Another Grocery Day combined with a UPS run, and the Feed

I just took over $40 a month off my internet and cable TV bill by sending a bunch of unneeded equipment back to Verizon, and dropping a bunch of channels we never watch. The only channel I didn’t get but really wanted was MAV TV. Well the only channel I didn’t get that was available through FiOS, I still wanted to get Funimation Channel for my anime fix but that was not an option. Anywho while I was going to the UPS store I had the phone out capturing check-ins and prize boxes to get that next gift card, and hit my bag limit before we got back to the grocery store. That puts me even closer to that next gift card.

The blister situation on my foot has gotten both better and worse. The “swollen” part from yesterday turned out to be a second blister underneath the first blister. That first blister started to peel off the bottom of my foot so I cut the dead skin off so that it wouldn’t tear off and pull out some live skin. After doing that the other blister immediately started feeling better. So that’s good-ish.

Up first, we cyclists sometimes have soft spots for critters, especially the ones that get hurt on the roads. Cyclist comes to aid of injured deer All together now: “D’aaawwww!”

Since we are in CA anyway, how about our Daily Ted, part 1. Morning Links: 77-year old victim of bike hit-and-run dies, arrest made in Expo Park road rage murder case

Daily Ted, part 2. Mountain biker dies from trail fall in Riverside County

Still in CA, another link to the SFPD report blaming a cyclist’s fatal wreck on not being in the bike lane that wasn’t there. SFPD Once Again Blames Cyclist For Own Death, City Refuses To Release Video Of Accident

More from CA as people local to the wreck blame the infrastructure for the wreck as much or more as they did the driver and cyclist. Bicyclist killed Tuesday was a Silicon Valley executive Basically the cyclist was hit because the bike lane went from the shoulder to the median across a 50 MPH speed limit pair of lanes on a highway with a lack of signage warning drivers that bicycles were going to be crossing the highway. I think I found the winner for today’s “really crap infrastructure” tag. Seriously, what the Hell were they thinking? More Palo Alto: Bicyclist killed on Page Mill Road and Bike Accident Scene Palo Alto Nov1st

Not In CA, they caught the bus driver that killed a pedestrian in NYC. MTA Bus Driver Arrested In Fatal Hit & Run Has History Of Arrests So besides being partially blind, the dude had very poor judgement.

WI cyclist run over by a semi. Woman killed in bicycle vs. semi crash, police say Hit-from-behind wreck that seems to be at least partially the fault of the cyclist for riding too far to the right, which encouraged the truck driver to not move over to pass. So yeah this was all the truck driver’s fault.

NE rider severely injured by hit-and-run driver gets blamed for the wreck. Suspect Vehicle Located In Hit & Run Which Injured 6 Year-Old Riding Bike “Omaha City Council Member Garry Gernandt said speed bumps weren’t the answer, but rather, parents need to “control their kids.”” While the kid was hit riding in front of his house with parental supervision by a driver who has abandoned his vehicle miles away from the wreck. The local pol is now living on a steady diet of crow.

Meanwhile in OH. Alliance boy on bike injured by hit-and-run driver The comments section was blocked for this link.

More on the WA cyclist hit by a bus. Cyclist injured when hit by transit bus on Bainbridge Island Again, the cyclist was hit from behind by the bus, that pretty much absolves the victim from blame. Drivers must see and avoid whatever is on the road in front of them.

FL cyclists say drivers need to look out the windshield and not drive in the bike lanes. Bicyclist death highlights need for awareness I can see the bike tire mark on the car bumper, why can’t the LEO investigating the wreck? I wish I could see the bike too. The thing that bothers me is the lack of damage to the front end of the car, besides what looks like a tire mark there is almost nothing until the crushed roof and windshield. There’s the tire mark on the driver’s side bumper, a slight scuff mark on the hood directly behind the mark on the bumper, and then the crushed windshield and roof. Very strange.

Another report on the cyclist shot by an insane man in CO. Iraq veteran and father-of-two named as cyclist who was shot dead at random by Colorado gunman despite pleading for his life Another thing we know is the gunman was reported to 911 several times before he started shooting, but LEO could not respond because CO is an “open carry” state. Seriously, there are no words that can convey my emotions about this.

