As I rode back from my meeting last night there were patches of dry pavement showing, and I woke to completely dry roads in front of my house in the suburbs of Hell. I was wrong about the grass being dormant, as it appears there are some areas that need mowing as soon as the ground dries out enough for me to be able to walk on it. Muddy ground is especially hazardous with my injury as I can turn an ankle in a blink of an eye, due to the combination of having poor kinesthetic senses because of the nerve damage, weak muscles due to the scar tissue, and the longer lever arm due to having to wear a lifted shoe on that foot. And I need to show Blue some lubricant love after 2 rides in the wet.
Up first is a drug bust that went very bad for surrounding civilians, including a cyclist that just happened to be riding by. Six Hurt, Cruisers Struck as Truck Flees St. Louis Police The guy was hit twice as the suspect fled, once as the suspect was backing away from LEO, and a second time as he turned around to drive in the normal direction. The best way to avoid this is for police to get more time at the range to SHOOT THE DRIVER instead of everyone else in the car, or issue “car stopper” weapons when going on drug busts that will prevent a car from leaving. There used to be a 12ga slug round that would break a car frame or shatter the engine block. It was basically a Grade 8 bolt blank machined with a pointy end instead of with threads and a hex head, and a plastic sabot shell to prevent it from damaging the barrel of the weapon. Oh, there was nothing the cyclist could have done to prevent this wreck. Another link Six injured as truck flees St. Louis police
Another reason why lawyers are hated, as a cop that was 0.001 below the legal definition of drunk 4 hours after a wreck that killed a cyclist was somehow “not drunk” at the time of the wreck. Cop wasn’t drunk when he killed bicyclist, 13, attorney says Apparently this attorney has never heard of blood alcohol regression where the BAC% can be determined from using the rate at which alcohol is metabolized and a known concentration from after the fact. But common sense alone will tell you that 0.079% 4 hours after the wreck was in excess of 0.08% at the time of the wreck. Using the formula given in the link the cop was @0.10%, drunk by the 1975 standard. Fry this cop. Also, find out who prevented the test until 4 hours had passed and charge them with accessory after the fact to murder.
From CA a wreck report that is almost as informative as allowed under UK media laws. San Bernardino man killed in bike crash Three sentences was apparently all this man rated for his violent death by motor vehicle.
A drunk cyclist was also under the influence of drugs at the time of his death by motor vehicle. Drugs found in LaPorte County teen’s body OK, drunk and drugged and riding a bike backwards, how could we possibly prevent this wreck? (Where’s that sarcasm tag in HTML?) The BAC% alone would have made this almost inevitable, but add MJ and prescription drugs to the party and you get a cyclist that has no idea what he’s doing.
From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike 6 years running, a cyclist is hit “crossing a road” well between intersections. Plant City cyclist, 29, killed in collision with Jeep in Dover I find this improbable because of the location, and also because of the locale. Without being able to see the physical evidence I can’t say for sure that it was not a crossing cyclist, but until I can get outside verification I’m going to call this one a SWCC.
Prosecution begins against the man that drove off the road to hit a cyclist on Old US66 in NM. Man to be arraigned in cyclist’s 2010 death in NM I’m still not convinced from the reports I have read the driver didn’t do it on purpose The descriptions in the driver’s words are that he spent about 15 seconds looking away from the road at 60 MPH after he saw the cyclists ahead on the shoulder, that’s roughly a quarter of a mile. (Actually fifteen seconds at sixty miles an hour is exactly a quarter mile, it’s the time that is a rough estimate).
A different kind of wreck from the Great White North. Cyclist collides with dog in Uxbridge, Ont. and Cyclist in critical condition after collision with dog in Uxbridge I’m sure the dog lovers are going, “Oh the poor puppy!” while the cyclists are plotting turning both dogs into Chinese take-out, but it is an illustration of how vulnerable cyclists are, and why wearing a helmet is a good idea at least in North America.
More on the Kanata 5 trial and the sentencing of the man who assaulted them. ‘Kanata 5’ hit-and-run victims struggle to forgive I’m sorry Canadians, but 2 years for almost killing 5 people then leaving them to die or not, is not an appropriate sentence. For a single cyclist, yes I could see that kind of sentence. But this guy was found guilty of 10 counts in this trial and he was only sentenced for 2! More MorningFile: Farazli infection rates normal, sentence in cyclist hit-and-run, Waverley Street fire
Assault with a deadly weapon in Oz. Swerved to hit cyclist You would think they were from TX instead of Oz, the way they drive. And the primary concern for the condition of the vehicle instead of the victim…
A bike wreck in Oz. Teen on bike injured in car collision Not enough for me to say how to avoid except “Intersection protocols” since the cyclist was in an intersection when he was hit. I have to say that wasn’t a residential street that kid was crossing, it looked like a minor highway with a wide median. Do you think they have “stale green” issues in Oz like we do in the US?
