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.

Hoping I don’t lose this post, and the Feed

I really hope the auto-save function of this composing page doesn’t crap out on me, because my computer has been crashing all day trying to filter the Feed. I have had several links crash fortunately they could be reloaded. If this page crashes, on the other hand, I have to retype anything that doesn’t get saved. Given there are at least 24 links waiting to be collated commented and posted to the blog, losing this page could be a major pain in the grommet, to use an expression popular with my father. So here’s hoping the computer doesn’t trash the composing page.

Up first was a hard decision today as there were lots of stories with multiple links. I think this NYC hit-and-run “wins” the right to go first. 27-Year-Old Woman on Bike Killed in Hit-Run Crash and Officials ID woman killed in hit-and-run also YOUNG WOMAN KILLED BY CAR WHILE RIDING BIKE HOME FROM WORK; POLICE SEARCHING FOR DRIVER this too Cyclist on City Island killed by hit-and-run driver Part of the problem is either there were three different 27 YO victims killed by white cars on the City Island bridge who all worked in the same restaurant, or whoever gave out the reports to media changed the make of the weapon vehicle… But yeah, nothing the cyclist could have done to avoid this wreck besides live and work in the same building so she didn’t need to cross that bridge.

Also with lots of links is this wreck from the Great White North. Cyclist seriously injured in Oshawa and Cyclist seriously injured in Oshawa Well there were a lot of links that somehow disappeared from the links window, at least one as I was trying to copy the URL to post here. Funny thing is what wasn’t mentioned, the driver wasn’t charged with hit-and-run in spite of having left the scene, which is heavily implied by the driver “returning”. Can’t return if you never left.

This FL cyclist was killed off of the road waiting, in the median, to get a second break in traffic to complete crossing the street. FHP: 1 dead, 1 charged with DUI manslaughter and Driver charged with DUI manslaughter after cyclist struck, killed in Winter Park LEO are still trying to figure out what caused the driver to veer off the road to hit the cyclist. Well, DUH! he was drunk and probably angry at seeing a cyclist in “his” road.

Still in FL, the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Bicyclist dies after being hit by minivan in Pompano Beach “Authorities said the bicyclist did not have any proper working lights.” Of course not, they were smashed to bits in the wreck, that’s why the didn’t work after the wreck.

Moving one state over from FL we get this fatal wreck in AL. Alabama cyclist killed in collision is sixth such death this year For those of us who have to depend on the media to get accurate reports of wrecks reports like this are a nightmare. “The crash is being investigation.” Really? was this written by the same people as ‘All your base are belong to us’? At this point it looks very possible that this was a right hook by a driver who never saw the cyclist.

Still in AL we get a kid hit head on in a residential area. McCalla 9-year-old hit by car, injured while riding bicycle outside grandfather’s house The remains show a hard, but survivable impact, and also really bad welds in the fork. I’m being serious here, look at that wheel and you tell me if something really hit hard enough to break the steer tube on that fork. This is the bicycle builder coming out in me, which explains why it takes me so long when I build a bike. The steer tube broke between the crown race and the fork crown, which could only happen 2 ways, not enough heat to actually join the steer tube to the fork, or way too much heat welding in the crown race destroying the base metal in the steer tube without actually joining it to the fork… I know, TMI.

Our Daily Ted provides a breath of fresh air today. Morning Links: How the economy and bike lanes affect bike wrecks, and fight the bikelash over Rowena road diet

Still in CA. Long Beach woman killed in bicycle collision on PCH in Huntington Beach identified The wreck is still somehow a hit from behind wreck in an intersection they were both crossing.

Two reports on the same wreck in CA. Emmy winning sound editor one of two killed in Moorpark crash involving car, bicycle and motorcycle and Distracted driving may have been factor in fatal Moorpark crash That might be the only explanation of why a driver went from one shoulder to the other to kill two people on two-wheeled conveyances, absent some evidence the driver hated cyclists.

Maybe crap infrastructure contributes to bike wrecks? A Young Cyclist’s Death Spurs Changes, Lawsuit in Cupertino

NC cyclist killed in pinball wreck. Cyclist killed Sunday morning in east Charlotte collision He cleared the intersection, but not the killing zone when a left-turning vehicle sent another vehicle spinning through the shoulder area.

It just occurred to me today that the same group that was getting injured/killed the most at the beginning of the study period are the ones getting injured/killed at the end of the study. Cycling deaths, injuries rise as pastime grows in popularity The people getting killed the most at the start would be in the same age group as the ones getting killed the most at the end of the study, they just aged into the biggest group of cyclists as they got older.