In Canuckistan the driver who hit a cyclist in a hit-and-run wreck comes back to have a shot at the cops investigating the wreck, who them shoot back. Calgary police shoot man after ‘shocking, wanton’ post-hit-and-run attack, narrow miss for officer “While emergency service personnel attended to the seriously injured cyclist, the subject vehicle reappeared on Dermot Baldwin Way and drove directly at the officers,” said police Chief Roger Chaffin late Tuesday night. The driver was reported to have deliberately targeted the cyclist with the stolen vehicle. I blame Rupert Murdoch for the attempted murder wreck and subsequent attack. 😉

More on the pinball wreck of a cyclist in the Great White North. Cyclist dies after being struck by two vehicles on Highway 27 in Etobicoke The impact damage on the weapon vehicles, especially the first one, just looks wrong for the narrative.

More on the cyclist hit by a truck in the GWN Police looking for five drivers after cyclist killed in Brampton I still say he fell off his bike after getting buzzed by the truck that ran him over.

A Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot, wreck in Jolly Olde. Two people are injured after a BMW chased by an unmarked police car ploughs into a bus stop, lamppost, car and cyclist No kitchen sink?

A coronial inquest has found that Irish truck drivers are blind and need all the help they can get to see a cyclist. Truck driver unaware he had run over cyclist, inquest told Coronial inquests are not intended to find guilt, but rather to find out how to prevent future deaths from the same cause. So apparently this one decided that two headlights and two tail lights mounted at two different heights on the back of the bike were not enough and the cyclist needed to do more instead of the truck driver watching where he was going.

Last link is an echo of the way I felt when I took the wrecks out for a while last year. Rick Vosper: Haunted by the Ghosts of Dead Cyclists

And that’s all I got today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

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I was going to go out and get more check-ins and captures on my phone game but the pain in my foot said otherwise, and the Feed

Yep, that blister yesterday has turned into a swollen mess today. The blister collapsed (whether it popped or the fluid was reabsorbed I can’t tell) yesterday evening, and today the site is swollen and painful to touch, but no longer has a blister. But before I discovered that I was planning on taking a bus ride to get my “bag limit” again so as to get another gift card as quickly as possible. I went out to get the mail and my foot wasn’t all that bad, but by the time I finished reading the comics I knew there was no way I was going to walk to the bus stop on that foot.

Up first, changing the source of information about who actually uses bicycle infrastructure several days’ ride south of WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. Why Business-as-Usual Bike Planning Fails Low-Income Cyclists I recognize the disconnect between the people who actually have to ride a bicycle for transportation, and those of us who are heard at regional planning meetings. But they still somehow manage to put motor vehicle infrastructure everywhere needed or not.

Our Daily Ted, part 1. Morning Links: Calbike ranks LA area state legislators, and no charges in the Texas death of a San Diego cyclist

And Daily Ted part 2. Guest Post: BAC member Jonathan Weiss explains California law on riding side-by-side

Still in CA. Why am I afraid to ride a bike? The answer is “Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure, and infrastructure.”

Not done with CA yet. Cyclist injured in collision on Kansas Avenue Assuming the narrative is accurate and not something pulled from the driver’s subconscious this shows why cyclists have to be aware of traffic before entering the street. Or it could be a SWCC incident where the driver “didn’t see” the cyclist until just before impact and the driver’s subconscious creates the narrative the cyclist was crossing the street.

A really bad wreck in NYC. MTA Bus Driver Arrested In Fatal Brooklyn Hit & Run The video is pretty damning, the pedestrian was hit after she crossed the centerline to the lane opposite direction of the turning bus. Had the bus made a legal left turn there would have been no wreck, had the driver stopped when he hit the pedestrian she might have survived.

Similar wreck but no hit-and-run results in “no criminality suspected” when the driver sticks around. No Charges For MTA Bus Driver Who Killed Pedestrian In Queens Crosswalk Just because the driver wasn’t drunk and had a valid license it doesn’t change the fact that he ran over a pedestrian in a crosswalk with the right of way, which is a crime in NYC.

