I’m back in shorts and a T-shirt, and the Feed

Well the headline pretty much says it all concerning life here at Casa de El Poeta, the outside temperature has risen to what the heating system was designed to cope with (low 40s-high 30s at night) so I’m back to wearing shorts and a T-shirt in the office, and Mrs. the Poet is still wearing her sweatshirt over a T-shirt and long pants. I am comfortable in a very wide range of temperatures wearing the shorts and T-shirt, and do much better than Mrs. the Poet when things get really cold, mostly because I have real cold-weather gear because I hung on to my issue cold-weather gear when I left the Army, and bought more of it when it hit the surplus market. Mrs. the Poet hates mil-surplus clothing because of the way it looks, but I’m the warm one in winter. And I have a selection of gear that I can wear riding a bicycle as well, so I stay warm on my bike. Or I would be warm if I could actually ride my bike.

Up first is some good news from Brownsville, as they discover that they can stuff a lot of bicycles into the space that used to house just one car. Brownsville installs downtown bike corral They replaced one car spot with 14 bike spots, greatly increasing the revenue potential for that parking spot. Sure shoppers that arrive by bike don’t spend as much money per trip, but they make 2-3 times as many trips and now they have the potential to serve 14 times as many customers.

Pedestrians are still getting killed same as they always were with Texas right out there in a battle for the “lead”. Pedestrians killed at about the same rate last year as they were in 2013 This mirrors UK statistics showing cars are getting more forgiving about bad driving, what with air bags and crumple zones and being required to have doors that open after running into a concrete wall at 35 MPH, but drivers are just as crappy as they always were if not worse now that the consequences for them are so much lower.

More on the Houston bike cops going undercover to get drivers who drive poorly around cyclists. Undercover Houston Cops On Bikes Are Nabbing Drivers Dangerous To Cyclists Houston passed a law against buzzing cyclists in 2013 when they discovered how many cyclists were getting knocked down by cars passing too close, then instructed bike cops to run stings against the drivers breaking the law. Nobody is getting ticketed for passing between 2 and 3 feet away (just warned), the (big) tickets are going to the ones passing less than a foot (300 mm) from the cop. So far no word on how many cops have been hit doing these stings, but you know it is just a matter of time before some Bubba decides to “teach a lesson” to one of the undercover cops and misjudges how wide his F-150 really is, like the guy who broke his mirror off on my elbow a few years ago.

Why is this news in NYC? Cops Are Giving Out Speeding Tickets To Drivers Who Are Speeding Really now, cops giving tickets is “Man bites dog” rare in NYC?

If you have a young-looking bike-riding friend in SF please check on his whereabouts and if you can’t find him call SFPD. Young cyclist unconscious, and police don’t know his name The wreck was early Monday morning to give your young man a time frame to be missing, if you saw him after 0800 or so on Monday it is pretty much guaranteed that this is not the same guy.

They have some bad infrastructure over in NOLA, so bad it kills people. Cyclist death shines light on dangerous intersection And cue the H8ers complaining about cyclists taking the lane for visibility when this was a crossing wreck at an intersection and LEO admit they have no way of knowing who ran the light. Check out the comments section.

When the state refuses to act in AZ municipalities take charge. San Luis to enforce ban on cellphone use for drivers It seems there are certain people in the AZ legislature blocking driving while using cell phone bills from getting to the floor, not naming names because I don’t know who is doing it, just that the bills never seem to get a vote.

It seems that providing even barely usable bicycle infrastructure has a positive effect on car ownership (if you are trying to reduce traffic congestion). Multnomah County car registration is down 8% since 2007, and isn’t rebounding They had a steep drop during the recession but people discovered they didn’t need to have a car for everyone so the number of people replacing cars sold during the recession has been very low. Also there is the possibility that they are just not registering their deadly weapons like they are supposed to.

Along the same lines just up the coast a bit. The Remarkable Drop in Car Commuting to Downtown Seattle They expect to see even further reductions when their bike infrastructure gets built all the way into the Downtown area.

Another link to that SD bill that would require drivers to not hit cyclists they are trying to pass. Bill Aiming To Keep Cyclists Safe On The Road 3 feet at 35 MPH and under, 6 feet on faster roads. And the bill has passed the Senate and goes on to the governor to be signed into law.

Cyclists in the Emerald Isle are discovering that protecting the head just seems to move the injury to some other part of the body. Soaring popularity of pedal power leads to 200% rise in spinal injuries That energy has to go somewhere, and when you protect the skull the next thing in line is the neck, which this report seems to indicate is the part taking the abuse.

And whadda you know, crap infrastructure is crap. Are Southend’s roads safe for cyclists? If you have to ask, then the answer is probably “NO!”.

I think I’m done taking Boris Johnson seriously. Cyclists should wave like Simon Rattle to avoid being hit, says London mayor Really, get out in front of a heavy truck and wave your hands around in the vague hope that the driver will see you and not run you over? And how is that begging for your life at the base of the guillotine working out for you, Boris? 😉

Speaking of stupid things in the UK. Cyclists vs motorists – 3 STUPID acts committed by the frustrated car driver

Dealing with the rather arcane legal infrastructure in Oz. TAC admits cyclist claim rules are confusing after host of anomalies in rules exposed If I had to deal with a mess like this with my wreck I would be pushing a walker or a wheelchair still.

