It’s hot in Texas and water is wet, and the Feed

Looking at my phone the temp just went to 103°F with the heat index “only” 102 because there is almost no humidity. Seriously the air in Phoenix is more humid than the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell, 22% in TX to 26% in AZ. And I actually go out and ride a bike in weather like this, wearing a full-face helmet. Well nobody has accused me of being “normal” lately. Speaking of that there are only 20 more shopping days to get me a Death Day present. I’m looking for RPG dice this year, especially d6 and d8. And I’m a vain geek, I want pretty dice that kinda match. And seriously about this, I’m playing a game now where I sometimes need as many as 10 d6 for damage rolls because my Warlock is heavily buffed with stacking magic items that both increase his “to hit” as well as his damage. I mean my to hit is now +13 against the touch AC of my opponent meaning against most non-monsters I hit every time, and I have better than even odds against pretty much all of the monsters. Currently it takes me longer to roll damage than most people take to play a turn because of my lack of d6. 😦

Right now it appears the Big Story is the woman hit by a semi in Boston on Friday morning. Cyclist Killed by Tractor Trailer Identified and Cyclist’s death spotlights Mass. Ave. peril also Recent fatal bike encounters with trucks, buses this too Police search for flatbed truck after bicyclist hit and killed at Boston more like this Bicycle rider killed in Back Bay crash in the previous link you can see the cyclist just before she was hit under the passenger side mirror of the picture of the weapon vehicle. Police Identify Bicyclist Killed In Back Bay Accident I’m going to make a 100% absolutely serious recommendation here: Ban large trucks like this from urban areas unless accompanied by bicyclist outriders front and rear to make sure that no pedestrians or cyclists get run over because drivers can’t see out of the right side or directly in front of the vehicle. The outriders’ responsibility would be to ensure that there was nothing and nobody in the way of the truck before allowing it to make a turning movement and hold the truck until the way had been cleared with the front outrider keeping people from turning across the truck and the back outrider making sure nobody comes from behind, and both making sure that the people who got there first have time to get out of the way, then the truck can make a turn. Obviously this is much more important when making a right turn because such large vehicles have to fade far to the left to clear such things as light poles and sidewalks, but there is still some issues with the left turns from a one-way street that require fading right for clearance. Using bicyclists as outriders means the forward speed is more or less limited to a safe speed. Late addition Surgeon Remembered After Being Struck and Killed on Bike

From a few hours ride east of WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. Calls for road safety after Longview cyclist crashes “It’s not if I’m going to get hit, it’s when,” which sounds pretty pessimistic, but this is TX, the state where the 2 biggest-selling vehicles are pickup trucks in spite of most of the population living in one of 6 urban areas.

A memorial ride south of WoaB about a day and a half ride. Memorial to honor teen killed in auto vs. bike crash “(H)e swerved and hit the side of a vehicle” tells me that he got buzzed and hit. Remember this victim of motor violence.

Ted had a good day. We interrupt this website for a view from Sunday’s successful CicLAvia

Well it was good for a little while, anyway. Bicyclist killed riding on I-15 in North San Diego County hit-and-run; victim may have been struck multiple times

Same area, slightly earlier. Mission Beach Cyclist Severely Injured in Hit-and-Run Area readers are encouraged to BOLO for the weapon vehicle, have SDPD non-emergency number on speed dial. And PD need to have the ability to get texts and attachments from cell phones so that vital information can be sent from people on the scene instead of trying to describe the situation verbally. Pictures are worth a thousand words.

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike catches a killer. FHP: Hit-and-run driver distracted by e-cig before killing teen cyclist and Arrest made in hit-and-run crash that killed 17-year-old He dropped his vaper on the floor and instead of pulling over and stopping while he searched for it, he just ducked down and drove blind.

NYC, you suck. 18-Year-Old Queens Cyclist Who Was Struck By Driver In Bike Lane Has Died The drunk driver has not yet been charged with anything, including not charged with drunk driving.