Back to the west with a hit-and-run wreck in OH. Alliance boy, 11, riding bike injured in hit-skip accident The cyclist was crossing the street (legally I assume) and the driver never stopped. Here’s hoping the driver is found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, given a fair trial and a decent hanging. Just kidding about the hanging, everyone knows I’m the guy who puts drivers in cars about to go through a high-speed car shredder.

A very strange wreck in AZ. Cyclist critically injured in west Phoenix crash The cyclist was hit from behind, and then the driver hits a wall on the opposite side of the street. Seriously, WTF? Was the driver drunk?

Cyclist hit by a bus in WA. Cyclist struck by bus on Bainbridge Island Hit from behind as the bus approached a stop. I’m calling this on the bus driver.

Cyclist loses concentration and rides off the MUP as it gets to a bridge. Woman injured in bike crash near bridge While not as dangerous for other people as distracted driving, distracted cycling can still be bad for the cyclist. Pay attention to where your bike is going.

What is it about conservative politicians and transportation funding? State Funds for Transit in Ohio Have “Evaporated” Since 2000 This link came out the day after the link on bike/ped funding getting eliminated by Congress, what is it about transportation funding and conservative politicians that seem so antithetical?

In the Great White North a cyclist is the pinball in a pinball wreck. Cyclist killed on Hwy. 27 Initial hit seems to be a hit-from-behind, and it really goes downhill from there. The question then arises as to how far to the left the cyclist was in the lane and was the second vehicle going the same direction or the opposite direction since the intersection does not seem to have figured into the wreck except as a landmark to place the location for readers.

Intersection wreck in Enn Zed. Cyclist critically injured in Hamilton The cyclist seems to have had the right of way and the driver most definitely seems to not have had the wreck on purpose.

And from Oz a video of a UK cyclist taking a header on an off-road bike trail. Cyclist’s helmet saves him from serious injury That was a serious endo.

And I’m out of links again.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

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

Having allergy problems again, and the Feed

I’m having allergy problems again (deja vu!) with my legs this time. I have an itchy rash around my ankles and slight swelling of the right leg with the left one looking like I’m smuggling oranges in my calf. When I take a diphenhydramine the swelling and the rash mostly go away, but I get a little sleepy and slightly loopy until the pill wears off, which happens in about 3 hours. The the rash and swelling come back. Yay! consistency.

Up first is yet another link to that heinous murder of a cyclist just a few miles away from WoaB World HQ. Cyclist dies after being stuck in windshield as driver fled The author of this piece remembered the killer nurse who left a man stuck in her windshield also, there is a link to that wreck in the article. Not the same as my link, though.

This story is a little further away and somewhat of a palate cleanser after that last link. Waco cyclist, cancer survivor overcomes obstacles to set world record The bad thing about melanoma is it can kill you quickly, the good thing is it can be easily treated without impairing your ability to function as a human being after treatment. As demonstrated in this story.

And I immediately take you back down again with this link from the same area, ain’t I a stinker? Bicycle rider robbed at gunpoint This is kinda inevitable, really. I mean they attack people inside cars and rob them or steal the cars, which are like mini armored vehicles now. All cyclists have are wits and situational awareness, and sometimes that just isn’t enough. With the M.O. used in this robbery there is no amount of situational awareness that could protect you. Once crooks started identifying cyclists as having enough money and “stuff” on them to be worth robbing, they started robbing us.

An internal debate made public at StreetsblogLA. Man is Shot and Killed by the Officers He Called to Help Search for Stolen Bike. Is it a Livable Streets Issue? When does police racism and brutality become a livable streets issue? IMHO when people are in fear of LEO, then streets are no longer livable. When people are in fear of anything when they are out on the street, that area is no longer “livable”.

Since we need some good news to balance the previous link and paragraph, people raised a ton of money for the survivors of the victims of a hit-and-run in CA. Nearly $80K Raised For Family Of Afghan Immigrant Killed While Riding Bike If you give people half a chance they can and usually do good.

And this looks like a good place to put Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Scofflaw drivers and bike riders break laws at the same rate; too much news from Tour de France

A cyclist hit in MT has been transferred to Seattle to treat her injuries. Cyclist injured in downtown Missoula stable in Seattle hospital And for those whose geography is a little weak Seattle ia almost 500 miles from Missoula, and you’re basically crossing 2 and ¹/₃ states to get there. That’s roughly equivalent of transferring a patient from Belfast to London for my UK readers, or Antwerp to Paris for readers on The Continent. Stop and think for a moment what this says about the level of treatment available in Missoula…

A cyclist is almost “taken out” on a charity ride. Braden Tucker: Bicyclist critically injured in hit-skip during VeloSano ‘Bike To Cure’ event and UPDATE: Injured VeloSano rider in fair condition There is no way the driver that hit this cyclist does not know he hit someone especially looking at the level of destruction of the bike in this wreck. The rear wheel was ripped out of the dropouts during the wreck, that kind of impact is going to make a lot of noise.

Speaking of large group rides, we have our first drunk driver hitting someone in RAGBRAI on the first day of the ride. Hudson couple on bike injured by drunk driver Can’t say for sure, but there is no way the driver did not know there were a lot of bicycles on the roads that day, so it might be a case of drunken road rage.

Speaking of RAGBRAI, did you know that an ambulance company started to provide coverage to the ride went on to become a state-wide provider? I didn’t. Local ambulance service keeps RAGBRAI riders safe How about that?

The wheels of justice grind very slowly, and sometimes you think there isn’t anybody at the controls. Woman arrested for cyclist’s death Is that a bike flag stuck in the front bumper of the weapon vehicle? The crime scene pictures don’t show very good sight lines for the cyclist, who may (probably) thought the way was clear when he started crossing the road. The degree of damage makes me think the drunk and distracted driver may have been speeding at the time of the wreck, further reducing the cyclist’s clear crossing window. Drunk drivers who kill need to be handcuffed to the steering wheel of their cars while the cars are run through a metal shredder. On fire.

Continuing on the drivers that need to be fed through a metal shredder topic… Suspected drunk driver hits, kills prominent Albuquerque homebuilder This cyclist was hit riding on the sidewalk inside a gated community. If there is any place safe to ride a bike in ABQ that should be it.

On the other side of the country we have another one. Atlanta police searching for driver who hit, killed cyclist And by “another one” I mean a cyclist hit riding on the sidewalk by an out of control driver. This guy died because the driver decided to do some doughnuts in the middle of the street when he lost control and went over the curb and ran down the cyclist.

FL puts another notch in the gun. Bicyclist critically injured in crash with car and Weston man, 51, struck and killed while riding bicycle The cyclist was hit with the driver’s side of the car, but the cyclist ended up on the right-hand sidewalk after clearing a hedge. Either the bike was moved after the wreck, or there are some strange physics going on here.

This link is not for the squeamish. Bicyclist impales neck on fence after pothole crash in Queens The cyclist did not impale himself during the wreck but as an aftermath to the wreck, staggering around after picking himself up off the sidewalk. That is going to hurt, long term, but since it looks like critical blood vessels were not hit or the cervical spine damaged he should live a fairly normal life after the initial recovery.

This ‘hood is too dangerous for kids to be kids. Girl on bike injured after collision with car in Lowell The damage visible on the weapon vehicle shows it was traveling too fast for a residential neighborhood, but still people blame the victim for not wearing a helmet when her arm was injured. SMH The damage to the bike and the weapon vehicle are much too severe for the claimed “25 MPH” impact with a “little” 13 YO girl. I will say this in the driver’s favor, the apparent geometry for this wreck did not allow any reaction time to stop or even slow down.

How do you keep people in cars from hitting people on bikes? Turn down the volume. We must change the car vs. bike culture we have created Part of the problem is the Culture of Speed we have developed. People in cars expect a road clear of slow-moving vehicles, not to have to move around a bicycle in “their” lane.

What can you do about drivers backing blindly across the bike lane when leaving parking? My Turn: Downtown parking not good for cyclists How about reconfiguring the stripes so the driver is looking the direction traffic is coming from? Simple in concept but getting drivers to change the way they have done things for decades will not be easy. Why change the way you’ve done things for decades just because you kill nearly 100 people a day every day doing it like that?

