’t feel like heating the kitchen to make something more substantial. The spicy shrimp cup meal will probably be just for me. We spent roughly $125 on groceries that overflowed the trunk of my son’s car and into the back seat. Seriously we couldn’t get the lid closed and had to put some next to Mrs. the Poet in the back seat to get it all home.

Up first is this Big Story from Jolly Olde as in spite of multiple videos from the cyclist, LEO are unable to prosecute a hit-and-run driver. ‘Brutal’ cyclist hit-and-run captured on video – but police say there is still not enough evidence to prosecute and Shocking moment hit-and-run driver rams into the back of a cyclist and leaves him unconscious in the road before fleeing this too Police rule there is ‘not enough evidence’ to prosecute hit-and-run driver caught on camera (video) Simple really, bring them both in and tell them one will get charged and convicted of attempted murder for the hit-and-run, one will get the same amount of prison for obstructing justice for failing to identify who was driving at the time of the wreck but gets to keep his/her license, and give them 15 seconds to work it out. If nobody gives up the driver they both lose their licenses for life and go to prison. Now here in the great PX, Home Of The Free, all we would need to do is just have the NSA turn over their location via the constant GPS tracking of their phones to figure out who was there or not. Or just charge the people who rented the car out as accessories.

Next is Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Long Beach cyclist killed in Mt. Baldy hiking fall, and bike safety classes in Orange County

Also in L.A. CA. The Story Of The New York Citi Bike That Traveled To Los Angeles That was an Epic Ride, driving a 3 speed 45 pound tank more than 3000 miles. Who knew that the metal basket on the front of a Citi Bike could hold a useful amount of camping equipment?

Still in CA. Cyclist hit, dragged by alleged drunken driver near UC Berkeley yep, another link to the (attempted) murder of a cyclist. I’m sincerely hoping this stays at “attempted” and the cyclist survives to kick the driver in the face.

Infrastructure from America’s Copenhagen. PBOT wants to make W Burnside at 18th/19th safer for biking and walking So far nothing has been made public as to the plans.

More infrastructure, this time from NYC. Dangerous Stretch Of Sixth Avenue Will Finally Get A Protected Bike Lane Door zone bike lane swapped for a larger parking protected bike lane (and an army of parking monitors paid by the ticket to catch drivers encroaching the lane).

If you happen to be in Bermuda with your bike this weekend. Sign up for cycle charity event It looks like there is one ride that is a mix of on and off-road, and another that is a mix of single track and swamps.

Another link to that truck driver in the UK who killed a cyclist while driving a truck without a license trying to get his sentence reduced. Tipper truck driver who killed cyclist Alan Neve fails in appeal against sentence as I said before he should get at least double that if not triple, he should thank his lucky stars and shut up.

This at least has a better outcome in the end even if the cyclist died. Family hand over cheque to charity in memory of their son

Malta is one of the former UK colonies that has as bad cycle culture as the UK. Man fined for knocking down cyclist, magistrate calls for more road awareness Wow/s… €1000 fine and 8 days he can’t get caught driving…

I’m sure this is just coincidence, right? eBike World Championship set for same venue where hidden motor found There is a class for exactly the kind of bike that was found in the cyclocross championships.

And I’m out of links again, but I have Girl Scout cookies.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Back from a date with Mrs. the Poet, and the Feed

Mrs. the Poet and I took in a movie and dinner this afternoon and evening, so I got a late start to filtering the Feed. I finally saw “The Force Awakens”, then we went to a local burger place to get dinner. We got home just before 2200, and I got right to filtering and making the post.

Up first is Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Examining 2015 SoCal bicycling fatalities, and San Diego mountain bikes seized by Marines

The most deadliest state in the US to ride a bike kills another one and nobody can figure out how he died. Authorities investigate death of bicyclist struck on Copans Road When I filtered this link they were saying the cyclist might have been dead before he was hit by the car that stopped, and they don’t know why he was in the street.

Also from the most deadliest state. Father of killed cyclist in Fort Myers speaks about arrest “Longoria was charged with leaving the scene of a traffic crash involving death, vehicular homicide, arson, two counts of tampering with evidence, filing a false police report and driving on a suspended driver’s license.” Um, yeah, if this is the guy he needs to go away for a very long time, especially with the two counts of tampering with evidence…

Infrastructure news as CT prepares to waste more than 10% of their transportation budget adding a lane to one highway. Highway Boondoggles: Widening I-95 Across Connecticut To give an idea on the scale of this project I submit this quote: “$100 Billion would Build 100,000 miles of protected bike lanes in CT. Instead of adding a couple of lanes to I-95, the same money could create a dense network of protected bike lanes in Every city, town, and Hamlet Which could do more to reduce congestion than squandering billions on failure.” Alexander Vucelic

This “cyclist” was riding an e-scooter, but in the bike lane and at bike speeds, so this still applies to us. Man charged with ‘dooring’ cyclist The scooterist was thrown directly in front of a truck that had no time to avoid him. Since this province has a mandatory sidepath law and an anti-dooring law to protect cyclists stuck in the sidepath the usual advice to not ride in the door zone is not applicable. The only thing that can prevent wrecks like this given the legal infrastructure is charging and prosecuting and applying the maximum sentence to drivers or their passengers who open doors unsafely, particularly when the incident ends up with a dead cyclist.

A hit-and-run driver in Jolly Olde is “given strong words of advice“? Cyclist and child hit by a car – but elderly motorist drove off after accident on Cambridge bridge Am I going nuts or is everyone else?

Still in the UK. Cyclist tailgated by car – on London Cycle Superhighway Not by just one vehicle, look at the back and you can see the glare from the headlights of another vehicle tailgating the first. Insanity.

This is one traffic hazard that is not very common in the US. Cape Town cyclist in ICU after attack

Presented smugly 😀 A Study Finds Cyclists to Be Six Times Healthier than Other Commuters My commute increased by 150% recently as I moved my office from my bedroom to the room across the hall. It literally takes me minutes longer to get from my bed to my computer by way of the coffeepot.

And I’m both out of links and energy to type links into the post.

Billed @$0.02, Opus