Upstate NY is only slightly better. Bike accident during Great Race sends two cyclists to Upstate University Hospital No motor vehicles involved, but it was a race/ride. Some people were just out to have a nice ride somewhat protected from motor vehicles.

More upstate NY hassles. No easy answers for rider-driver friction in Piermont Part of the problem is NY culture leads to confrontations (remember Pacino’s “Hey! I’m WALKING here!”?), and part of the problem is we cyclists get a trifle excited when some putz comes within inches of terminating our lives which does little to reduce tensions.

Meanwhile in Joisey. Charges filed in Mine Hill crash that left cyclist injured The driver has been charged with driving like a putz and failing to yield.

A bill in PA that deserves to get thrown under the bus. Pa. bill to demand cyclists wear reflective vests at night getting thrown under bus Seriously, instead of demanding that cyclists do all the work here, how about just enforcing the Basic Speed Law?

Are you Too Old To Drive? Mother of bicyclist killed in car accident helps educate elderly drivers I remember covering this wreck back then, the cyclist was hit with the front of the right front fender. The driver just did not even consider that there was a lane of traffic to the right of the vehicle before starting the turn.

Someone in MN has a serious hate on for cyclists. Answers Tough To Find After Cyclist Hit By Chunk Of Concrete and People are ruthlessly attacking Minneapolis cyclists, for some reason Seriously, this was a planned attack, as the driver was riding in some cyclist-heavy parts of the city and wearing PPE so as to not get hurt by the objects he was throwing at cyclists. If you see the weapon vehicle deploy spike strips and shoot to kill. The car that is, kill the car. We want the driver to be publicly humiliated for at least a decade or so and corpses don’t get humiliated easily.

Still in MN a left cross wreck injures a young girl. Minnesota Girl Injured On Bicycle After Car Struck Her This story is just so bizarre. The driver was the victim of random mob violence a few years ago that left him brain damaged and was just now starting to get something resembling a normal life back when he turned left into the cyclist. As a member of both groups, brain damaged and cyclist, I don’t know which I should feel more sorry for. But as a member of both groups I also need to say they should test the driver for his degree of perception to his left, as well as can he physically turn his head to see that direction. He may have undiscovered defects on that side of his body, that he may not even know about.

Another hit-from-behind wreck in WI. Bicyclist hurt in Sunday crash named Other than the fact the driver stayed at the scene and rendered aid to the cyclist until medical help arrived it was a common hit-from-behind wreck.

Another cyclist is killed in another hit-and-run, this time in MI. Bicyclist on trek across Michigan dies in hit-and-run crash and Woman cycling across Michigan killed in hit-and-run The driver of the pickup truck hit the last rider in a group and sped away because he was a person of low moral content. When they find the truck it should be crushed as soon as they finish processing it, possibly with the driver still in it.

A little girl is hurt in SD. Five-Year-Old Girl Injured In Car Vs. Bicycle Accident If a 5YO can’t play safely here then there isn’t a safe place to play in SD.

Our first international links come from the Great White North, as age is no defense against criminally bad driving. Charges pending against 83-year-old driver after cyclist hit And neither is “sun glare”. It’s not like you don’t know the sun is going to be there…

The father of a cyclist killed in a hit-and-run wants a mandatory minimum sentence for killing someone in a hit-and-run to deter DUIs from leaving the scene. Dead cyclist’s father wants jail time for hit-and-run drivers and Dead cyclist’s father wants jail time for hit-and-run drivers I suggest the minimum for a fatal hit-and-run be twice the minimum for death by DUI, whatever they call it in the statute. If leaving the guy to die is not worse than killing him outright, well…

Gawddammit! Cyclist seriously injured after being hit by a lorry in central London OK I know the drivers have at least some degree of driving ability to pass the test for the license, and the majority of the cyclists hit have been experienced and careful cyclists, which narrows it down to infrastructure and vehicle blind spots…

Road.cc is sorta like Gothamist except all bike and in England. They have two links in today’s Feed. The first one is the driver who had his pathetically weak sentence reduced further because victims’ impact statements don’t actually count, they’re just for show. Lorry driver who caused death of Denbighshire cyclist has driving ban reduced FFS.