Cyclist woes in Enn Zed. Martine Rolls: Focus on safe cycling
More Infrastructure! news from the UK. Is this the start of cyclist pressure on Westminster? and Cyclists protest over London road safety Family of Edinburgh cyclist killed last week launch safety campaign
And that’s all the links I have today.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
Still alive, doing better than Rush, and the Feed
I survived another idiot in the street last night, who was almost enough to ruin my ride. Not entirely, because riding in mid-60° temperatures with mild breezes was just too nice to let an idiot behind the wheel ruin it for me. This is one of those brief periods during the year when the winds die down for a bit without temperatures going into the deep freeze or the oven in the suburbs of Hell. Actually I can’t remember the winds quitting while the temperatures were in the deep freeze, so no breeze with no 110°F temperatures then. Anyway, it was a really nice ride last night in spite of the idiot that almost hit me.
Perhaps the guy that almost hit me was trying to get away from this wreck. Piedmont Pastor Seriously Injured In Bicycle Wreck If he couldn’t see 2 bikes in the street in front of him in broad daylight, I wonder how he didn’t get a ticket for failure to yield. TANJ! To avoid use the hit-from-behind protocols, to prevent use SBR.
In the same state as WoaB is a report on a man that was apparently deliberately struck from behind while riding on the shoulder of a road. Bicycle rider struck, killed “Our news partners at the Beaumont Enterprise report the car swerved out of its lane and struck Gumberger.” That sounds like a description of a deliberate act to me. Lawyer’s take Bicyclist George Gumberger Killed Riding Along Shoulder of Texas 105 in Beaumont, Texas And in none of the reports I read on this wreck do they even mention the driver’s name, mush less any action against him.
Getting closer to home as more links come in, a wreck in Austin. Blotter: Police identify cyclist killed on North Lamar I really don’t understand how this wreck happened. Why was the cyclist kneeling beside his bike? Why was he hit in the turning lane? The interesting thing is this is being investigated as a homicide rather than as a traffic “accident”. More Man hit by car, killed on North Lamar on Thursday night and Man ID’d in auto-ped crash The only thing I can come up with that makes any sense is that this was the second wreck of the night for the victim, he was hit by another vehicle and knocked off his bike into the center turn lane, and as he was collecting his wits and the bits off his bike he was hit a second time by the vehicle that killed him.
More news on the hit-and-run driver that killed a cyclist in the bike lane in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike 6 years running. Driver in Fatal Rickenbacker Causeway Crash to Remain Behind Bars The driver is going to be held without bail because he violated his parole after a drug bust. While it is good that he is being held where he can’t hurt any more cyclists, drivers that aren’t on parole from drug busts are just as dangerous and still get released on ridiculously small bonds.
Another article on that report on how much danger HGV represent to cyclists. HGVs pose increased risk of death and serious injury to cyclists Again the news that uncontrolled bleeding is the major single factor leading to death is really surprising to me.
More infrastructure news from Scotland. Safety call after second cyclist death
Serious problems with blind drivers in Oz. Off yer bike: Brimbank’s sorry tale Three out of 4 wrecks happen during broad daylight by drivers that claim to have never seen the cyclist until after they hit him or her. That says nothing good about the state of driver’s licensing in Oz.
And more infrastructure in Enn Zed. Campaign over hazardous cycle spots Another Anglophone country that has ceded its roads to the motor vehicle and discovered that making those roads safe again costs a whole lot more than they gained by giving the roads to cars…
And those are all the links that give me fits today (correcting my grammar from previous posts).
Billed @$0.02, Opus
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Tagged anti-bike blatherings, cycling life, cyclist injured, cyclist killed, Dead cyclists, Don't read the comments, Enn Zed, hit from behind, hit-and-run, infrastructure, Jolly Olde, lawyer blatherings, Left cross/right hook, Oz, Scotland, Something smells, stupid drivers, stupid LEO, updates, waste of human skin