This is stupid, bike 4 months, skate 4 months, and 4 months transition when you can’t safely do either. Canadian ‘freezeway’ could let residents skate to work And what about people who can’t skate, like yr fthfl srvnt blogger? Aside from the fact that I’m 2027 miles from Edmonton by bike that is.

The kind of lifestyle article I like to link to, because nobody had to die first. For injured veterans, bike ride helps heal body

Our Daily Ted was a little late posting, but I got it. Morning Links: Endorsing Ramsay and O’Grady in CD4; and a blind bike rider needs your help to regain his sight

Some infrastructure news out of Dallas as they debate adding a bypass Interstate (I 345) or enhancing the existing grid. Why the Grid Has More Latent Capacity Than a Highway The thing about I 345 that I object to is they are putting it through existing neighborhoods, unlike its northern counterpart I 635 which was built on what was mostly semi-rural farmland (there is still an active Future Farmers of America at Garland HS in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell, which is located outside the 635 loop).

And a Texan I would be proud to share the designation with. 76-Year-Old Man Bikes 300 Miles To Raise Money For Planned Parenthood

I’m outta here.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

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Well my phone works again, and the Feed

One of the reasons yesterday’s post turned into this morning’s post was I had to walk to the store and buy a top off card for my phone. If I didn’t need my phone so much for getting about my life I would just chuck the thing and save myself $33.07 a month (including taxes). But as I have lost count of the times having a phone on my person has been mission-critical (for varying values of “mission”) so divesting myself of this expense is no longer an option. And while I was out a strange thing happened, someone driving a silver 4-door sedan honked at me on the sidewalk and the passenger rolled down the window, waved, and shouted “Hi, Opus!” I guess that even walking on the sidewalk I’m still conspicuous and identifiable. Or I am still a minor local celebrity. I don’t care, but it does kinda put a crimp on my bank-robbing career before it even gets started. 😀

Up first is some decent Infrastructure! news from The Particular Hell WoaB is a suburb of. Dallas’ new bike czar is ready to roll; her thoughts on hot-button issues What happens in the Big D eventually percolates over to The Beautiful Suburbs of Hell next to it.

From NYC we get a bike on ped wreck. Salmoning Cyclist Sends Pedestrian To Hospital With Serious Head Injury Don’t hit the pedestrians. Don’t get killed but DON’T HIT THE PEDESTRIANS!

Update on a CA wreck from the early part of the month. Salinas Police Seeking Public’s Help in Bike Rider’s Death Still can’t find the weapon vehicle, raising the probability of the driver being from out of town and the weapon vehicle long gone.

A MT cyclist wrecks after getting crossed or hooked by a turning vehicle. Whitefish man killed in bike crash ID’d The victim died from a head injury despite wearing a bicycle helmet. Intersection protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent.

A cyclist gets hit in the Great White North. Cyclist struck by van, suffered head injuries Nothing the cyclist could have done to avoid this wreck, as the driver pulled almost directly in front of him as he passed the intersection. And unless Dutch quality infrastructure increases the common sense of drivers driving across it infrastructure would have made little difference either.

Over in Oz a driver on trial for hit-and-run has a tummyache. Helensburgh hit-and-run accused ‘too sick’ to attend court: Doctor This was a driver that left the cyclist victim in hospital with spinal injuries, and now can’t be at her hearing because she’s puking? I wonder if the cyclist was out of hospital to attend the hearing?

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: LA sheriff’s agree PCH cyclists belong in the lane; women could race in 2015 Pro Challenge

Can I get a resounding “No Duh!”? Separation Enhances Bike Lane Success People don’t like riding bicycles next to multi-ton killing machines, and even on provably safe bike lanes they feel better if there is distance and some kind of physical barrier between bicycles and “Certain Death”. It would be like driving near an active artillery range where the targets were behind a barrier but a bad shot could still land on the highway.

And a huge “Hurrah!” for this one. FHWA to Engineers: Go Ahead and Use City-Friendly Street Designs This is a huge win for people without motor vehicles.

More Infrastructure news from DE. DelDOT Contractor Makes 2nd Try at Fixing Bad Rumble Strips First try just turned the holes into bumps, second try was reasonably smooth, good show! Of course not putting rumble strips in the bike lane at all would have been a much better idea, don’t you think? More Cyclists Report That Second Try’s the Charm for Rumble Strip Patch

And looking at somewhat better than nothing infrastructure from the vantage point of the best bicycle infrastructure in the world and they still keep trying to improve it. New British infrastructure. A real improvement or making stop-start cycling even slower?

Riding politely at night? All Lit Up Redux

Something I hope percolates over to Garland from Dallas. Grab a seat, Dallas’ first beer bike is on the move It runs on alternative fuels, all derived from biomass. 😉

Speaking from experience, maybe they can given good infrastructure. Can Cargo Bikes Help Us to Replace Trucks and Minivans? Francis/es works well in places that restrict motor vehicle operation, I know this from direct experience. Paved roads help, too. XD

WoaB endorses this ride. Bicycle ride honors fallen Marine, raises money for charity

And those were all the links that gave me fits or giggles today, and I got done before midnight whaddaya know?

Billed @€0.02, Opus