Now that bills are paid it’s Grocery Day, and the Feed

Yep, another day to spend money! We had a bunch of loyalty card savings and coupons that stacked with the loyalty card, so we ended up saving almost as much money as we spent. And we have an ample supply of candy for the kiddos this Halloween. And then for me 11/01 and later. 😀

Sad news from just up the road, the cyclist hit on a group ride in Allen back during the summer has died from his injuries. I don’t have a link, just a PM on FB from a relative who is aware of this blog. This link was the next ride he was to lead but couldn’t.

More news about the CA cyclist crushed by an errant shipping container. Long Beach Cyclist Dies in Freak Accident and Bicyclist crushed by falling shipping container was Long Beach resident As previously reported the container was loaded onto a flatbed instead of the trailer actually designed to haul shipping containers and was “secured” with cargo straps instead of getting mechanically attached to the trailer, because they were trying to break a drivers’ strike at the port.

Remember that time you found the remains of a dead cyclist half in the street and half on the sidewalk? ‘Disturbing’: Passerby recalls finding bicyclist killed in Ann Arbor hit and run Oh, that wasn’t you.[Emily Latella]Nevermind![/Emily Latella] More Police identify bicyclist killed by hit-and-run driver in Ann Arbor

Expensive justice is finally obtained in the death of a 3 YO crossing the street in NYC. Driver Who Killed 3-Year-Old Allison Liao Finally Admits Responsibility Allison would be entering kindergarten this year. The terms of this settlement are highly unusual, but as there is a video of the little girl walking with her grandmother in the crosswalk and the weapon vehicle just running right over the little girl while knocking the grandmother back on the behind, I think showing that to the jury would have head far worse results for the driver.

Still in NYC. Losing Your Fear Of Biking NYC: “Get Big” VC is not how to make cycling grow in mode share, VC is surviving the infrastructure we have to deal with now. Riding in NYC is mostly VC on steroids as drivers pretty much ignore the bike lanes except to park in them.

Not out of the city yet. In NYC, More Severe Injuries After Painted Bike Lanes Installed, Study Finds My take on the question: drivers in NYC are predominantly assholes who think any unoccupied spot of asphalt is “theirs” and flat out do not “see” cyclists as “occupying” that chunk of pavement.

From America’s Copenhagen in OR. Bike-friendliness and walk-friendliness are actually pretty different, study says My take: You can have bike-friendly, you can have walk-friendly, but the only way to get both is to make it not car friendly because you have to really slow down cars to mix all 3 modes in the same street.

Still in PDX, they are having similar problems as NYC, just not on the same scale because of fewer cars. People in Portland are driving cars where they don’t belong The lead picture is an SUV in the MUP of the Hawthorne bridge. There is a good 8-12 inch curb between the motor vehicle lane and the MUP. The people making the comments on the site think the front suspension is probably a jumble of twisted metal by now.

Still in OR they have discovered the joys of e-assist for going up hills. E-bike investment in Salem The secret is connecting the motor through the human gearing so the power stays pretty much the same even when hills make the going slower.

Time for Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: LA asks drivers to stay after they hit someone; suspect identified in North Fig hit-and-run

Some Letters to the Editor in CO. Cycling initiatives are beneficial to everyone

The ICBC keeps digging itself deeper and deeper. ICBC suggests cyclist at fault for colliding with allegedly impaired driver First rule of holes, when you find yourself unable to climb out STOP DIGGING DOWN! The ICBC does not appear to have heard of this rule.

More on the UK cyclist who injured a pedestrian and did not leave contact information. City police appeal after pedestrian seriously injured in collision with cyclist DON’T HIT THE PEDESTRIANS! If you do hit a pedestrian, don’t leave without making SURE that someone in charge (LEO or ambulance attendant) has your contact information. And don’t let them leave, either until that information has been exchanged.

A little infrastructure news from Scotland, where my elder daughter lives. Cycling accident map: Road incidents on the rise

The scourge is spreading to Switzerland. Road accidents: stay at the scene! Seriously, are we going to have to resort to doing to hit-and-run drivers what I have advocated for drunk drivers? Chain them to the steering wheel and run their car through a shredder?

Last link is perfect. Magic Hour Watch it in video form, it’s really good that way.

And I think I might be done.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

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Snow in the morning and high 40s in the afternoon, and the Feed

Never has the expression “Don’t like the weather in Texas? Wait a few minutes” been more apropos than today. We had about an inch of snowfall this morning, and nearly 50°F this afternoon. I mean, really?! Snow followed by 20°F above freezing temperatures? Whose idea was this anyway? (I know, nobody had the “idea” for this weather, it just happened as a result of natural forces at work)

Up first is a “What were they thinking?!” report from Enn Zed. Ad covering truck window could have caused cyclist death and Advertising blocked truckie’s view in cyclist death Really? The damn trucks are nearly blind to the passenger side anyway, so you make it worse by covering the passenger side window? Did your parents have any children that lived? Because that is about the stupidest thing I have ever read. This is on a par with removing safety railings from a catwalk or finger guards from dangerous equipment.

Back to the US for another pair of links on the guilty plea of a hit-and-run cyclist killer. Motorist Pleads Guilty in Death of Bicyclist, Leaving Scene and Motorist pleads guilty in death of bicyclist, leaving scene I had some other links to this yesterday. I’m still of the opinion that the driver was treated much too leniently for the attempted coverup of the crime.

Another bad day for Ted Rogers in Our Daily Ted. 89-year old bike rider killed in San Diego; police blame the victim

Maybe if a few “captains of industry” are nearly killed cycling something will get done about bicycle infrastructure? Millionaire entrepreneur explains why cycling — and not golf — is the new sport of choice for young professionals I see what the guy is saying, but I can’t relate to it. One of the comments helped in understandistuping the difference, golf requires a mostly-fixed long length of time to participate, including getting there which may take two hours of driving each way, then 4-5 hours on the course, with very little actual exercise during the whole exercise.

And I’m hoping the sudden change in direction doesn’t cause emotional whiplash, but for some reason in spite of 10-20 cyclists a year dying mostly because of crappy infrastructure the people in charge can’t manage to spend more than half of their budget. Revealed: London’s most dangerous junctions for cyclists – as transport chiefs under-spend £50m road safety budget The fact that they only spent £29 million of £82 million in their budget with a number of known hotspots that desperately needed fixing with several that had killed cyclists repeatedly over the last few years, well there are words that I can’t use and keep the “SFW” rating on this blog.

Still in Jolly Olde relatives of victims ask their government for punishments that are more in line with the seriousness of events when drivers kill. Family of Ross and Clare Simons – killed riding tandem bicycle in Hanham – to meet PM David Cameron The killer in question for this article killed two people while driving illegally and will only spend less than 10 years total on prison.

Still in the UK, the peril of using bad statistics when talking about bicycle safety. Insurance giant’s cycling ‘study’ shows the perils of poor statistics Somehow they got from an official government statistic of 2% of bicycle wrecks involving “no lights” to the 1 of 3 wrecks caused by a lack of lights, so what other bad information did they use?

And over in Ireland, someone won’t let the tragedy of a cyclist getting killed go away. Flowers and stars for tragic cyclist killed in Limerick

And in “late to the party” news, Forbes discovers the “safety in numbers” theory of bicycle safety. The More Cyclists In A Country, The Fewer Fatal Crashes – Report [Infographic]

My short little legs are not the target audience for this article, but I found it fascinating never the less. Building the Next Dirty Sixer This is a buildup article on a bicycle with 36″ diameter tires. The standover height for this bike is roughly 6″ greater than my inseam.