I’m still trying to figure out how the truck got on the race course to hit the cyclist. Surely they closed the streets to traffic while the state championship race was running? Cyclist injured after hitting truck at Fort Smith race Comments say the course was closed and the driver of the weapon vehicle had been told twice to scram but went on the course anyway.

I strongly suspect this was a kid being a kid. Boy rides bike off embankment, suffers serious head injuries, police say I can’t say for sure, but this sounds like something I would have done at his age.

PA cyclists remember those taken too soon. Cyclists Pay Tribute To Slain Bike Riders, Hope To Raise Awareness

Making cyclists less “other”. Letters: Humanizing ‘cyclists,’ pope and refugees

Making drivers more aware that cyclists have a right to the roads and are going to be there. Signs of Our Times: Sharing the Streets I would prefer a sign that told drivers hitting a cyclist or pedestrian would cost them the car they hit said cyclist or pedestrian with, but hey, can’t have everything.

The cyclist who tried to get LEO to enforce the bike/bus lane restrictions gets hit by a car in the lane he was trying to get enforced. Cyclist who complained about Clifton Boulevard lane violators injured in bike-car clash We all know how loud a car horn can be when you are outside the car, especially a few feet in front of the car when the horn goes off. It can make you jump out of your skin if you are not expecting it. And there were a couple hundred comments when I filtered the links, but none as I posted the link here.

Signs of another kind. You Won’t Soon Forget These Photos of Ghost Bikes. That’s Exactly the Point.

A wreck in Canuckistan. Cyclist critically injured in collision south of Edmonton Ouch, cyclist hit head-on by a salmon driver. Nothing you can do about that. I hope the victim recovers.

Road.cc has the same opinion of a left hook wreck as I did. Accidental death verdict in case of Guernsey cyclist crushed by lorry Seriously, how hard is it to blame a driver for hitting someone on a parallel road when crossing that road?

A cycling hazard that is mostly confined to Oz, thank the lady Ghisallo for small favors. Where magpies swoop in Canberra: Cyclists fall prey to swooping birds I mean it sucks for the Aussies, but there are only a couple million cyclists there, compared to the billion or so in the rest of the world.

Programming note my friends have decided I need to get out of the house more and are taking me to do something not involving computers or cell phones. I think I’m going shopping or something.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

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

Another Monday, another Feed the size of Marvin’s brain

For those who don’t get the reference in the headline, the answer is 42. Knowing the answer precludes you from knowing the exact question, much like in particle physics you can either know the position or the velocity of a sub-atomic particle, but you can’t know both. Damn you Heisenberg!

And I have lived through another weekend. Yay! Some time tonight I’m going to put the lights back on Francis/es and the gallon jug for gas in the bed and go get some gas for the mower so I can mow the lawn tomorrow while I can still walk upright. Most of the lawn still looks good, but the patches around where the ant mounds used to be are getting rather tall so they need to get mowed, therefore the entire lawn needs to get mowed.

I have so many links to stories from north of the (other) border I almost feel like the blog post should be Canuck Witch on a Bicycle. Seriously about ²/₃ of the links that passed filtering were from Canada. And not many were good.

But first Ted survived the fireworks and the frightened Corgi in his lap to deliver today’s Daily Ted. Morning Links: Founding father of BMX found dead in Indio; man fixing bike shot dead by LASD deputies

Update on a wreck in Seattle. Reader report: Update on bicycle rider recovering from Delridge crash

Still in the Pacific NW. Ghost bike commemorates Medford cyclist’s death An OR cyclist got a Ghost Bike from CO cyclists because he got killed in CO.

I don’t know that my brother would have done this for me. State briefs: Abe Kolstad completes cross-country bike trek on brother’s behalf Yeah, I’m reasonably certain my brother would not have done this for me.

Another one of those “cyclists are dangerous” fallacy-filled diatribes from NYC. Cyclists must get on board with NYC safety If only motor vehicles were as “dangerous” as people on bicycles, there would be hundreds fewer deaths and thousands fewer injured each year just in NYC.

And more on what is really dangerous in NYC. [Update] When A Bus Driver Kills A Pedestrian, MTA Union Blames A Streetlight “Hey, I can’t see where I’m going so I will just blast through at more than 3 times the recommended rate and hope I bounce off the big things…” and ignore the little things, like people.