A sad update from West Canuckistan. Injured cyclist passes The injuries were too severe for the cyclist to recover from her door prize. Helmets are just not built to survive that kind of concentrated force.

Well one way to prevent HGV from killing any more London cyclists would be to ban them when the concentration of cyclists is highest. PM To Consider Banning Rush Hour Lorries After Cyclist Death

Gee, maybe it has something to do with a poor state of driver licensing? Growing numbers of cyclists being killed or seriously injured on Welsh roads Perhaps raising the standard of cereal they hand them out from as premiums will improve that somewhat. Something more adult with less sugar in/on it

How stupid do you have to be to get out of a car and chase someone down with a knife? Family of ‘road rage’ victim Don Lock pay tearful tribute to him

People sitting in the bus saw the cyclist, why didn’t the driver with a much better view out the front? ‘Shattered’ bus driver admits causing cyclist’s death That’s all I have to say about that.

And I think I have run out of links. [checks] Yep, all done.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet @opusthepoet

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

Still feeling the high a little bit, and the Feed

I’m still feeling the high a little bit from the SCOTUS decisions last week on gay marriage and the ACA, and every time I log onto Facebook to see if there are any links not in the Feed it’s like I took another toke on the bong. I’m going on distant memory here because I found out that my particular brain chemistry and wiring is not compatible with pot back in 1977, but this is kinda what that felt like back then. I’m still trying to figure out what to do with the “Gay Marriage Challenge” page as it has been rendered moot by the SCOTUS last week. I mean the prize has been removed so why still play the game?

On the other decision, the ACA subsidy decision, I can’t tell you how relieved I am that one went the way it did. I mean the policy I have now is about as close to single payer health care as you can get in this country when you factor in the subsidy, but without the subsidy the premium is about 25% more than the combined household income here at Casa de El Poeta, and the OOP limit just about broke the bank here, just for my condition. We still have Mrs. the Poet to get repaired…

And I’m running late again today as I had to finish food shopping when transportation was made available when my son came over to do laundry. It’s cheaper for him to drive over to Casa de El Poeta and use our machine than it is to feed quarters into the machines in the laundry room at his apartment, and he takes us grocery shopping when he does his laundry.

Up first because, why not? is our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Statewide hit-and-run alert bill in trouble; Gil Cedillo shares the outrage at tragedy he helped cause

A road hazard that thankfully is confined to the Deep South. Cyclists Injured in Crash After Slipping on Gator Carcass on Road in Weston this, too Alligator remains cause six cyclist pile up, leaves man fighting for life in Florida I think the Road.cc article is conflating the wreck that killed the gator and sent a motorcyclist sliding down the road with the later wreck that just injured a few cyclists with nothing really more serious than a broken collarbone.

An injured cyclist leads to calls for improved infrastructure in south TX. Bicycle community rallies behind injured cyclist, push stricter laws Go Team Don’t Kill Us

And just a light ride west from WoaB the city of Ft. Worth tries to make their citizens live longer, happier lives. City of Fort Worth Hopes to Get People Walking Till They’re 100 Walking in TX heat is not hard, but it gets much worse when you have to share the road with cars or walk in the mud/dirt off the side of the road with cars driving right next to you. In that there is not much difference between walking and riding a bike in TX.

NYC has a car problem, still. NYPD: Help Us Find This SUV Driver Who Hit A 7-Yr-Old Yep, serious car troubles you got there. Might want to do something about that. This does not exactly count as “something” in that nothing was done, but as they were trying to eviscerate a law to protect people with right of way, nothing is better than doing something bad. Advocates, Mayor de Blasio Fend Off TWU Attack on Traffic Safety Laws I urge a compromise, instead of arresting and jailing the driver that hits someone with right of way in a crosswalk or bike lane just on the spot cancel their driver’s license. Put a punch through the expiration date so it can still be used as an ID but if you can’t control your vehicle so that you can prevent hitting someone minding their own business, then you can’t drive, both in the legal and physical senses.