Second link is the bus driver that hit a cyclist in plain view and dragging his body until there was no hope of survival and getting away with it. Bus driver who dragged cyclist to his death and failed to stop avoids jail That distance in American (formerly Imperial English) is almost 80 feet. And WTF?!? “Death by Dangerous Driving” is the most serious driving offense in the book, and he got probation?

I think the coppers are still looking for the murder weapon. 70 year-old man questioned over death of cyclist Yep, I’ almost positive that’s what they’re doing.

Last link. Sips For Cyclists Event To Benefit Injured Riders Go out there and benefit somebody.

And I’m tired and done composing, now comes proofing, editing, and tagging.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Unkillable Badass Poet

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Full Moon, and the Feed

I’m going to go to the Full Moon service at church tonight between filtering and posting, because it’s the Blue moon and because that is just something we do, celebrate the Full Moon. And before I do that I was invited to a D&D session, so this will probably go up very late. Back from the Moon, not a good service as the group that had been doing the services for the church removed the event from the Google calendar for the church but didn’t tell anyone about it, and nobody has been replying to texts or phone calls. The people who showed up did a quick and dirty blessing of the moon and went home. At least we had a good time at the D&D game.

Up first is Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: The Feds look at road diets, including three LA area case studies, though LADOT’s stats falls flat This link shows the importance of gathering good before and after data when doing a bike project. This kind of data is readily available going back decades for motor vehicles, almost nonexistent for bicycles.

The Big Story for today is the charity cyclist killed by a drunk texting driver across the state line from WoaB World HQ. Man Bicycling Across America Killed In Oklahoma Wreck and Distracted Driving To Blame For Fatal Crash In Washita County also Cross-Country Cyclist Killed, Another Injured After Being Hit By Distracted Driver this, too Cyclist Killed After Helping Tulsa Habitat For Humanity last link Cell phone distraction to blame in death of charity cyclist Basically it boils down to this: driver not paying attention to the road and only enough right-of-way to pave two lanes, one in each direction, plus a few rolling hills and BANG! two cyclists are hit from behind on the only route through that area. They were on what was reported to be a low-traffic route but it only takes one distracted driver to make a low-traffic road a death trap.

This is why hit-and-run needs to be treated like attempted murder. Second teen cyclist hospitalized after Metairie crash involving cabdriver And this is why any wrecks not reported need to be treated as a hit-and-run. The driver did not render aid, he threw money at the kids and left the scene. One of the kids had a broken hip. That is not something you get up and walk away from a wreck with. Second kid had a brain injury that kept him from thinking clearly at the wreck and went untreated until his mother took him to the ER. The driver needs to be taken into an alley and whacked with a frame pump a few dozen times about the head and shoulders.

In CA what had been reported as a salmon cyclist earlier has been changed. Cyclist hit by car suffers serious head injury The updated link now says only that the wreck is being investigated. I was thinking that the damages to the car and bike did not look like the results of riding salmon. Apparently the witness report has been discounted as unreliable now.

Good news as the GA cyclist who almost died when a road-raging cager made multiple passes in order to finally hit him returns to work over a year later. Injured cyclist Greg Germani returns to the airwaves Yay!

Aftermath of a FL car wreck with a bicycle. One Lee County bike crash changes many lives forever This was the wreck that I posted should have been charged as attempted murder after the driver said “I should have hit them harder”. Amazingly it wasn’t even charged as assault with a deadly weapon.

Another deadly wreck in IA leaves us with few answers. Riceville woman on bicycle struck, killed by car and Female bicyclist killed in Mitchell County IA has a minimum clearance passing law, but it is seldom invoked when a cyclist is struck from behind.