First tale from the snowy wastes. Driver charged after cyclist struck and killed in Milton Some see a drunk driver killing a cyclist. I see inadequate infrastructure that failed to protect that cyclist from the drunk driver. Look at the proportion of cyclists killed by drunk drivers to all drunk driving victims in the Netherlands and compare that to the US and Canada. More Cyclist killed in hit and run in Milton

Motor crime in Jolly Olde. Lorry driver involved in fatal collision with Denbighshire cyclist banned for five years Oh, how will he survive being unable to drive for a full 5 years? /snark

And then there is this idiot. Northampton driver who killed cyclist after sending ‘trivial’ WhatsApp messages while at wheel is jailed Texting at that rate there is no way he could have been navigating any other way than by peripheral vision at best. So when will they be executing him? Prison term of less than 2 years you say? TANJ!

Articles like this one illustrate why the KSI statistic is superior to just counting fatalities. More than 700 cyclists and motorcyclists were killed or injured on Merseyside roads in the last four years

Back to The Great White North for this infrastructure article. How to avoid getting ‘doored’ on your bicycle Where there are bike lanes they put cyclists between a rock and a hard place other wise known as the door zone and the streetcar tracks.

More on bike lanes in the GTA. It’s time bike lanes were installed everywhere Well, not everywhere. You probably don’t need them in residential areas if those areas are properly traffic-calmed. If you wouldn’t let your 8YO play in the street in front of your house, then that street has not been calmed properly. Bike lanes are for the collector streets that run off residential areas or in the shopping and employment areas downtown, with separated bike paths connecting those.

Something most people don’t think about when they ride. Being covered: Who pays in bike-car collisions?

And this is why cyclists are so easy to treat after a wreck. Cyclists push past the pain to stay in the saddle “That broke collarbone only hurts a little” is something I hear all the time from injured cyclists. I honestly do not know of any mode of transport that inures the users against pain as well as cycling does.

And I’m out of links before I ran out of patience. Tomorrow is lawn mowing first, shower second, blogging third, then dinner.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Lots of beans, and the Feed

I made as big a pot of beans as would fit, because I can make a pot for about $2 (more or less, I would have to calculate weights and costs a bit more exactly to know for sure) and that makes between 6 and 8 dinner-sized servings. That makes serving costs of $0.33 to $0.25 per meal. Talk about stretching your grocery budget! I did this a few years back when I had obligations that prevented me from going on vacation with Mrs. the Poet. I fixed pots of beans and rice that lasted an entire week of dinners or lunches and managed to only spend about $20/week on food for the time she was gone. Most of that was for coffee and milk. I think that was the year I also experimented with a brown rice porridge that was a week of breakfasts for like $0.50 (so about $0.07/day before coffee). And yes, you might say I have more than a passing relationship with pinching a penny until Abe screams for mercy. I guess if push came to shove I could always change this blog to “How to live on pennies a day” by just putting up my daily diet and costs, but I don’t know how many people would read that.

Up first is a bit of DIY infrastructure from the next town over. Trail Cleanup Day – Saturday, February 21, 2015 That this is necessary is absurd, rights of way are supposed to be maintained by the relevent government body that owns them.

A little FL legal infrastructure. On Flagler Roads, Cyclists Share Some Blame For Wrecks; Legislator Files Protective Bill The “protective bill” is a pretty standard vulnerable road users law.

Your next bike probably won’t be made on a 3D printer. 3D-printed bike test doesn’t go exactly to plan (video)

Two links of the legal infrastructure at work in the Great White North. Man charged in death of cyclist struck by car in September and South Glengarry man charged in fatal crash with cyclist To be honest I’m slightly shocked that there were any charges at all.

I keep telling people about how UK bicycle infrastructure is practically synonymous with “crap infrastructure”, this is why. Sister of London cyclist killed by HGV: ‘Riders cannot share roads with 32-tonne lorries’ The cyclist was waiting at the light when the truck pulled up and instantly lost sight of the cyclist, meaning that drivers have to be scanning the left and right side of the intersection to prevent a similar wreck. I agree that mixing bicycles with 64000 pound, or heavier, vehicles is insane.

Second verse not the same but very similar to the first. Manchester’s roads not fit for purpose says cyclist injured after hitting pothole Looking at that street I would say “Yeah, that’s crap.”

And their civil engineering society says the same thing, the UK has crap cycling infrastructure. Letters: Cyclists’ safety is now critical

A little UK lifestyle. Alba Rosa reliability ride to pay tribute to Otley crash victim

This is just so wrong. Cyclist’s widow shocked at court ruling The case is not ruined, just made more difficult.

And the next-to-last last link is from the UAE. Death that should not have happened Even one of the countries floating on a lake of oil recognizes that people need to ride bicycles as transportation.

Last link is another driver who should be in jail, not driving. Video: Elderly Wisconsin Man Hits Nine Cars In Parking Lot Yep, this guy scares the poop outta me.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet