We had some wind damage to the trees, but are otherwise unscathed, and the Feed

Yep, it were windy out here in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell, with one tree losing a branch to the wind. Otherwise things are just fine. Still doing good on edibles, I have about a half pot of beans and rice seasoned to my preference, plus Pop Tarts, ramen, Spam (I’m having the teriyaki flavor tonight with my ramen), and a fresh jar of peanut butter that I just opened this morning to put on my bagel. So food I got, and Mrs. the Poet will be returning from NY tomorrow evening.

Up first is Our Daily Ted, Part 1. Morning Links: LACBC wins national award for work on Mobility Plan; Sadik-Khan says the bikes have won That’s right, we won! All that’s left now is mopping up isolated pockets of resistance. So I guess I can quit this blog and go build models…

Part 2. San Diego cyclist killed in pre-dawn trolley collision and Cyclist hit, killed by trolley in Barrio Logan Damnit people, what did I just tell you yesterday about staying off tracks? Don’t cross when the arm is down, how hard is that to do?

Still in CA, but covered in one of Ted’s posts yesterday. Bicyclist Hit, Killed by Moving Truck in Rancho Palos Verdes Right hook but the cyclist was riding hard in the bike lane. At least I think that was a bike lane. The cyclist’s speed had a great deal to do with this wreck, both in the fact that it happened and in the severity of the wreck as to how for under the truck the cyclist got squished in the initial impact. The fact the cyclist was dragged for miles under the truck more than likely only changed the condition of the body, he probably died in the initial impact.

More Portland infrastructure. Counting votes at Metro: Will the region invest in walking and biking near schools? Don’t want the kids getting too independent and thinking they don’t need a car to get around.

Another update on the MN cyclist injured in a hit-and-run. St. Thomas student critically injured in bike accident returns to class “The St. Paul Police say that since January of this year a pedestrian or cyclist is hit by a driver in St. Paul every other day. And they think it’s the cyclists and pedestrians are the problem?

A little CT infrastructure change might be in the works. Connecticut Cycling Advocates Urge Stiffer Penalty For Drivers Who Don’t Share The Road The comments section is in rare form today. I lost count of the times I saw people complaining about cyclists “not paying” for roads, like riding a bike gets you a tax refund or something like that.

From CT to MT, a fallen cyclist is remembered. Tuesday morning vigil honors cyclist killed in wreck, reminds riders of traffic danger

I think this was national but reported by a PA media outlet. Early data suggests pedestrian deaths surged in 2015 There were more deaths across the board but it looks like peds took a larger share than previously lending more ammunition to the need to get drivers out from behind the wheel because the cars are great at protecting people inside the car but utter crap at protecting people outside the car.

Ran red, killed cyclist, needs to spend rest of life working to repay victim’s family after long prison sentence in the Great White North. Trial begins for man accused of running red light and killing cyclist For those not fluent in metric, bystanders estimated the speed before the wreck at 55-65 MPH, the reconstructionist put the speed at 41.6 MPH at impact with heavy braking.

More on Canada’s helmet fetish. Bike helmets are safe, but here’s what really makes cycling safer

From Jolly Olde a car doesn’t stop at the sidewalk, but goes right inside the building. CCTV VIDEO: Man ‘lucky to be alive’ after Coleshill crash – watch footage I though it was from NYC with the car driving at such a high speed on the sidewalk. 😛

One of the 12 people likely to get killed by a cyclist in Jolly Olde this year (if this is an average year). ‘Wonderful’ woman killed after crash with a cyclist at Old Street Nothing on what happened because it’s a UK media outlet, but so far no charges have been filed.

Another cyclist memorial. Family pays tribute to cyclist killed in ‘hit-and-run’ accident

Trying to find answers in a cyclist’s death. Inquest opens into death of cyclist killed in Doncaster Road crash The UK version of a left cross since the drive on the wrong side of the road.

Another blind driver takes out a cyclist. Coach driver accused of killing cyclist on A9 heard ‘a bang’ Never saw the cyclist until they were scraping him out from under the bus.

