I had someplace I needed to be last night, but I bailed because of the weather forecast. Now before you rag me about getting a little wet, let me tell you what the forecast was: 3-6″ of rain per hour, high winds (gusts of up to 50 MPH), and golf ball sized hail. I would have destroyed my new helmet, ruined my rain gear, and quite possibly been blown into a wreck, had the forecast been accurate, which it mostly was. The only thing that didn’t make it to my side of the Metromess was the golf ball sized hail which had diminished to pea sized by the time it made it here. Torrential rain, check. Howling winds, check and double check, both the sustained winds and the gusts were strong enough to be dangerous to a person riding a bike. I may be a crazy, brain-damaged blogger, but I still retain a majority of my intelligence from before, and my judgement was that this was not a good chance to take on a bike without a sturdy roof over my head. I haven’t built that bike yet, so I stayed home. Today’s weather is lovely if damp and a bit chilly, so I may throw some tights and a long-sleeved jersey on and go for a look around later.
Not many actual bike story links in the Feed today, but one that stands out is a drunken cyclist unable to maintain lane discipline. Bicyclist suffers major injuries in collision and Injured Bicyclist Arrested for DUI To avoid, don’t ride drunk, and stay in your lane. SBR would alleviate most of the problems with BUI (Bicycling Under the Influence) by keeping the drunks away from the most deadly things they would normally encounter, but I still would not recommend BUI, unless it was a choice of BUI or DUI in which case I would definitely advise a bicycle over a motor vehicle, any motor vehicle more powerful than a handicap scooter.
From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike 6 years running, a reported SWSS. Bicyclist injured after collision with van in Seminole Not much to say here, classic SWSS narrative, cyclist severely injured and transported, driver claims swerving in front of him. Hit-from-behind protocols, and tickets for drivers that fail to pass cyclists with the required legal clearance as demonstrated by running into them, might prevent wrecks like this with the built environment, changing the built environment to include Separated Bicycle Roads would definitely prevent future SWSS.
A child is run over in front of his home in NC. Lillington boy killed while riding bike At this point nothing is really known about this wreck aside from the location.
Two more cyclists display poor lane discipline , this time in NJ. Bicyclists airlifted after Kinnelon crash The cyclists were conscious after the wreck and backed up the report of poor lane discipline on their part during a high-speed downhill run. To avoid, stay in your lane. Learn better bike handling skills to keep a tighter line in right turns or a wider one on left turns, but stay in your lane. In extreme cases you may have to feather the brakes a bit on corner entry. A tiny bit of rear brake (TINY!!) can help induce turning.
The cyclist who was critically injured in Canuckistan after a collision with a jogger has finally been identified. Identify of cyclist injured in collision with jogger sought Aaannnd apparently not as the article I clicked on was taken down, and replaced with an earlier article at the same URL as I was creating the link. I think the story that was taken down indicated the cyclist was a 57 YO, but since it isn’t there any more I can’t actually verify what it said. So, they thought they knew who he was, but now they don’t.
Infrastructure! news from Oz. Where do cyclists belong? The synopsis, cyclists have far fewer injuries when they have a place to ride that excludes pedestrians and motor vehicles and allows cyclists to ride at a comfortable pace, has room to pass slower cyclists and some degree of protection from incursions from motor vehicles. IOW Dutch infrastructure with Separated Bike Roads. Throw in a most vulnerable to least vulnerable hierarchy of ROW at intersections with Peds>bicycles>motor vehicles (and those should be read as “Greater Than” symbols) and you have Paradise. At least until you get where you’re going, after that the transportation system loses all control over your happiness. 😛
And that’s it, all the links that stayed up long enough for me to post it in my blog.
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Witch on a Bicycle 