Snow in the morning and high 40s in the afternoon, and the Feed

Never has the expression “Don’t like the weather in Texas? Wait a few minutes” been more apropos than today. We had about an inch of snowfall this morning, and nearly 50°F this afternoon. I mean, really?! Snow followed by 20°F above freezing temperatures? Whose idea was this anyway? (I know, nobody had the “idea” for this weather, it just happened as a result of natural forces at work)

Up first is a “What were they thinking?!” report from Enn Zed. Ad covering truck window could have caused cyclist death and Advertising blocked truckie’s view in cyclist death Really? The damn trucks are nearly blind to the passenger side anyway, so you make it worse by covering the passenger side window? Did your parents have any children that lived? Because that is about the stupidest thing I have ever read. This is on a par with removing safety railings from a catwalk or finger guards from dangerous equipment.

Back to the US for another pair of links on the guilty plea of a hit-and-run cyclist killer. Motorist Pleads Guilty in Death of Bicyclist, Leaving Scene and Motorist pleads guilty in death of bicyclist, leaving scene I had some other links to this yesterday. I’m still of the opinion that the driver was treated much too leniently for the attempted coverup of the crime.

Another bad day for Ted Rogers in Our Daily Ted. 89-year old bike rider killed in San Diego; police blame the victim

Maybe if a few “captains of industry” are nearly killed cycling something will get done about bicycle infrastructure? Millionaire entrepreneur explains why cycling — and not golf — is the new sport of choice for young professionals I see what the guy is saying, but I can’t relate to it. One of the comments helped in understandistuping the difference, golf requires a mostly-fixed long length of time to participate, including getting there which may take two hours of driving each way, then 4-5 hours on the course, with very little actual exercise during the whole exercise.

And I’m hoping the sudden change in direction doesn’t cause emotional whiplash, but for some reason in spite of 10-20 cyclists a year dying mostly because of crappy infrastructure the people in charge can’t manage to spend more than half of their budget. Revealed: London’s most dangerous junctions for cyclists – as transport chiefs under-spend £50m road safety budget The fact that they only spent £29 million of £82 million in their budget with a number of known hotspots that desperately needed fixing with several that had killed cyclists repeatedly over the last few years, well there are words that I can’t use and keep the “SFW” rating on this blog.

Still in Jolly Olde relatives of victims ask their government for punishments that are more in line with the seriousness of events when drivers kill. Family of Ross and Clare Simons – killed riding tandem bicycle in Hanham – to meet PM David Cameron The killer in question for this article killed two people while driving illegally and will only spend less than 10 years total on prison.

Still in the UK, the peril of using bad statistics when talking about bicycle safety. Insurance giant’s cycling ‘study’ shows the perils of poor statistics Somehow they got from an official government statistic of 2% of bicycle wrecks involving “no lights” to the 1 of 3 wrecks caused by a lack of lights, so what other bad information did they use?

And over in Ireland, someone won’t let the tragedy of a cyclist getting killed go away. Flowers and stars for tragic cyclist killed in Limerick

And in “late to the party” news, Forbes discovers the “safety in numbers” theory of bicycle safety. The More Cyclists In A Country, The Fewer Fatal Crashes – Report [Infographic]

My short little legs are not the target audience for this article, but I found it fascinating never the less. Building the Next Dirty Sixer This is a buildup article on a bicycle with 36″ diameter tires. The standover height for this bike is roughly 6″ greater than my inseam.

Last link, if you’re getting a custom bike built like the one in the previous paragraph, it pays to have a good working relationship with your mechanic. Here’s how. AngryAsian: Things you should never say to your bike shop mechanic

And those were all the links I could wade through today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

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Running late again from the neck cracker, and the Feed

Here I am again starting this post right about dinner time because I spent half the day getting to and from the chiropractor. The good news is I’m getting better, they almost have the pelvic tilt straightened up as long as I keep the lift in my shoe. The even better news is now they are moving on to fix other things that have been not right, like the shoulder that keeps me from being able to raise my arm much above horizontal or rotate my palm as far as the good arm. My good arm has 270° rotation at the wrist when I combine the rotations from the elbow down with the shoulder, the bad arm as a little over 180 or basically from the elbow down only. Between throwing wood for the camp fire and loading Francis/es for trips around the camp site I didn’t do it any good this past weekend either. But as I said, things are improving.

Up first for your anger management class testing is the news that the cabbie who cut off the foot of a British tourist in NYC last summer as he was trying to hit a cyclist and drove onto the sidewalk is back driving a cab. Cabbie Who Maimed Tourist In Midtown Is Driving Taxi Again Yeah, I’m angry and upset about it too, but what can you do? The DA refused to even charge the guy after he publicly admitted he was assaulting the cyclist (who had only minor injuries) when he ran over the tourist.TANJ!

Closer to home a rare sentence that is almost fitting for a drunk driver that ran over a TX cyclist. El Paso woman sentenced to 10 years in prison in bicyclist’s death She will be eligible for probation in another 5 years, but I didn’t see anything about her losing her license to drive.

The cyclist that survived the double collision in NOLA when a blind driver hit two cyclists from behind with an empty lane to the left of the wreck is making great strides to recovery. Cyclist injured in deadly crash making strides At this point they are not saying if he will recover the use of his legs, but reported signs are hopeful. The driver was still in jail as of the last report on that situation. That makes almost a week that hitting those cyclists has kept him from reaching his destination for the day.

A MI cyclist is injured while having a separate medical emergency and does not have wearable ID. Deputies seek public’s help identifying injured cyclist found near Dutton This is another reminder of why wearable ID is not just a good idea.

And here is our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Torrance father rides for his daughter, and court hearings for Wendy Villegos and Jose Gonzales I have a suggestion for the DUI driver that killed the cyclist, if no prison then force her to ride a bicycle for a period of 10 years instead, with some way of monitoring her location and speed to make sure she only walks or rides that bike wherever she goes.

A blotter report on a cyclist getting hit in Oz. Street Watch: Police blitz snares officer over the limit As the article is posted at the moment the cyclist wreck is second down. No mode given, so infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent.

A little Infrastructure! news from SC. Myrtle Beach aiming to be more bicycle friendly This from the state that is 4th in cyclist deaths and 34th in bicycle infrastructure spending.

Legal infrastructure news from Bike Portland. Get Legal: Doored? The law is on your side (but that might not be enough)

A little Lifestyle from the UK. Cyclists turn out to help brave Linthorpe teen Ben Honeysett on the road to recovery after crash

Gothamist loses their collective minds over a cyclist riding without a helmet and carrying a little girl in a Citibike. Photo: Father And Daughter Enjoy Death Defying Citi Bike Ride
Not what I would recommend as a way to move a child around a busy city, but I’m not the parent in charge, presumably the grim-faced adult in the picture is.

And some real fun from SF CA. ‘Big Wheel’ Race Down Crookedest Street In The World Thrills Thousands, Dings A Few This looks like it would be so much more fun with smaller heat races qualifying for the final run so that the riders had some room to really cut loose.

And those were all the links that gave me fits or giggles. Lots of giggles today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Ain’t life Grand, and the Feed

Got a letter today from the ACA people, partially explaining why Mrs. the Poet was shown on the policy they sent last week. Seems that since we file joint taxes they had her SS on file linked to mine, and also knew her insurance because it was from the same company as the policy I got and put Mrs. the Poet on my policy because it had better coverage at lower cost. If I’m reading this right we are both getting insured with more coverage at a lower cost than what Mrs. the Poet was paying for just her. Whoever negotiated the policy at the school district needs to get fired. I mean I saw the doc they gave Mrs. the Poet showing how much the school district was paying and how much she was paying and all the coverages, and her policy was almost twice as much as my policy with four times the deductible and total out-of-pocket and a smaller network and less covered treatments. So, Thank You Obamacare?

Up first is another cyclist who was collateral damage in a multi-vehicle wreck. Cyclist Killed By Hit & Run BMW Driver In Bushwick and Video: BMW Driver Who Killed Cyclist In Bushwick Still At Large Again there was nothing the cyclist could do to avoid this, and since the driver tried to get away by driving salmon on a one-way street infrastructure would not have prevented it either.

More on that FL cyclist hit from behind in the bike lane. Deputies identify West Boca cyclist killed Wednesday morning Cyclist still had only a limited choice of avoiding this wreck by having a different wreck from hitting the curb, and American-style bike infrastructure failed miserably. That leaves only getting the infrastructure “up to Dutch” to avoid or prevent this wreck. And I really have no idea what to do about the real cause of this wreck, a driver that could not see out of the right side of the vehicle because it was so big and she was so short. I mean seriously, the driver could barely peer over the bottom of the window of the small sedan that cam to take her away from the scene after the weapon vehicle was impounded. How could she possibly see out the passenger side of the “mini” van she was driving. The only difference between that “mini” van and a regular full sized “van” is the “mini” has FWD and unibody construction based on passenger car mechanicals, and a “van” is body-on-frame with truck-based mechanicals. Size wise they are nearly identical.

Still in the most deadliest state to walk or ride a bike we get graphic illustration of the destructive power of motor vehicles. Authorities issue arrest warrant in deadly Florida day care center crash Note that there were no bicycles involved in this wreck and I still don’t know why it got put in the “cyclist killed” subfolder of my Feed folder. Still it does point out what I frequently say about motor vehicles being killing machines we use to get around. And I like cars! Used to hold an SCCA license, ISCA exhibitor card, and drive a stock car racer. Not all in the same year, but all in the same lifetime.

Similar story from NYC, a little later in the process. Drunk Driver Who Killed Brooklyn Pedestrian Gets No Jail Time, $500 Fine Even drunk drivers get a pass if there is any doubt about the ability of a sober driver to avoid the wreck. I would say since the sober driver in front of him managed to avoid the wreck he certainly could have, but then I’m a writer and trained as an engineer, I understand logic. Lawyers and people on juries not so much.

Sad news via Ted Rogers’ BikingInLA. Breaking news: San Marcos bike rider killed by cement truck Possible right hook based on location of weapon and victim vehicles, but really nothing at this point. Infrastructure that keeps concrete mixer trucks away from cyclists and pedestrians to prevent.

More on that hit-and-run in Canuckistan over the weekend. Cyclist injured in weekend hit and run “A cyclist was transported to the hospital April 6 after getting smoked by a 4-door teal car.” Interesting choice of words for the opening sentence.

End of the process for getting justice for a UK cyclist. Coventry road race drivers jailed after one hit and seriously injured cyclist Nothing the cyclist could have done to get out of the way from these killer drivers, the bike was reduced to rubble without a single salvageable part. I have never seen a bike destroyed as thoroughly as that one. As the wreck was in an intersection and a red light was run I don’t see how even getting the infrastructure “up to Dutch” could prevent this wreck unless it was an area that would permit a bicycle underpass to segregate cyclists in both time and space away from motor vehicles.

A wreck in Oz. Cyclist injured in crash involving car on roundabout Roundabouts are very bad infrastructure without a bicycle bypass system. They work great for cars and other larger motor vehicles, not so good for bicycles and motorcycles.

Infrastructure! in response to a wreck in Enn Zed. ‘Cyclists need more protection’ Actually in response to several wrecks where the cyclist was following the laws and had no other place to ride, many involving the tiny fraction of female cyclists in Enn Zed.

LifeStyle for cyclists from Ted again. SoCal cops to bike 300 miles in memory of fallen officers next month WoaB strongly suggests that you drop your coin on this cause.

Not quite all-Ted, all-the-time, but another link from that source (he’s been busy). Great video captures the magic of CicLAvia, and your Morning Links Great video makes me wish I was there.

Last link is back to WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell, the commercial infrastructure required to keep bikes moving. Bike Friendly Garland, Bike Medics

And those were the links that gave me fits or giggles today, mostly.

Billed @€0.02, Opus