Well this can’t be good. Police investigate spate of cyclists being pushed into London canals Getting wet in winter in the UK is not as bad as getting wet in winter in MN, but it’s still not pleasant.

This is a frequent symptom of TBI from a traffic crash. Young cyclist ‘cannot remember’ how she got facial injuries in Crawley Much of what I know of my wreck is from the police reports and witnesses who ran into me later. Except the being dead part, that I remembered on my own.

Over on the Emerald Isle. Garda appeal for witnesses after cyclist (19) killed in road collision The narrative sounds like a SWSS at the moment with the driver failing to process the cyclist in front of the car until impact.

This sounds more like pressing the gas thinking it is the brake than brake failure, but hey I’m just a hot-rodder doing a bike safety blog. UPDATE: Taxi that slammed into traffic light knocked down cyclist prior to major crash I think this was South Africa, but I’m not sure.

What’s 130 miles on a bike when you have done a full Ironman? NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson to join PeopleForBikes’ Ride on Atlanta

And last link if you think mash-ups are a recent phenomenon, here’s a mashup of “Rock And Roll, Pt.2” with the theme for Doctor Who from the ’80s. The Timelords (The KLF) – Doctorin’ The Tardis (12-inch mix)

And that’s all I go tonight. I’m going to try to get to bed early.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Advertisement

Feline interference with blogging, and the Feed

Clint and Clyde have been interfering with blogging this morning, mostly by attacking my feet, and my hands when I try to remove them from my feet. The rest of the time they spend chasing each other around the office and demanding head rubs. I would take a picture, but that would require at least one of them slow down long enough to point a camera at them, frame the shot, and push the button. I can manage the first two steps but by the time I get to the third the cat is out of the shot headed for parts unknown. So instead of pursuing a career as a cat photographer I shall fall back on something I sorta do well and write stuff.

On another front I managed to match 3 of 6 in yesterday’s Texas Lotto, scoring me a massive $3 payoff on odds of 148,824:1 against. It has been said that the lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math. I think it is a tax on the desperate and the dreamers and especially the desperate dreamers. As you can see, I can do math. I’m just a member of the third group. BTW I’m keeping $2.70 of this because I’m still following my agreement to give 10% of my lottery winnings to my church.

Up first from a fee that was mainly overseas today is a cyclist hit by a loose trailer in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. UPDATE: Stuart man in critical condition after bike wreck The cyclist was riding in the sidewalk when he was hit by a trailer that also took out a fence and 3 boats. This is not something anyone can avoid except to not be there.

Still in FL, they have an epidemic of blind drivers. UPDATE: Bicyclist dies in crash on 231; officer nearly struck securing scene How the hell do you “not see” a cop car with all the lights flashing? If they let that one slide, there’s no hope for anything as “small” as an adult human being with blinky lights.

KS cyclist hit by a car riding on the sidewalk, cyclist gets ticket. Injuries reported after woman’s bike hits car downtown Driver gets pat on shoulder for driving on sidewalk to hit cyclist, nothing for “failure to yield” to traffic on the sidewalk.

Another link to that awful story about the driver killing a cyclist and getting away with nothing more than a $260 ticket, or barely more than a cyclist gets for not putting a foot down at a stop sign. No criminal charges for driver in crash that killed Reed College grad on bicycle Running a stop sign on a bicycle gets a $220 ticket. Killing a cyclist should result in a much higher fine by at least an order of magnitude, not $40.

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Savvy cycling in OC, keeping bike theft petty, and riding with the Ovarian Psychos

Still in CA, a memorial ride. Memorial ride honors Redding bicyclist

Wounded Warrior ride in NV. Ride 2 Recovery hits the Strip

Drivers having a hard time dealing with a parking-protected bike lane in IN. “Protected bike lane” causes confusion What they need is to run some parking stoppers between the bike lane and the parking lane.

Memorial ride for the couple killed by a drunk driver while riding a tandem bike. Ceremony held to honor husband and wife killed on tandem bike

Another cyclist hit in the Great White North. Cyclist seriously injured after being struck by vehicle in North York I really can’t tell what happened from the bike wreckage picture because both wheels have a small amount of damage, but the frame is buckled and the fork is broken.

