I’m recovering from not remembering to carry water with me on what turned out to be a very long trip today, but we have the bus ticket for Mrs. the Poet’s trip to NY, and the storage unit rent is paid. The trips involved for that were Home to Downtown Garland to get the money, Downtown Garland to Downtown Dallas to get the tickets (round trip TX to NY and back involves 11 separate tickets), the Downtown Dallas to North Garland to pay the storage unit rent then walking home from the storage unit because it’s only like a mile and a quarter and there are sidewalks the entire way. Total travel time was about 5 hours. Whee!
Up first because this is a stand-alone link and I need as much space in the Feed window as I can get with 5 days of links in there, Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: KPCC calls LaBonge a bike advocate, CicLAvia rolls, Kerry breaks a leg and Hövding sort of works
More on that CO cyclist shot to death. Colorado police link two shootings and Colorado Hunting for Shooter Who Killed Cyclist, Injured Driver in Two Attacks also Fatal shooting of Windsor cyclist linked to shooting of Milliken woman driving on I-25, police say There seems to be ballistic evidence connecting the two recovered bullets from different shootings. Otherwise there is nothing connecting the two victims.
Another story generating lots of links is the US secretary of State falling off his bike on a planned assault on the Col de la Colombiere. Kerry breaks leg in bicycle crash; returning to US Monday and Kerry hurt in bike accident; rest of Europe visit canceled The col is a frequent climb on the Tour de France most years, but the wreck was in a crowded peloton in the town at the base of the pass and Kerry never even got to the Col de la Colombiere. That’s rough.
Another big story is a drunk driver in far West Canuckistan hitting and killing 2 out of 3 cyclists riding as a group, and killing the passenger in his car. Three killed as alleged impaired driver hits cyclists on scenic road north of Pemberton and Three dead after vehicle hits cyclists also Cyclists killed in Pemberton crash mourned by friends this too Whistler cyclists Kelly Blunden and Ross Chafe killed in collision The third cyclist was initially reported among the injured but later reports state he was not hurt. You know what I think they should do to the drunk murderer, but Canada is much too polite for that.
Bicycles are so dangerous in Japan! Bicycles can be weapons, victim warns and Revised law obliges reckless cyclists to attend safety lectures
Why do you sometimes break road rules? Survey of 17,000 Asks Why Bicyclists Break the Rules of the Road I do because obeying the law 100% of the time will get you killed. I firmly believe in following road rules to be predictable and safe, but there are some things that if you do them as a cyclist you will get hit eventually because they laws were made for cars and bicycles cannot physically do some of those things even though they are required. Merging is one of the big ones for me, since I just can’t get up and go on my bike like someone can in a car. Someone very shortly after I merge is going to have to either slow down behind me or go around me, which is a violation of the merge law. And of course when they follow me I can’t see past them so I can do my next maneuver which is normally another merge to the next lane over so I can make a turn.
More on the UK cyclist killed by a HGV in London. Tributes paid to female cyclist who died after collision with lorry in South London And Health specialist is latest cyclist to be killed by HGV You know if six different kinds of cyclists were all killed by the SAME KIND of vehicle in less than 5 months in just one city I would be looking mighty hard at if maybe one of those vehicles was not suited for use in an urban environment, and I’m not talking about the cyclists.
Since we are discussing the UK anyway. Man arrested over Walton-on-Thames cyclist death and Updated: Arrest made after female cyclist in her 50s killed in tanker pile-up in Surrey The van driver was driving a commercial vehicle without license or insurance.
And still in the UK. Man who killed Horsham cyclist convicted of causing death by careless driving After they let him out of prison they are going to deport him. Harsh, but not as much as he deserved.
I think we have found the poster child for the Asshole Association. Cyclist Hit by Vehicle on One Year Anniversary that Matthew Harker was Struck and Killed Seriously dude, don’t hit-and-run and then get on Facebook and claim the victim was at fault. When you left the scene it became your fault. You might have been able to claim the victim was the author of his own demise had you stayed at the scene, but as soon as you ran you assumed the fault in the wreck because under the law the innocent don’t run. And don’t post about it on Facebook
This is another wreck at a spot that has seen several this year in Portland OR, America’s Copenhagen. Driver cited for crash that injured bicyclist on SE Powell Blvd. This was the same intersection as the cyclist who lost his leg was riding when he got hit just a few weeks ago and not very far from where a cyclist was killed last week. Some people think there may be a problem. Is Biking Getting More Dangerous in Portland? Just for the record I don’t think cycling is getting more dangerous, I think this is what happens when you have something that doesn’t happen very often in the first place and sometimes you get a dry spell and some times you get a few more. What I also think is this area was overdue for a serious bike wreck because of the infrastructure.
Here’s another surprise, a former highway department that still thinks its primary job is to build highways. Coalition Accuses Los Angeles Transportation Authority of Tunnel Vision Gee, build a tunnel under a city in one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world, or move more people more safely for $4 BILLION dollars less. What to do, what to do…
Bouncing all over again today because too many open links makes navigating the composing page a nightmare, a cyclist in Canuckistan makes a claim for injury after hitting a pothole in the dark and crashing heavily. Cyclist suing City of Edmonton for $152K; claims pothole-related injuries This is apparently a different cyclist from the one last week that was only suing for 5 figures instead of the 6 that this one is suing for.
Hey, let’s blame the victims in MA. I-Team: Bicycle Citations Up, Accidents Down In Brookline Remember that line from a few paragraphs back: “bike accidents are so seldom that there is a lot of noise in the statistics about them”? Same thing applies here, there is most likely no causality between the tickets and the reduction in wrecks, only correlation. since most of the wrecks reported in the media the cyclist was not at fault, this large a reduction would mean that ticketing cyclists was changing the drivers’ habits. Exactly how that would work is a bit on the shaky side.
Now this is a clickbait headline that works. When Will the U.S. Embrace This Simple Change to Make Cyclists and Pedestrians Safer? I hate to be the ones that tell them but the UK law they are talking about has so many loopholes that all 6 of the HGV that killed cyclists in London this year were not equipped with the devices.
So many ghost bikes it takes a team from the local bike club to keep them maintained so they don’t get stolen or taken away by the city/state. Duke City Wheelmen refurbish bikes Someone once suggested that we chain white cars everywhere someone died in a car wreck, which I think would be a great idea. Just think how many cars that would take off the roads with 35-40K deaths a year. And the reminder that cars can kill inside and out…
How some of those wounded veteran rides are supported. Hundreds of cyclists support Ride 2 Recovery I would ride in one of these rides.
And then there’s this guy. Double Amputee Starts 52-Day Cross-Country Fundraising Journey to Arlington on Bike He’s not riding to Arlington TX from SD CA, he’s riding all the way across the hot part of the country, in summer, with only his arms to power the bike.
Two links from Oz. A simple request from a cyclist’s partner: there’s no contest between a bike and a car and Doctor Henri Sueke, killed in Rose Bay cycling crash, had just arrived from UK
I have been hit more times, but this guy definitely has worse luck on a specific date. Cyclist badly hurt in hit-and-run again, 5 years later to the day
Lifestyle in AZ. University mourns professor killed on bicycle RIP fellow cyclist.
And what I hope is the last new RoS link for this year… Friends, family of bike commuters killed in February joined hundreds in Thursday’s Ride of Silence
And I am beat, fried, toast, a cinder, past my freshness date… TIRED! and I need to get my toes done before I ruin another pair of socks. I’m just lucky that I haven’t ruined any of the bicycle socks I treasure, just the ones that don’t have any particular meaning or memories attached to them.
Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet
Witch on a Bicycle 