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

Advertisement

Another grocery day, and the Feed

I’m getting a late start today because I had to get out and pay the rent on the storage unit, which keeps getting higher in spite of none of the employees getting raises and none of the taxes going up (I checked on that because that would mean taxes on Casa de El Poeta would be rising as well). So what it comes down to is the rent is going up because the people that own the unit want more money, not because their costs are going up. And that annoys me, no that pisses me off. The only elasticity in the budget is in the area labeled “food”. Unless I find a way to increase income somehow I have no choice but to buy lower-quality food, and less of it. That may mean more than one “bean day” a week (a high probability), less salads, cheaper cuts of meat or no meat at all. All to give the guys that own the storage unit an extra $15 a month over what was sufficient since last year. And a total of $45 over what we paid 2 years ago.

Up first is a bit from that “other” town mentioned in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. Dallas city officials subvert the spirit of bike helmet law As Mrs. the Poet would say,”Quelle surprise!” (with a bad French accent). LEO using what was passed as a “safety regulation” as a bludgeon against minority youth.

More on the IL cyclist killed in a hit-and-run. Police question man in hit-and-run death of Forest Park bicyclist They caught him, now comes the hard part of actually prosecuting him.

A SWCC wreck in OR. Bike rider killed in Lane County after crossing in front of pickup, state police say Assuming the narrative is correct and not just the driver trying to save his bacon, treat every time you need to cross a road as the worst of the worst combination of hit-from-behind and intersection protocols. Infrastructure would only help if it was 2-way on either side of the road so that crossing the road away from a controlled or segregated intersection would not be required. More 3rd biker killed in Oregon in 2014 ID’d

A “poor doggie” wreck in WA. Small dog killed by cyclist in Discovery Park OK even the cyclists agree that they were going too fast, but because this is NOT a street or road the posted speed limit is merely a suggestion. They are caught in a similar bind to what we have here in TX, where they want to reduce the speeds on many MUP but because they were built with transportation dollars they are classified as “street” and it takes an act of the legislature (literally, an actual bill has to be submitted and passed, for each MUP or section of MUP) to reduce the speed limit below 30 MPH. And there is no authority to impose a speed limit on the facility if they change it from “street” to something else.

More on the UK cyclist killed walking her bike in a pedestrian crossing. Death driver escapes jail: Cyclist killed on pedestrian crossing after 30mph sign ‘incorrectly placed’ The speed limit sign was on the wrong side of the crossing, meaning the driver was technically still at the speed limit for the freeway he had just exited instead of the speed for the city street he was about to enter, no in spite of ignoring the pedestrian crossing signal he was let off with a minor ticket instead of manslaughter and prison. TANJ! Except in this case there was, because the driver could only see an advisory speed limit sign that alerted him that the speed limit was going to be reduced with the actual speed sign on the other side of the crossing. Rules is rules, and you can’t fault the driver for following the rules as they applied in that situation. More No speed limit sign means no prosecution for speeding driver who killed cyclist on pedestrian crossing

Update on a driver that ran over 7 cyclists riding single file in the bike lane next to a busy highway over in Oz. Driver charged over Sydney cyclist carnage on Southern Cross Drive Eight charges for hitting 7 cyclists, apparently the least charge was for hitting the first cyclist because that one was closest to the lime and might have been over by a centimeter or two, then the rest were much greater than that because he should have moved right away from the cyclists and instead went right into the whole lot without reducing speed until his vehicle was disabled. I’m getting that from an unofficial copy of the police report that I can’t link to, suffice it to say that if the prosecutor has any chops at all this guy is boned severely. He might even get a whole week in jail… and yes my snark is showing.

More seriously, but still in Oz a driver killed a cyclist with a car door. Cyclist dies after crashing into opened car door in Highett OK let’s get one thing straight, it isn’t crashing into the door, it’s getting hit by the door. It’s good that the driver was hit with an immediate fine on the spot, and that ticket could become a lesser included charge because the cyclist died later. And let’s face it not winning the “door prize” is probably the hardest thing to do in transportation cycling, because the cyclist has to look in two different directions at the same time, one eye on the street and what’s out there, and one eye on the insides of cars parked on the side of the street to make sure nobody is about to get out, and tinted windows do not make that job any easier. So yeah, I’m going to blame drivers for this one every chance I get because they are the ones most responsible for it. Seeing a cyclist coming up the road beside you is orders of magnitude easier than seeing a driver or passenger about to open a car door in front of you.

And even fellow two-wheelers in Oz hate us. ‘Arrogant and aggressive’ motorcyclist may have killed bike rider, inquest told Um, yeah. Maybe hit-from-behind protocols would have helped avoid the wreck, not having to deal with twits moving at high rates of speed via segregated rural infrastructure would have prevented it.

UK infrastructure news. Revealed: Cyclists’ injury claims after pothole accidents in Kingston Seven claims but only one upheld, not a good average. One wonders at the ratio of claims to payouts for damaged motor vehicles.

More infrastructure from Jolly Olde. Tech trial for device that could save cyclists’ lives Basically a computer-monitored camera that is constantly looking for bicycles aimed at the vehicle’s blind spot. Theoretically this would be a good thing. Now they are testing to see if theory can be translated to practical application.

Not sure if this falls under lifestyle or infrastructure, so I’m putting it between the two. Motorists urged to mind cyclists during Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour

And finally our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Maybe you do need bike self-defense, two new bike jobs and a jewel-encrusted mountain bike

And those were all the links that gave me fits today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

A relatively quiet day, and the Feed

OMG!one! I don’t have to be anywhere or do anything except write the blog and watch a little TV later. Be still my beating heart to not have to spend hours riding a bus to do one thing for a few minutes then spend more hours riding the bus home. This is my biggest gripe with our local transit system, the lack of headway means transfers are going to take as much time as transit and the route speeds are never even close to the speed of normal traffic. I have even beaten a few short routes on my bike because of the bus speed being determined by having to stop for passengers getting on and off the bus, versus my steady but slow cruise speed.

This CA wreck is my only new report today. Bicyclist, Truck Crash On Sidewalk In Front Of San Francisco Ferry Building And after reading the comments I discover that it wasn’t a sidewalk but a MUP the truck was driving down when the cyclist ran into him. IOW the truck was driving down non-motorized infrastructure when the collision occurred. There is also a bike lane in the road to give cyclists access to the MUP.

More on the gross insult to cyclists issued from OH. Ohio doctor gets 15 days for hitting bicyclist The guy was injured so bad that he refuses to be seen in public and the perp (who was drunk at the time) gets 2 weeks? TANJ!

Now to the Infrastructure! portion of the program starting with another stupid bicyclist license proposal. Lawmaker drops bill to regulate bicyclists, moped operators after cyclists protest and Outcry from cyclists puts brakes on bike bill The proposal would have trapped underage (15 and lower) cyclists inside their neighborhoods and in many cases not even allow them to ride to school because it would require crossing streets or roads with speed limits considered “too fast”. Good riddance.

How awesome would it be to get a text alert to look for fresh body and fender damage after a hit-and-run? Local victim advocate wants hit-and-run alerts texted to every cab and UPS driver I’m sure the general public could sign up also. The biggest problem with hit-and-run is LEO can’t be everywhere to find the perps before the evidence is destroyed at an unsuspecting body shop.

In physical infrastructure news a TX town decides that maybe bikes will continue to be popular and useful and maybe a little permanent marking of the bike lanes would be a good idea? Bike lanes in far east El Paso getting makeover

Some new recreational infrastructure in CA after an old highway is decomissioned. Devil’s Slide, once hellish, opens Thursday as heavenly trail

MO shows where they really care as the money is tracked. Graphed: While Gas Tax Erodes, Transit Fares Climb Transit is more and more funded by transit users, while roads are more and more funded by the general fund… and bike infrastructure is only paid for with OPM from the feds?

Infrastructure news from Jolly Olde shows where their hearts are at after a signal is altered for pedestrian safety. Revealed: Traffic light fault causing Sevenoaks’ motorists’ misery “Officers recommended that we did not approve it because it would impair traffic flow,” yep allowing pedestrians sufficient time to cross the street gets in the way of motor vehicles.

Ted Rogers supplied the day’s BikingInLA Goodness. BOLO alert for stolen Bianchi, appeal denied for convicted victim blaming OC drunk driver, and Morning Links

And some good news as a bicycle that was destroyed in a wreck that almost destroyed the rider gets replaced. Injured Tour de Farms cyclist receives new bicycle

And those were all the links that gave me fits or giggles.

Billed @€0.02, Opus