If it didn’t require the cyclist to have died first this would be good news from MO. Felony charge filed in year-old case of Ozark teen killed on bicycle The victim was in his last year of the IB program, a HS curriculum that would be valid in almost any country in the world. That takes smarts and commitment, and the bozo with an SUV took that away from not just his parents but from everybody. Kids like that change the world, and now he won’t have the chance to try.

This sounds like a rough event. St. Charles cyclist dies after collapsing during Bike MS event

This looks like another infrastructure-related wreck. Update: Cyclist critical after crash with dump truck The route was the least-stressful way of getting across the Interstate but requires drivers to slow down and pay attention. Obviously that is too great a price to ask from motor vehicle operators. Another contributing factor was the nature of the business the weapon vehicle was involved in. Local drivers like this dump truck driver are paid by the run rather than by time or mileage, encouraging drivers to keep their speed as high as possible to get as many runs per day as possible so as to pay off the fixed costs and maybe make a little money on the day. One thing I’m extremely glad about for this particular article and comments, nobody expected a styrofoam hat to make any difference in surviving a dump truck running over you.

A letter from just outside NYC in one of the most car-sick communities in the country. Guest Spot: Cyclists, motorists must learn to coexist

“You’ll get my car keys when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers.” In Seattle Region, Half of Drivers Say They Won’t Give Up Solo Commute Pity because we may not have the time to wait for natural causes to take effect. Even ignoring Climate Change, the pollution from I.C.E will drastically shorten the lives of millions, while tens of thousands die from wrecks every year, and thousands more in wars to secure the oil supply (two that are currently going on as I type this). Electric vehicles will help, renewable fuels will help, but we really need to get away from the automobile lifestyle. And I am aware of the irony in that statement as I build the Sprint-T. I like cars, I just don’t like what cars have done to the world.

Some cyclists in GA want better enforcement when drivers kill. Remember and Ride On: Cycling community airs worries Another “If you want to commit murder…” quote.

Things are starting to get a tiny bit better in Jolly Olde though. Man charged with murder after cyclist death appears in court He’s still in jail pending another hearing. And this is a case where I definitely want to know why this man was charged as he was. Most of the time you can’t get a littering charge when a driver leaves a dead body on the side of the road…

More protests in London. Bank junction blocked again by hundreds of cyclists in ‘amazing’ tribute to tragic newlywed, 26 The comments section was priceless this time.

The “tomorrow” mentioned in the headline and article was today, I’m afraid. Tomorrow: Second Bank die-in to protest death of 26 year old cyclist killed while commuting

The medical system in Jolly Olde is trying to outrun the murderous drivers and are just about doing it. West Midlands roads averaging more than one cyclist injury a day This is why the UK changed to KSI rather than a straight fatality tally to monitor road safety.

Cycling in the UK is safe as compared to skydiving without a parachute… The truth about cycling safety

Maybe drivers will see lights projected against your back? Azeri Designer Makes Cycling Safer Probably not…

Need a project, or panniers? Coroplast™ Pannier Build.

And the last link is Faabuuuloouuuussss! Cities Paint Rainbow Crosswalks in a Show of Gay Pride No seriously, have I mentioned how happy I am that some of my best friends can get married now and be just as unhappy as straight people? 😛

And that’s it, I’m done. Stick a fork in me.

Opus the Poet

You could be costing me money, and the Feed

I have a situation that the blog service provider shares advertising revenue with me when I get enough people reading my blog on a daily basis. The problem is you have to read my blog AT my blog, not in your e-mail, or via your FB app, or RSS feed reader. I have enough subscribers to make some money if you read and click on my blog, but I don’t get a penny if you read someplace else. Love you all, but I can’t emphasise enough that I only get paid for your eyeballs when those eyeballs are at the same URL as this blog is originally published. And now back to our regularly scheduled nonsense and infrastructure news (if there is difference I’ll let you know 😉 )

Up first, I seem to always be near really great things in my life, and I did it again. This is about something that is a short ride on DART away from me. How One Weekend in Dallas Sparked a Movement for Urban Change This was another “I was there” situation for me. I was surprised at how fast some of these installations went from “demonstration” to “permanent”. And now the rest of the world is learning about it.