Today’s winner of the “crap infrastructure” tag. Injured bicyclist files $13.5M claim against Pima County The speed limit on that stretch was way too high to use a right turn mixing lane, by about 10 MPH. That design is intended for mixing low-speed motor vehicle traffic up to about 30 or 35 MPH. In addition there is supposed to be a sign instructing drivers to yield to cyclists when crossing the bike lane. That particular intersection was designed so that motor vehicles making a right turn did not have to slow below 20 MPH when making a protected right turn.

The PGH works to become more bike-friendly. More bike lanes coming to Oakland streets I just hope those bike lanes don’t turn into sharrows. Sharrows are the abstinence-only sex ed of bicycle infrastructure, you’re spending money and seem to be making the effort, but in reality you are not doing anything.

A Ghost Bike in MS. Ghost Bike Memorial Honors Pascagoula Cyclist

Another reminder that MI cyclists have to follow the same rules as motor vehicles, except when they don’t and have to pull off the road. Rules of the road

More on a wreck in the Great White North. Driver Charged After Cyclist Seriously Injured In Huron County Crash and Charges laid after cyclist injured If those are not the same wreck then it is an incredible coincidence that two women on triathlon bikes were hit by drivers failing to move over to pass.

And a little infrastructure news from the Great White North. Market St. Bicycle Corridor to provide an east-west trail linkl This is supposed to connect two bike paths/lanes that had hitherto been marooned amid hostile automobile-centric infrastructure.

Should bicycle infrastructure make cyclists less likely to get hit? Cycling fatality suggests safety be re-examined I say not just yes, but “Hell, yes!”

Also from the Great White North comes this review of a documentary. Bikes vs Cars: Documentary cycles through the motions without a theme When you try to be “too fair” to cars, you end up with a film that doesn’t really say anything about the problem of too many cars.

There isn’t any bias against cyclists in the UK legal system /s. Cyclist fined for leaving toddler with cuts and bruises after he hit her and rode off Compare this wreck where a cyclist hits a child and causes minor abrasions (admittedly painful but not life-threatening) to the cyclist killed by a driver failing to see him as he drove into the bike lane and hit the cyclist from behind. Cyclist hit the child in May and the trial was completed by the end of July, less than 3 months after the wreck. Driver hit the cyclist in 2013 and brought to trial in 2015, almost two years after the wreck. Cyclist was fined £829. Driver got 100 hours of community service for killing a cyclist, and 3 points on his license.

So, basically they will be ignored completely then? Tessa Jowell promises police ‘will enforce London’s 20mph zones like 30mph ones’

Yep that helmet really protected him… NOT. Injured cyclist: ‘My arm landed about 20ft away from me’ OK helmet in two pieces means the helmet failed to function in the job of protecting the rider’s head, and the severed arm? Yeah, it did about the same job there. And yes I’m being extra snarky tonight because my butt hurts from this chair, and I’m tired.

Some people get the message. Minister backs campaign to protect cyclists on Manx roads

And If I understand this article, the Bafang factory team won a 24 hour e-assist bike race. TEAM BAFANG WINS AT THE 24 HOUR E-BIKE RACE AT THE NURBURGRING IN GERMANY There is some stuff in this that screams “machine translated”. Like every paragraph.

And that’s it, I’m all done.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Still dealing with pedal extremity edema, and the Feed

Well the swelling went down in my good foot, the one on the end of the leg that didn’t get mangled. The bad news is the one on the other leg the swelling did not go down. It’s uncomfortable to walk with it and I still can’t get a shoe on it. 😛 And now I have these tiny divots under the scars where my shoe got ripped off my foot in the wreck. They look very strange…

Up first is Our Daily Ted, Part One. Morning Links: LA advocates sue over Glendale-Hyperion redesign; bike lanes and bikeshare dominate the news The number of unanimous votes from the council is not out of the usual for here in TX as most issues are pretty cut-and-dried before they ever get to a council meeting, but the unanimous votes for a general plan then voting against specific parts of that plan when it comes time to implement them is kinda dodgy.

Daily Ted, Part Two. Guest Post: Provoking, Scaring and Piercing the (Driver’s) Reptile Brain Part 1

It was a wreck like this that caused me to stop doing wreck analysis in this blog. Family and friends mourn bicyclist killed in hit-and-run on Elysian Fields Avenue Sounds like a genuinely nice guy. I’m sorry to hear of his passing, the world needs more artists to show us what is beautiful in this world. More Police search for driver who killed bicyclist and fled

And 3 days ride from WoaB LEO blame a cyclist for crossing an exit ramp on a highway built more like a freeway and the only way through for the cyclist. BCSO: Fatally struck cyclist may have been at fault I can’t get an accurate location, just “Hwy. 90 west of San Antonio” so I can’t say if there was a route that kept the cyclist off the highway. But to blame a cyclist for not seeing a turn signal on a vehicle behind him by more than a quarter of a mile is absurd. At that speed (60 MPH) a vehicle would travel almost a half mile in the time it takes to cross an offramp.

One got away in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Bicycle may have saved boy in van crash Apparently the bike made the kid a little more mobile than he would have been afoot and prevented the stolen van from running him over.

And in another neighborhood, a child cyclist’s death is met with “You want infrastructure, you have to pay for it.” Rubonia faces cost of sidewalks after child’s death Now where are they going to get that kind of money, and why aren’t tax dollars being spent on the commons? (Aside from the fact that this is a non-white neighborhood?)

Remembering a cyclist killed in the Great White North. Oakville cyclist killed in Milton remembered for his passion and devotion to his family and teaching

Road.cc weighs in on the laughable sentence for the driver who killed a cyclist while texting non-stop behind he wheel. Driver who killed cyclist had been checking WhatsApp messages leading up to collision

Why the UK needs better bicycle infrastructure. Cyclist deaths: Why you are 17 TIMES likelier to be killed on a bike than in a car And that picture of the remains of deceased cyclist Ying Tao was just horrifying.

They came desperately close to killing another cyclist in London. Cyclist injured in west London crash as bike snaps in two under wheels of lorry Did you see where the cyclist was hit? In the “bicycle box” at the front of the intersection, exactly where he was supposed to be, and on the driver’s side of the truck.

Really now! Injured cyclist has bike stolen while being treated on ground

After reading the contents of the last three links I certainly can believe this headline. Law firm calls for protection for cyclists after nearly 500 injured on roads in Bath, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire And with 3 out of 4 cyclists not at fault for their wrecks something needs to be done.

An act of terrorism against cyclists in Oz. Wire strung across road could have seriously injured This could have been fatal if the rider had been a few inches shorter or the wire a few inches higher. I hope they charge the miscreants with acts of terrorism meant to kill.

And I’m all outta links again. I’m going to go elevate my foot.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the swollen Poet

In pain and having a mild allergy attack, and the Feed

After getting the gas on Francis/es this morning because I got done too late to buy gas last night, I mowed the grass this afternoon. The good news: I rode Francis/es for 1.04 miles today in 92/93 degree weather. Bad news, I still need to make that extended stem so I can sit comfortably and see the road.

More bad news, as I was doing the filtering my feet started to swell a bit until I couldn’t put my shoes back on. I will still be able to put out the garbage and recycling tonight for trash pickup tomorrow, I just won’t be very graceful about it. I think the swelling is due to my lower legs getting peppered with cut grass as I was mowing this afternoon.

Up first is Our Daily Ted, part 1. Morning Links: DUI driver in Palos Verdes rampage gets three years; scofflaw cyclists no worse than drivers I think it might be just me, but when I read “no worse than drivers” the image that comes to my mind is the 30K+ people killed by motor vehicles annually. I don’t think that is exactly what we are to aspire for.

Daily Ted part 2. Guest Post: The Benefits of a Bicycle for Urban Transport A reasoned, sober look at the benefits of city cycling.

And my second favorite bike blog also had a guest post. Guest article: Biking on the cheap There’s getting by and then there is having a bike to be proud of. They are not mutually exclusive, but you would never see me sourcing my tires from a dumpster.

One of the great ironies of history is that protected American bike lanes and intersections were being planned and pilot installed back in the 1970s, before the Dutch influence began, in response to the OPEC oil boycott. America Could Have Been Building Protected Bike Lanes for the Last 40 Years But as is normal with things being done for the first time (integrating bike infra with motor vehicle infra) Sturgeon’s Law raised its ugly head, and instead of throwing out the crap 90% they threw out everything.

And while we are on the subject of US infrastructure, here’s Portland trying to get Dutch style residential streets. City says diverters possible on SE Clinton Street this summer Again had they read the CROW manual this would have already been done.

Speaking of consequences of bad infrastructure, a cyclist gets hit because the stop signs were facing the wrong direction. Troopers: Cyclist hurt after crashing into SUV Notice the completely blind intersection where the cyclist was hit? The cyclist could have come to a complete stop and not being able to see oncoming traffic pulled right in front of the SUV. Not saying that is what happened, just that that’s how it could have happened. That’s why the CROW manual puts the stop/yield signs on the motor vehicle side of the intersection with a bike path, because cars don’t fall down when they stop moving.

And WY starts enforcing a new law for cyclists this month. WHP enforces new “three-foot rule” for bicycle safety and Highway patrol to crack down on new bicycle safety law

A good bit of infrastructure news from NoCal. COMING TO CALTRAIN: MORE SPACE FOR BIKES ON BOARD Solving the “first/last mile” problem.

And a sad update on the cyclist hit by a dump truck making a close pass in CO. Cyclist Killed By Dump Truck It must have been a long, painful death to have taken this long. Pity his killer won’t take that long to die as well, but the Constitution forbids that, cruel and unusual punishment.

NYC is still having a gender discrepancy in their bike counts. Why Do So Few Women Bike In NYC? Infrastructure is a big part of the problem, followed closely by jerk drivers trying to force their way into the bike infrastructure.

And this is a big reason also why women don’t ride bicycles in NYC. Driver Who Killed Park Slope Boy Has License Suspended For 6 Months Six months of “don’t get caught driving” for killing a kid playing at a park in a residential area.

Speaking of drivers not getting what they deserve, here’s another link to that texting driver in Jolly Olde getting carted off to the hoosegow. St Albans cyclist death: John Michell jailed for killing Mark Greenwood Less than 2 years for killing someone leaves me with less than schadenfreude, more like schaedenfrumpy?

And WTF?!? Cyclist suffers fractures to face in London Colney attack Punch someone in the head as the cycle by in the street? What are you, a Daily Mail commenter?

Last link is a Canuck grump. Develop regulations for memorials “Don’t leave reminders of how deadly the thing I use to get around really is!”

Sorry this is going up so late but I had to stop and elevate my foot because of the sudden swelling after mowing the lawn.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Happy tropical storm Bill, and the Feed

We are not-quite-flooded out here at Casa de El Poeta, just the usual swamp in the back yard and where the two roofs intersect in the front to send the water from the north-south roof and the east-west roof out of the same corner. I’m considering putting up a deflector to split this back up so it doesn’t all land in the same place every time it rains, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. So, galvanized steel, powdercoated steel, or powdercoated aluminum in order of least difficult to most? Which material should I use to make the deflector?

Up first is some Infrastructure! news from the Great White North. Advocates call for city-wide bike grid after 3 cyclists killed in 2 weeks and Advocates call for city-wide bike grid after 3 cyclists killed in 2 weeks Yep, a protected bike lane probably would have kept that (assumed) drunk driver from killing the cyclist last week, but a network of them would have allowed the driver to get home without needing a car as long as he was sober enough to not fall off the bike.

Speaking of the Devil. Mitchell Irwin granted bail in deadly hit and run Because of the obstruction of justice caused by the driver waiting more than 18 hours to turn himself in there was no way to prove suspected drunk driving, but some of the charges can be proved without knowing the driver’s BAC% at the time of the wreck and they carry significant prison terms all by themselves.

Our Daily Ted is a little lighter today. Morning Links: Hermosa backs safety improvements; San Diego details deaths in the county, including on bikes

And Daily Ted Part 2 is a very good thing to keep on your phone as an app. Why Attorneys Tell You To Never Admit Guilt

More on a CA bike death. CYCLIST KILLED BY DISTRACTED DRIVER WAS RADY CHILDREN’S CFO This looks almost word for word like an article I linked a couple of days ago from a different outlet…

Still in CA. Billboard reaction: ‘To be called roadkill is really disturbing’ While I agree with the premise that attention must be grabbed, there is “grabbing” and there is “assaulting”, and I place this one firmly in the “assaulting” camp. And given the recent death of a cyclist lighted from all angles like a freaking Christmas tree, how about we make “not seeing” a cyclist or pedestrian a crime, punishable with surrender and recycling of the motor vehicle used in the crime?

This cyclist was killed by bad infrastructure, and they are trying to blame the victim for not looking far enough ahead? Cyclist’s death highlights hazards Not to mention that besides looking ahead it requires knowing or remembering the curb cut is not wide enough for 2-way traffic.

NYC is just a terrible place to try to get around, the latest evidence. Pedestrian Dies After Being Struck By Two Drivers In Inwood I will give both driers credit for stopping, and the second driver had almost zero time to react when the pedestrian was knocked into his lane. Why the pair were crossing the street where they did and when is not known at this posting.

Methinks the TWU is unaware of the word “irony”. City Bus Drivers Protest Vision Zero Law By Driving More Carefully OOhhh! They will drive totally within the laws! [faint, iz ded] Or to quote a substantial fraction of the commentariat: “Thank you for obeying the law and not killing me”.

The most dangerous vehicles in London just claimed another victim. Cyclist seriously injured after being hit by skip lorry on London Bridge in rush hour As of this posting the cyclist was still alive in hospital.

Less dangerous vehicle compensates with more-dangerous driving. Angry cyclist films woman eating bowl of cereal behind the wheel of her Land Rover The funny part is how much of the commentariat is grousing about the “dangerous and illegal” cyclist while giving the driver eating a bowl of cereal and milk in traffic a pass.

UK cyclists complete a dead cyclist’s journey that he couldn’t. Friends of Washington cyclist killed by a bus set to take on Coast to Coast cycling challenge

Don’t wear HiViz, get mocked by the courts and killed by drivers, wear HiViz and get beat up by a gang of drunks on the side of the road. Cyclist beaten up after his hi-vis vest gets mocked

And if you don’t want a smelly gas scooter on your multi-million $$ Yacht: Why billionaires want these electric bikes

And that’s all I got today, no more links. Now Ima go play with the plans for the adaptor to put Wide 5 hubs on (reproduction) early Ford spindles.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Did some maintenance on the blogger, and the Feed

I went out and had my toes done this afternoon because I ruined 2 pair of socks in 3 days this week and I can’t keep doing that. One of the things that happened as a result of my wreck was a lot of nerve damage in the wrecked leg and when I try to cut my toenails the last two toes on the wrecked leg tuck under and out of reach. As a result I have to either try to con Mrs. the Poet into cutting those two toenails or pay for a pedicure. I almost always end up getting a pedicure and since they don’t reduce the fee for not doing things I get some stuff that for a guy might seem a bit strange, like putting color on my toenails. I got a lovely blue metalflake this time 😉 Then this evening I went to a chant workshop put on once a month by my church which also ate up a large chunk of time.

Up first because they attacked a secondary cause rather than the primary cause of the wreck. Distracted driver who caused deadly crash banned from using phone The driver was depositing a check via his cell phone banking app while driving between jobs, but instead of taking the vehicle away they took the phone away. Now the cyclist did not die because he got hit with a phone, he died because he got hit with a truck, that was being driven by a guy using a phone. So they are not restricting him from the deadly thing that was not properly used and killed the cyclist, but merely a contributing factor.