Last link, if you’re getting a custom bike built like the one in the previous paragraph, it pays to have a good working relationship with your mechanic. Here’s how. AngryAsian: Things you should never say to your bike shop mechanic

And those were all the links I could wade through today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

I can haz schadenfreude, and the Feed

Filtering the Feed today was an exercise in controlling my schadenfreude as I got more and more links to killer drivers getting theirs. Then Mrs. the Poet decided that we needed to get out of the house (and I needed to get away from this computer) so we went to a book store to spend her gift card, and also dropped by a home improvement store to peruse tile for the upcoming bathroom remodel/repair. My major concern was being able to use the same tiles on the walls and the floor for a price break, and tiles that had enough texture to not be a slip hazard when wet, Mrs. the Poet mainly didn’t want tiles that looked like boards or were too dark, too light, or too beige. I picked up a car magazine at the book store and we split a triple chocolate brownie and had iced tea for our snack.

I mentioned schadenfreude in both the headline and the opening paragraph, and here are the first links. Md. Bishop Accused of Hitting, Killing Cyclist is Asked to Resign and Md. diocese calls for bishop who killed cyclist to resign They can’t fire her until the criminal complaint is complete, so she is being “asked” to resign.

More schadenfreude from just down the road a piece. Woman Charged For Alleged DWI Crash That Injured Cyclist I have noticed a sharp increase in the severity of charges filed in TX against killer drivers in recent months, with manslaughter and simple murder charges not being out of range, and I’m expecting a Capital Murder charge against a drunk driver at any time.

Double dose of schadenfreude from NYC. Cops Arrest Unlicensed Driver A Month After Killing Pedestrian Note the picture of something people claim never happens accompanying the article, there is a cyclist waiting at the red light for a pedestrian. And Cops Nab Inwood Hit-And-Run Driver After Finding Him Crying In A Parking Garage

More on the London infrastructure protest that I was invited to but could not attend. Cyclist killed in lorry crash – just months after sister died during childbirth and Hundreds stage “die-in” protest over death of cyclist in Stamford Hill

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: A sad goodbye to Long Beach’s Octavio Orduño, and it’s up to you to Bike the Vote this spring

A Canuckistani cyclist was buzzed by a bus and fell under a dump truck, but the local cyclist community is fighting back for him. Community rallies around Vancouver cyclist who was side-swiped by bus, run over by truck

In the UK a permanently disabled cyclist had good lawyers. Injured cyclist receives £2m compensation payout from driver’s insurers He was 65 at the time of the wreck, which would make him 68 or 69 now so the £2m should last for the little time he has left, but only just barely. He is not to the state that moss for his north side would be a thoughtful Christmas present, but that state is probably not too far away at any time.

More on the nonsense Volvo cyclist avoidance scheme. Bloody Volvo drivers – now they’re keeping cyclists safe To reiterate, the scheme depends on cyclists having special helmets and compatible phones with the right version of the Volvo app loaded and running which means that if your phone shuts off because of a dead or dying battery you become invisible to Volvo drivers depending on this scheme to “see” cyclists around them. And cyclists not having the right phone or buying the right helmet are right out of luck from the get-go.

And I seem to be out of links today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Good news and bad news after visiting the Lab Rat Keeper, and the Feed

I survived telling the world how old Mrs. the Poet is, and the Feed

All I got yesterday was a playful slap across the top of my head after Mrs. the Poet read my blog post. So I’m still alive and still married (sorry groupies). And I have a freaking huge Feed today, so let’s get to it.

More on that moron with “affluenza”. Ethan Couch, ‘Affluenza’ Teen, Facing 5 Lawsuits Incidentally there are 2 known and effective cures for “affluenza” to date. One is the complete removal of all wealth from the “victim”. This cure does not result in instant return to “normalcy”, the effects take from one to 5 years to wear off. The second is more drastic and effective, but does nothing for future behavior because the “victim” is terminated with extreme prejudice and therefore has no future behavior. And I apologize for previous statements that DUI(minor) was a felony, that bill did not pass and DUI(minor) is still a class C misdemeanor, even with multiple convictions, and can not result in any jail or prison time only a fine and community service up to a maximum of 60 hours CS. I was right that DUI(minor) is triggered by any detectable amount of alcohol in the blood, but I believe that when the minor has a BAC% that would be DUI for an adult the crime should then be a felony. I’m making that suggestion to my state rep this week.

From NYC comes another pedestrian casualty in the “War on Cars”. Pedestrian Seriously Injured In Murray Hill Access-A-Ride Crash The cars are winning the war by sheer attrition.

Bouncing all over the country today, a ND driver gets a two-fer. Bismarck man accused of striking man on bike, pedestrian I would think the coming back and hitting the other person should make both of these assaults with a deadly weapon, but then again as a victim of an assault with a deadly weapon I might be a teensy bit biased about the subject. But because “FU, cars” the driver is only facing misdemeanor charges with under a year in jail as a sentence.

From CA drivers are actually ticketed for driving without a license immediately after their licenses were suspended in court. Sting Catches Drivers With Suspended Licenses Driving Away From Sonoma County Court They actually towed and impounded the cars of people driving without a license, some of whom were suspended for DUI. Given that at least some of the people caught in this sting were on trial for driving without a license or on a suspended license I consider this poetic justice, the highest form of justice 😉

Still in CA a cyclist is hit from behind while trying to get to work. Cyclist struck by car, injured on Stony Point Road Hit from behind protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent. The LEO in this case showed remarkable knowledge of the laws of physics when he described the bicyclist as colliding with the car that hit him from behind.

Still in CA a cyclist is hit from behind (or right hooked maybe) by a semi. Police: Big rig hits and kills bicyclist in West Oakland Since the mode of the wreck has not yet been released the only thing I can say with assurance about the wreck is semis running over cyclists means the infrastructure is horrible.

In MA the ID of a cop that hit a cyclist is kept a deep, dark secret. Boston Police Won’t Disclose Officer Involved in Summertime Cyclist Crash The description of the damages strongly suggests a buzz job or simply merging into a space already occupied by the cyclist, the buzz job can be avoided with hit from behind protocols but getting merged over not so much.

From Far West Canuckistan comes a report that deer are either really stupid or have terrible depth perception. Woman cyclist hits deer, suffers minor injuries

From even farther west than the last paragraph is this wreck. Vancouver Island cyclist struck by second driver as he lay injured on highway Looking at the Street View of the intersection it looks like the cyclist may have been caught by a stale or short green phase when crossing the main highway as it is 5 lanes wide there (plus shoulders) and the cyclist was hit while crossing the 4th lane and knocked into the 5th. At best I can suggest intersection protocols to deal with the built environment, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

From the UK a driver who had already been banned from driving due to DUI convictions was driving drunk when he killed a cyclist. Banned driver was drunk when he killed cyclist, court told I still don’t understand why people who kill while driving without a license are not charged with weapons violations.

A cyclist in Oz is hit by a driver who was seriously out of control. Car crashes into young Qld cyclist Given the extensive list of property damage concurrent with this wreck, either the driver was trying to kill the cyclist or there was some kind of medical emergency just prior to the collision. Since the direction of travel and lane positions were not given in the narrative I can’t say how to avoid and to be honest it doesn’t look like infrastructure would have been much help in preventing this one either.

Still in Oz a cyclist gets nailed at an intersection. Cyclist in coma after collision with truck This wreck was so similar to the one in the previous paragraph that I had to check my map of Australia to make sure Sydney wasn’t in Queensland (it’s in NSW).

Infrastructure! news from CA. Fire Department hindering street safety There are no words…

In Oz a company is treating a public access as its own property after it was built. Federation bike trail barricaded by concrete company Now I may be wrong about this but I’m pretty sure this company has to use public space to get to where the concrete is needed and that getting to that public space requires a driveway permit to connect to the road/street. I’m also pretty sure you get where I’m heading on this one…

First of a pair of fun links is from Bikeyface. PLOWED It must be nice to live in a place where the roads get plowed when it snows…

And in what can only be described as pushing things to the absurd limits, someone rides a Boris Bike up Mount Ventoux and gets it back before the fine for taking the bike more than 24 hours hits. Cyclist takes on Mont Ventoux in Boris bike adventure – video This is taking a bar bet way too far.

And those were all the bike links that gave me fits (or not) today. Some of this was actually fun.

Billed @€0.02, Opus