How do cyclists die in Jolly Olde? How are cyclists most likely to die? I find it interesting that cyclists killed 4 pedestrians in the UK were killed in collisions with cyclists, from the ranting and raving in the comments section of the Daily Mail you would think it was a daily happening.

A negative review of the Volvo LifePaint reflective coating. Volvo’s hi-vis paint for cyclists is not such a bright idea To be honest I expected this result when the spray finally made it to the “wild” away from photo effects and digital editing.

From Oz an expensive but ultimately futile campaign to stop dooring. TAC issues ‘Rider Reminder’ rubber tabs for door handles to stop ‘doorings’ Why do I call this “ultimately futile”? Because in a few weeks or days drivers will no longer notice the textured applique on the door handle.

Cyclists in Oz are threatened by a persistent road terrorist attack that LEO refuse to take seriously. Cyclists protest lack of CCTV amid Yarra Blvd tack attacks These terrorist attacks have been going on nearly daily since January 2014. That represents a serious investment in the means used. Good police work would say, look for someone buying large amounts of tacks on a regular basis.

Still in Oz, a cyclist is hit from behind on a straight road with excellent sight lines. Cyclist killed I see LEO are trying to blame the fact the cyclist was riding a ‘bent for the fact that the driver ran him over from behind. Face it, if a driver can’t see an adult human being in the road they have no business driving.

Over in Enn Zed, a cyclist pushing his bike is hit. Young cyclist killed after getting off bike and A pedestrian killed by a motorist near Mapua may have been a cyclist reported by concerned motorists earlier. Cyclist discovers he isn’t as visible as he thought and gets off to walk, then gets hit because he’s still not visible?

A sad story about a dead cyclist. Dead Hamilton cyclist hoped to mend marriage The cyclist was using cycling to get his head back together, and a motor vehicle destroyed that effort. The real kick in the head was that had they managed to get him out from under the truck sooner he might have recovered with no lasting effects beyond the orthopedic injuries. He died from the hypoxia caused by the chest compression.

And I’m finally out of links before I ran out of patience.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Another Grocery Day combined with a UPS run, and the Feed

I just took over $40 a month off my internet and cable TV bill by sending a bunch of unneeded equipment back to Verizon, and dropping a bunch of channels we never watch. The only channel I didn’t get but really wanted was MAV TV. Well the only channel I didn’t get that was available through FiOS, I still wanted to get Funimation Channel for my anime fix but that was not an option. Anywho while I was going to the UPS store I had the phone out capturing check-ins and prize boxes to get that next gift card, and hit my bag limit before we got back to the grocery store. That puts me even closer to that next gift card.

The blister situation on my foot has gotten both better and worse. The “swollen” part from yesterday turned out to be a second blister underneath the first blister. That first blister started to peel off the bottom of my foot so I cut the dead skin off so that it wouldn’t tear off and pull out some live skin. After doing that the other blister immediately started feeling better. So that’s good-ish.

Up first, we cyclists sometimes have soft spots for critters, especially the ones that get hurt on the roads. Cyclist comes to aid of injured deer All together now: “D’aaawwww!”

Since we are in CA anyway, how about our Daily Ted, part 1. Morning Links: 77-year old victim of bike hit-and-run dies, arrest made in Expo Park road rage murder case

Daily Ted, part 2. Mountain biker dies from trail fall in Riverside County

Still in CA, another link to the SFPD report blaming a cyclist’s fatal wreck on not being in the bike lane that wasn’t there. SFPD Once Again Blames Cyclist For Own Death, City Refuses To Release Video Of Accident

More from CA as people local to the wreck blame the infrastructure for the wreck as much or more as they did the driver and cyclist. Bicyclist killed Tuesday was a Silicon Valley executive Basically the cyclist was hit because the bike lane went from the shoulder to the median across a 50 MPH speed limit pair of lanes on a highway with a lack of signage warning drivers that bicycles were going to be crossing the highway. I think I found the winner for today’s “really crap infrastructure” tag. Seriously, what the Hell were they thinking? More Palo Alto: Bicyclist killed on Page Mill Road and Bike Accident Scene Palo Alto Nov1st

Not In CA, they caught the bus driver that killed a pedestrian in NYC. MTA Bus Driver Arrested In Fatal Hit & Run Has History Of Arrests So besides being partially blind, the dude had very poor judgement.

WI cyclist run over by a semi. Woman killed in bicycle vs. semi crash, police say Hit-from-behind wreck that seems to be at least partially the fault of the cyclist for riding too far to the right, which encouraged the truck driver to not move over to pass. So yeah this was all the truck driver’s fault.

NE rider severely injured by hit-and-run driver gets blamed for the wreck. Suspect Vehicle Located In Hit & Run Which Injured 6 Year-Old Riding Bike “Omaha City Council Member Garry Gernandt said speed bumps weren’t the answer, but rather, parents need to “control their kids.”” While the kid was hit riding in front of his house with parental supervision by a driver who has abandoned his vehicle miles away from the wreck. The local pol is now living on a steady diet of crow.

Meanwhile in OH. Alliance boy on bike injured by hit-and-run driver The comments section was blocked for this link.

More on the WA cyclist hit by a bus. Cyclist injured when hit by transit bus on Bainbridge Island Again, the cyclist was hit from behind by the bus, that pretty much absolves the victim from blame. Drivers must see and avoid whatever is on the road in front of them.

FL cyclists say drivers need to look out the windshield and not drive in the bike lanes. Bicyclist death highlights need for awareness I can see the bike tire mark on the car bumper, why can’t the LEO investigating the wreck? I wish I could see the bike too. The thing that bothers me is the lack of damage to the front end of the car, besides what looks like a tire mark there is almost nothing until the crushed roof and windshield. There’s the tire mark on the driver’s side bumper, a slight scuff mark on the hood directly behind the mark on the bumper, and then the crushed windshield and roof. Very strange.

Another report on the cyclist shot by an insane man in CO. Iraq veteran and father-of-two named as cyclist who was shot dead at random by Colorado gunman despite pleading for his life Another thing we know is the gunman was reported to 911 several times before he started shooting, but LEO could not respond because CO is an “open carry” state. Seriously, there are no words that can convey my emotions about this.

In Canuckistan the driver who hit a cyclist in a hit-and-run wreck comes back to have a shot at the cops investigating the wreck, who them shoot back. Calgary police shoot man after ‘shocking, wanton’ post-hit-and-run attack, narrow miss for officer “While emergency service personnel attended to the seriously injured cyclist, the subject vehicle reappeared on Dermot Baldwin Way and drove directly at the officers,” said police Chief Roger Chaffin late Tuesday night. The driver was reported to have deliberately targeted the cyclist with the stolen vehicle. I blame Rupert Murdoch for the attempted murder wreck and subsequent attack. 😉

More on the pinball wreck of a cyclist in the Great White North. Cyclist dies after being struck by two vehicles on Highway 27 in Etobicoke The impact damage on the weapon vehicles, especially the first one, just looks wrong for the narrative.

More on the cyclist hit by a truck in the GWN Police looking for five drivers after cyclist killed in Brampton I still say he fell off his bike after getting buzzed by the truck that ran him over.

A Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot, wreck in Jolly Olde. Two people are injured after a BMW chased by an unmarked police car ploughs into a bus stop, lamppost, car and cyclist No kitchen sink?

A coronial inquest has found that Irish truck drivers are blind and need all the help they can get to see a cyclist. Truck driver unaware he had run over cyclist, inquest told Coronial inquests are not intended to find guilt, but rather to find out how to prevent future deaths from the same cause. So apparently this one decided that two headlights and two tail lights mounted at two different heights on the back of the bike were not enough and the cyclist needed to do more instead of the truck driver watching where he was going.

Last link is an echo of the way I felt when I took the wrecks out for a while last year. Rick Vosper: Haunted by the Ghosts of Dead Cyclists

And that’s all I got today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

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.

Looking at another long day, and the Feed

Well, the computer crashed twice during filtering. So I know it’s going to be a long day when that happens. Usually that means I had too many pages with Flash ads running on them for the available memory on my Chromebook which has 2GB of memory. So when you read the links, only open one at a time, s’il vous plaît. OK, maybe two. [Monty Python]Four is right out[/Monty Python]

Up first because the injured (killed?) cyclist was pretty much ignored in the other casualties and because the number of dead and injured in this one incident was so high. Three Killed As Car Ploughs Into Shoppers and Man kills 3 driving into crowd in Austria — on purpose, authorities say also Car ploughs into crowd in Graz, Austria Sorry about the auto-play videos on those. So as it appears as I post this, the guy went off his rocker after getting kicked out of the house by his wife and starts looking for someone to take it out on and these people were handy as he drove into a car-free section of town (roads still passable because delivery vehicles were needed for shops in the district). Either the cyclist was not among the named dead or the fact that the dead person was the cyclist mentioned earlier did not make it into the article.

Our Daily Ted. LA bike rider attacked with machete, bad news from Hemet, plus Bicycle Coffee and pleasant private bike cops

And another link to the machete attack. 18-Year-Old Bicycle Rider in Critical Condition With Skull Fracture, May Lose Hand After Late-Night Machete Attack

Still in CA. Family of Rady Children’s CFO killed in bike crash wants answers, apology If the airbags were deployed this indicates a very severe impact for hitting a person riding a bike, an impact where there was a significant force transmitted to the car by the body of the cyclist. That is a BIG hit.

Not out of CA yet, would you rather have this drunk on a bicycle or behind the wheel? Cyclist falls, gravely injured in Chula Vista As it is, the falling-down-drunk cyclist hurt exactly one person in this wreck, himself. Most drunk drivers manage to avoid hurting themselves while injuring or killing others.

Machete attacks seem to be the rage this weekend. Brooklyn Man Arrested For Road Rage Machete Attack In Holland Tunnel Road rage, that is… I know, it is a bad pun but in my defense I saw 30 deaths in links that won’t get posted here. Interesting that he was charged with assault when all he hit was the car… are cars people now, too?

Not sure about this report from Seattle. UPDATE: Woman hospitalized after bicycle/car collision at Delridge/Dakota AFAIK this seems to be infrastructure related because the cyclist was hit in a bike lane but the driver did not hit-and-run.

Holding a hit-and-run driver accountable in the Great White North. Woman charged in hit-run death of cyclist remains behind bars

Lifestyle news from the Great White North after another hit-and-run death. Tribute held for cyclist, 26, killed in hit-and-run and Vigil held for cyclist killed in Yorkville hit-and-run

Don’t hit puppies either! Puppy owner thought cyclist had killed dog in ‘hit-and-run’ collision Off-leash dog runs under the cyclist and gets run over, not the cyclist’s fault, but you could hang around for a few minutes to show compassion for the owner.

Not again… Cyclist killed in crash with tipper truck at Bank junction in the City of London That makes 8 dead, 7 caused by trucks, and 6 victims have been women. Is there something in the water? or does it have more to do with the state of the infrastructure that places cyclists in the blind spots of trucks at intersections where neither party can see what the other is going to do?

Does it seem like every time a tiny bit of paved space is taken back from cars it’s a big news item? Closing Streets to Cars for Walkers and Cyclists Is Getting More Popular by the Minute

Infrastructure news in ME. Leg Work: Seeking safe passage in Maine crosswalks, on foot and on wheels A vulnerable road user bill is long overdue in most states.

More infrastructure news from VT. Another View: Our goal is zero deaths

First of several infrastructure articles from north of the border. Brian Dexter: Cyclists, get on the sidewalks! Basically what this guy is saying is if you aren’t going to provide safe infrastructure for cyclists, let them use the spaces for pedestrians even if it’s sub-optimal. Better than they should get killed.

And more blame the victim from Canuckistan. Motorists, cyclists share responsibility — improved weather often means rates of fatalities on roadways increase

This is the time of year when cyclists ride in honor of people not killed or injured riding bicycles. Wounded Warriors Canada Battlefield Bike Ride Participants Raise $500,000 for Ill and Injured Veterans and their Families As a vet and a cyclist you know I am endorsing this one.

This truck makes a better window than a door. The Safety Truck Could Revolutionize Road Safety I can personally think of several bike wrecks where something like this could have made a difference.

And I’m all out of links. And sanity, but that was pretty much a given years ago.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet

I still have the lump on my neck, and the Feed

I had to call and cancel my MRI because we don’t have the co-pay. So I had to put off the MRI to a point late in April when I should have money to cover the co-pays for everything. The co-pays on this policy are out of proportion to income. Seriously, the ER co-pay is like 50% (+/-) of my monthly budget without medical expenses. The co-pays for a visit to the PCP, the MRI, the consult with the surgeon, and the surgery itself combine to about 2 months of my income, about half of which will not apply to my Out Of Pocket (OOP) maximum. This is one of the results of Gov. Goodhair deciding that Texans would not get expanded Medicaid. Rick, I hope you can sleep at night knowing that there are people who will die because of your decision, that’s all I have to say.

After that heavy intro, something light. The bike lanes in NYC are some of the heaviest used in the US. Including this guy. Ain’t he a hipster?

And as always there is one law for the plebes and another law for the elite. De Blasio’s Position On New Car Idling Bill Remains Hazy

Our Daily Ted almost didn’t make the post today. April Fool-free Morning Links: Maintaining Griffith Park for the many; traffic planning problems in Calabasas Those pedestrian crossing flags are about the stupidest thing I have ever seen, not because they aren’t needed, but because someone thought they were.

Simpsons ride many bikes. #ciclavia

What’s worse, losing $341,000 a year in parking meter revenue, or killing a cyclist or pedestrian a year? Comm. Ave. bike lane plan draws ire: ‘Outrageous’ loss of parking

Portland is using every source to embrace Vision Zero. Bike/walk advocates unveil plan for Oregon to zero out road deaths

And even car-crazy Houston can haz bike lanes. Biking through downtown Houston just got easier thanks to new protected green lane

One of the more dangerous places in NYC is getting an overhaul. “Boulevard Of Death” Will Get Protected Bike Lanes, Pedestrian Walkway

Sounds like this woman missed her Pikes Place latte that morning. Seattle Driver Blocking Bicycle Lane to Cyclist: “I Literally Don’t Give a Fuck About Anything You Say” And instead of just moving one car width to the left to get into the parking lane, the bike lane parker drives off without doing whatever it was that made her park in the bike lane in the first place as she leaves in shame.

Well, what do you know? Finnish drivers don’t yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk either. Police step up surveillance of pedestrian crossings And they also don’t yield to cyclists using the crossings when there are MUPs connected to the marked crossings. Yep, they’re drivers alright.

London’s financial elites are switching from sedate golf to more active cycling, but the roads are still a problem. Bankers swap golf for bicycles but still fear London’s roads

And one of the reasons why they are uneasy “sharing” the roads. Stars’ fashion designer deliberately knocked cyclist off bike after he kicked her Audi TT She cuts off a cyclist, cyclist kicks in the side of her car, she chases down the cyclist and commits assault with a deadly weapon, measured and reasonable responses to the situation. /s

Is it really “bike friendly” if it’s only friendly to commuters? The Web Monkey Speaks: A “Bike-Friendly” city? Let’s redefine that

I liked the comment someone made about this stuff on another link: Like a fraternity selling rape whistles. Cyclists Shine at Night Courtesy of New Reflective Spray This is victim-blaming, pure and simple. It enables drivers to drive faster than they can stop in the distance they can see clearly at night.

All you graphic designers who participated in my tattoo contest might want to get involved in this. IT’S BACK … USA PRO CHALLENGE OFFERS FANS CHANCE TO DESIGN OFFICIAL COMMEMORATIVE POSTER FOR 2015 RACE AND WIN VIP RACE PACKAGE Yeppers, a $50K or more design contest with a grand prize worth a few hundred to a couple grand tops, travel not included… Well if you were going anyway, might as well enter the contest.

Moots restores one of their bikes involved in a fatal wreck. Forever Forward: Sally Bell’s bike rides again If it was anybody else’s bike it would have been scrapped.

And I’m outta links again tonight.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the (very poor) Poet (I’m still an unkillable badass though)