And continuing in the same concept, here is another convicted distracted driver. National guardsman who killed Minnesota cyclist warns others of distracted driving and Man who killed cyclist warns of distracted driving Again, distracted driving was only the trigger, the gun is the motor vehicle, which our former soldier still has unfettered access to after he completes his initial sentence.

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: San Bernardino police unfairly blame victim; bike commuter dares Sepulveda Pass sans spandex The exchange with the cop sounds like he was being deliberately obtuse, ignoring statute that was permissive for the deceased cyclist and ignoring statute that was prohibitive for the killer driver.

Local (almost) to WoaB is this protest ride. DENTON TOUR DE FRACK – SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 7:00 AM, MCKENNA PARK And no, that is not a BSG reference, this ride is to protest the TX state law that just overturned the Denton TX law prohibiting fracking within city limits.

Remember those two cyclists hit in the same intersection in Portland? Crosswalk enforcement action uncovers rampant law-breaking on SE Powell Turns out they were writing tickets as fast as they could get the motorcycle cops back to the intersection after writing the tickets. Suggestion: don’t let the motorcycle cops write the tickets just stop the cars until another LEO can get there to do the ticket and then get back at the intersection to pull someone else over. Station the ticket writers about 100-200 feet down from the crosswalk and let them know by radio what violations the initial stop was for and let them take care of secondary tickets like no license or insurance. Put a sniper there with a car-stopper of a gun like the Barrett 0.50 caliber to get the ones that don’t stop immediately.

How do make change with something as entrenched in society as automobilism? My opinion: Protests, politics, and progress? Two cyclists left hooked in the same intersection in a single month and massive protests resulted in left turn signals that will be installed in less than 6 months, because those signals had already been approved and budgeted years ago but placed way down on the priority list until the two wrecks in quick succession. And the problem here is that this is the wrong way to roll out projects where it is an entire street that is the problem, not just one or two intersections that happened to roll craps.

And then you get $&(% like this. Six days after man dies crossing SE Chavez, his ghost bike memorial is mangled too (UPDATED) And a late comment seems to show it was a semi cutting the corner. Which is even worse when you think about it, because there could have been someone waiting to cross the street there instead of a Ghost Bike.

And our last link from BP, a comprehensive look at changing bad infrastructure to somewhat-less-crappy. Fixing Southeast: Three achievable proposals from a fast-rising advocate

A BOLO for a total douchebag driver in the Windy City. Police release photo of car in hit-and-run that injured bicyclist

Hey, let’s make cyclists as distracted as other road users with GPS. This High-Tech Helmet Shows Cyclists the Best Bike Route in a City Not saying this wouldn’t be useful, just that it would be a distraction, just like having GPS on your handlebars would be a distraction. Putting the information directly in your line of sight with the HUD would make it potentially more distracting, but also make it possible to read the information and redirect attention back to the outside environment much faster than the same information on a handlebar display. Still a distraction though.

While we are back to that subject here’s another distracted driver in the UK. Julie Watson killed cyclist after using phone while driving What is shocking here is the judge remanded the driver over to jail to await an inevitable prison sentence. Two years ago this would have been maybe a year in gaol or a few hundred hours of community service on weekends, this time it was go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200 (Monopoly game reference).

Infrastructure news from the IL town where a woman riding USBR 36 was killed by a car driving in the bike lane. Bicycle, roadway safety in wake of cyclist death

Infrastructure news from far West Canuckistan. Editorial — Cyclists, take care Gee, one would think cyclists did not know that getting hit by/with a motor vehicle is painful and potentially deadly every time it happens. And that more times than not there was nothing the cyclist could have done to prevent it.

Final link about that Workmen’s Comp protest ride in the Great White North. Riders seeking financial justice for injured workers

Lifestyle in Wales as cyclists raise money for an injured rugby player with paralysis. Father of injured Blues player Owen Williams among those heading off on Cardiff to Paris bike ride

Another “greatest thing” battery chemistry for e-assist bikes and EV. Next Generation Battery Technology

And I’m outta links and patience, fortunately links ran out first.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Tired