An exceptional edition of Our Daily Ted. Hundreds turn out in Hollywood for Sunday’s Finish the Ride Lotsa pictures there, Ted.

While we are talking about CA, here’s an article that treats death by motor vehicle as a public health issue. Public Health Menace Grows There were more cyclists killed in just one city last year than people died of Ebola in the US. And which one gets more attention?

And it looks like we have dodged a bullet this time. California mandatory helmet law set back following intensive lobbying from pro-cycling campaigners We are going to have to be careful on this one, it already has a comeback scheduled.

And FL does it again, a driver seriously injures a cyclist on the sidewalk without ever actually hitting the cyclist. Driver, cyclist hospitalized after car strikes pole in NW Miami-Dade So basically the cyclist was collateral damage to the other wreck as damaged infrastructure falls onto the sidewalk. And much like a pinball wreck I have no idea how you avoid getting hit by a chunk of infrastructure dislodged by a speeding driver running into it.

Two links that seem to encourage Stockholm Syndrome for vulnerable road users, first from NOLA. How New Orleans drivers and cyclists can move beyond ‘us v. them’ Look at the difference in the two sets of stories related, cyclists are assaulted, threatened, and nearly killed; drivers are annoyed by cyclist behavior that does not actually cause any harm. Even where cyclists break traffic laws, they are the only ones harmed. But cyclists have to “understand” drivers feelings?

And in this link about NYC. Finding Vision Zero Not taking an “Us vs Them” mentality when Us are dying at the hands of Them strikes me as an “Odd Thing” to do.

And while we are in NYC anyway, here are a few more links about the city. Driving a bus in a crowded city must be super easy. Video: NYC Bus Operator Keeps Busy By Reading While Driving Hey, it’s just a multi-ton killing machine surrounded by squishy pedestrians, no need to pay all that much attention to what you’re doing.

I wonder if this was the same driver caught in the video before they pulled him off the bus. Bus Driver Runs Man Over In The Bronx, No Criminality Suspected Driver hits person standing at bus stop as he was pulling out, was that a passenger who got left behind and was trying to get the bus to stop and let him on?

A memorial for all the pedestrians and cyclists killed in NYC last year. 10th Annual Ghost Bike Ride To Honor Pedestrians And Cyclists Killed Last Year and Photos: NYers Gather At “Ghost Bikes” To Demand Safer Streets And people still don’t understand the biggest cause of death in the city is the motor vehicle. More Ghost ride honors killed cyclists, pedestrians

And part of the memorial weekend was posting silhouettes for every person killed by motor vehicle violence in the city last year. While they were being put up the people doing the installation were almost part of next year’s installation. Tractor Trailer Crashes Into Memorial For Traffic Fatalities This is just so, not ironic, there’s a better word, because this is not irony. Irony would be getting killed by a person riding a bicycle, this is more of another instance of the city not being the place for a huge truck.

More on why it is so hard to keep drivers from killing. Man gets probation for Harlem hit-and-run death of cyclist PROBATION! For killing a person and leaving him to die in the streets. TANJ!

The cyclist injured by another cyclist riding a wheelie through a red light will get some money from the wheelie cyclist. Injured tandem cyclist to be compensated by Gullane teenager This is part of the criminal proceedings, so the kid will pay, or else…

Before and after a UK safety protest. Vigil planned for dead cyclist and after PICTURES: Stop Killing Cyclists vigil for rider killed at Lambeth Bridge The pictures pretty much explain everything…

And why they did it… Building industry ‘must help stop slaughter of cyclists under HGVs’ One contractor is responsible for 3 recent deaths, leading to protests in the streets. All but one fatality in London this year have been the result of collision with an HGV, protests in the streets. If only protests in the streets did any good.

Another wounded vet ride, this one somewhat close to WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. Injured vets prepare for ‘Ride 2 Recovery’

Remembering the first person to ride a bicycle around the world. Happy Thomas Stevens Day!

And I’m out of links, go ride a bike!

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet