This post will definitely go up late, and the Feed

Howdy folks! As we approach the Autumnal Equinox things get a little busy around Casa de El Poeta aka WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. For one thing there are all the rituals celebrating the holiday that I have to attend because I have friends and circle-mates who follow different traditions and all want me to be a part of their celebrations. For another thing there is the minor fact that I was born on this particular Pagan holiday. That means More Parties to attend. Add the third thing that I have become involved with electoral politics (without the swords and machine guns in this reality) and things are ramping up now, and well I’m just pulled in so many directions I almost look like a cartoon character. And I forgot I will be going to Dallas Pride Day to sign people up to support marriage equality this Sunday morning, well forgot until just now.

Speaking of birthdays, I have been asked to post what I want for mine. Simple enough, I need a steering wheel controller for my PS2 that will work with GT4, meaning (probably) something from Logitech. I can use Amazon gift certificates to buy one or someone could just send one to the church and I will take it home from there. Address it to Opus the Poet c/o Sacred Journey Fellowship UU, 1215 Main St. Garland TX 75040 and I will get it. Seems kind of silly that I get video game stuff for my 56th Birthday, but that’s what I need to make the Sprint T simulator.

And another birthday gift that won’t cost anything is signing this petition to make an Interstate Highway system for bicycles and pedestrians.

Up first is this ID hit-from-behind wreck. Female cyclist hit by car, seriously injured and Local athlete critically injured while biking The crime scene looks to be one of those that sure you can get away from the weapon vehicle but you’re likely to suffer serious injury when you do, but still less than getting hit with a car. Infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent.

A cyclist hits one of a group of jay-walkers in Central Park in NYC. Pedestrian Critically Injured In Accident With Cyclist In Central Park and Bicycle rider not charged in Central Park collision that put pedestrian on ventilator also Woman In Critical Condition After Getting Run Over By Cyclist In Central Park The Post (holding nose) Woman brain-dead after getting hit by cyclist in Central Park Not done yet After Woman Is Struck, Debate on Cycling in City Is Revived The crazies are calling for this guy to get the death penalty for something that only merits a $122 ticket if it happens with a car instead of a bicycle. Granted it should be a lot more strict than a $122 ticket in a car, but why all the venom for cyclists? BTW Don’t Hit The Pedestrians!

This is the second cyclist hit from behind in the bike lane since the 3-feet-to-pass law went into effect in CA. Freeport Boulevard closed after fatal bike crash The law requires a $220 ticket that with fees and costs comes to $980 for hitting a cyclist from behind, something I have yet to see with either of the wrecks since the law went into effect.

Still in CA a driver is sentenced in a wreck with a cyclist. Point Reyes Station man sentenced in DUI hit-and-run that injured cyclists I seriously doubt he would have gotten much of anything in the way of jail had he not taken down the telephone pole. Still 9 months is way more than he would have gotten had this wreck been in NY state.

A drunk driver kills a cyclist and gets 45 weekends in jail in the Great White North. Truck driver going to jail for killing elderly cyclist

A cyclist in Enn Zed is seriously injured in a single bike wreck? Cyclist seriously injured in Wellington OK there has to be some information missing from hit report, New Zeeland is a mandatory helmet country and head injury is pretty much the only way the wreck as described in the narrative could seriously injure a person.

Lifestyle for the DE cyclist hit head on by a suspected drunk driver on the wrong side of the road. Bicyclists ride to Phillip Bishop’s viewing The ride was treated much like a funeral procession except they went to the deceased instead of going with the deceased to his final rest.

Not sure how to classify this, closest thing I could think of is sorta kinda LifeStyle. Boston Scientific Helps Turn Wounded Warrior Into Competetive Cyclist The guy has a stim unit that changes neuropathy pain into a mild tingle? I could use one of those.

More on the CA passing law that recently went into effect. Hey, I’m Bikin’ Here! A Buffer Zone Is Now Law for California Cyclists Yes this is still Infrastructure! news.

Gothamist links a video showing how NOT to ride a bicycle in NYC. Video: Area Dude Demonstrates The Wrong Way To Bike In NYC

Presented without classification after 3 people sent links in my e-mail this morning. Death on a Bike

Ad for the people who built Francis/es. E is for Electric C is for Canopy Sometimes it’s nice to get a little help when riding, especially when you have nearly 100 pounds of empty bike to push along.

Our Daily Ted. Weekend Links: Free ice cream when you Bike to the Bowl; KY cyclist arrested, and Jens shatters the hour

Last link is the largest Human Powered Vehicle race in the world. Murray Bridge alive with pedal prix power this weekend Mixed and segregated 8-person teams of kids and adults trying to just keep the vehicle going all night and day.

I think I’m done now, because I’m damned near finished.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet

Back on the air, and the Feed

It has been terrible here at Casa de El Poeta this weekend as our Internet, land line, and TV has been completely shut down (well except the TV was mostly off but did come on for a few minutes at a time) leaving me with no ability to make blog posts or read my “mind wipe” web comics. I did an off-line Sunday post that I will load up from the local drive after this gets posted.

Up first because of lots of links is an OR cyclist riding the bike lane on I 84 is hit and killed by a drowsy driver. Woman on bike killed in I-84 crash identified as Mosier firefighter and Police investigate crash that killed bicyclist on I-84 early Sunday also Police say driver fatigue contributed to collision that left Mosier cyclist dead As for why the cyclist was on the Interstate and why there are bike lanes there, when they built the Interstate they built it over the old US route through the same area leaving no alternative for parts of the ride but to use the Interstate. There are protected cycle tracks with concrete barriers separating bicycles and motor vehicles in other segments of the highway, but there was not enough room to install those where the wreck happened without taking out a large hunk of mountain. That only leaves using the hit-from-behind protocols as an avoidance maneuver. ODOT needs to decide how many cyclists need to get killed on this stretch before they can spend the money to fix it, and if there is a maximum time between deaths that resets the count, because the design will get more cyclists killed by 70+ MPH traffic drifting off the road and over the painted stripe marking the bike lane. More on that bike lane. Fatal collision spurs new calls to complete the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail

An unknown mode of wreck after a hit-and-run in LA. Cyclist seriously injured by hit-and-run crash No pictures of the bicycle or anything else to let me know what happened, just pictures of crime scene tape hanging from a stop sign. So, Infrastructure is the answer, but we don’t know the question.

A speeding motorcycle ends one life and permanently alters another in OH. Motorcycle rider dies, teen loses leg in collision The teen cyclist was riding within the strictures of the law when the motorcyclist came speeding through a residential area and killed himself and nearly killed the kid. I don’t see anything that infrastructure could do to prevent this as the area is described as what would be partially shared space in the Dutch model where there should not be any motorcycles flying through at highway speeds.

A GA cyclist has his arm broken as he was buzzed while signalling for a left turn. Columbus cyclist injured in hit and run asking for public’s help to find suspect The motorcycle rider was lane splitting at speed and ran the stop sign where the bicyclist was preparing to turn. Again we get a motorcycle going too fast and running in to the cyclist. I really don’t know how a human cyclist could avoid a wreck like this because of the stop sign removing all maneuverability from the cyclist, and once again the motorcycle rider was not even using the existing infrastructure properly so changing it won’t have much effect either.

A serious bike wreck in CA with no witnesses and no evidence except the victim. CHP investigates bicycle crash that injured Hidden Valley Lake man OK how do they know the cyclist wrecked at 0145 when the call came in at 1045? That is a long time to lay in the road convulsing, and if the wreck was at 1045 the lack of a light had no bearing on the wreck. I think the report has serious holes in it. Anywho, depending on which time is accurate, the 0145 or the 1045 the light is either extremely important or a non-factor and I think the intersection had something to do with the wreck too. I hypothesize that a car making a right turn cut the cyclist off, causing him to fall and injure his head.

Also in CA is this wreck report via Ted Rogers of BikingInLA. Update: Experienced cyclist dies in Eagle Rock solo fall; 9th LA bicycling fatality this year The wreck is being blamed on bad pavement that caught the cyclist’s front tire and pulled the bike out from under him at speed, making his helmet not much good except for preventing some of the cosmetic damage.

Another cyclist rides around the crossing gates in CA, with predictable results. Police: Cyclist Ignored Crossing Arms Before Trolley Injury Seriously, folks, this is not rocket science. It barely rises to the intellectual challenge of 2+2=4. Don’t ride around the crossing guards and when crossing an unprotected grade crossing look both ways and listen for the train…

A NYC cyclist is accused of riding salmon and endangering her puppy (not kidding). Firefighters Save Adorable Puppy, Cyclist Struck By Truck Driver And it turns out the agency investigating the wreck is also responsible for the vehicle, which I’m sure had no bearing on them immediately blaming the injured cyclist instead of thir driver. If the report is accurate then don’t ride salmon, or it isn’t then use the hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent.

I strongly recommend against using this MI law firm if you get hit riding a bike. Cyclist Killed by Alleged Drunk Driver. DUI Law Firm The lawyers show more concern for the drunk driver than they do for the victim of the wreck/murder. Anyway, it was a hit-from-behind wreck so perhaps the protocols would have made the wreck survivable, and it’s possible that getting the infrastructure “up to Dutch” would prevent a future wreck with a drunk driver.

This DE hit-from-behind wreck is also a hit-and-run. Bicyclist struck and killed by motorist The narrative reads that the driver “didn’t see” the cyclist and “didn’t know” he had hit anything. Protocols might help avoid injury and damages, but getting the infrastructure “up to Dutch” would get bicycles away from deadly motor vehicles and prevent another wreck.

And up in the Great White North a cyclist killed by a motor vehicle and finally identified after many days. Dead cyclist identified by friends I think this might have been a right hook (there is a tire track across a curb and the bicycle looks like it was hit from the side). If so then intersection protocols to avoid or reduce damages, and get the infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent.

Another low-information report on a bike wreck hotspot in Montreal. Cyclist dies after accident in St-Hubert That’s 3 this summer from one small neighborhood… That screams “bad infrastructure” to me.

Speaking of “bad infrastructure”, who puts stairs on a MUP without lots of warning signs for cyclists? Cyclist killed after fall in Rundle Park There is a picture of the stairs that killed the cyclist in the link and the “warning” signs that never mention stairs, just a steep hill. I wish I could say that was “Only in Canuckistan” but not really.

An intersection wreck in the Great White North. Cyclist injured in collision While I love that LEO in Canada assume that when you hit-and-run the wreck is automatically your fault, It would be nice to know who was where when to determine how to avoid a similar wreck or change the infrastructure to prevent a future wreck.

Final word on a UK wreck where the driver was paying more attention to his phone than to the cyclist on the road in front of him. No jail sentence for driver who caused death of cyclist near Kincardine Bridge The constable that did the preliminary crowd and traffic control said he could see the victim’s bike more than 200 yards before he reached the scene when the light was not in the best position to be seen on the back of the wrecked bike. I wonder how the driver missed seeing it then? And the sentence… There are no words for how pitiful that sentence was for running over a cyclist like that. And how many people think the driver is going to honor that driving ban if they let him keep his car? More Driver accused of killing a cyclist tells court he is ashamed of using his mobile phone moments before the crash

And another UK driver admits to killing a cyclist. Hit-and-run driver faces jail over Chard cyclist’s death As I said when this went to trial the driver would probably get more time for the pot charge than for killing the cyclist…

An apparent intersection wreck in Enn Zed. Christchurch cyclist injured in hit and run Protocols to avoid, assuming the driver allowed enough reaction time to employ protocols, and get the infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent.

Our Daily Ted, Pt.1. Morning Links: Biking to the Emmy awards, BOLO Alert for purloined Roubaix, Jens calls it a 17-year career

And Pt.2. Morning Links: New ROAD magazine from Chris K, more on biking to the Emmys, SaMoHi kids bike to school

An Infrastructure! question that is being improperly framed in CA. The Conversation feedback: On a mission to get bikes off sidewalks The issue is the only bicycle infrastructure they have are painted bike lanes in the street. The problem is most people think painted stripes “protect” cyclists about as well as a Hi-Viz vest protects against getting shot when someone is aiming for you.

An infrastructure problem is causing cyclists grief in the Great White North. Several cyclists hurt near dangerous part of road on Lakeshore Yep, when several cyclists wreck in the same location from the same cause then you have broken infrastructure.

A little “portable infrastructure” from the UK. Laserlight, the bright idea of a student behind a lifesaver for cyclists It projects a bicycle symbol on the road 5 meters (about 16′ 5″) in front of the bike using a bright green laser. I’m going to be brutally honest on this one, it might prevent a jaywalker from stepping into you, but 16 feet is not going to be far enough in front of a car for most drivers to be able to see it unless the cyclist was already almost in front of the vehicle, or in the case of a conventional cab semi you would have to be about 5-10 feet in front of the driver to get the bike symbol out of the passenger side front blind spot.

And those were all the links that accumulated while I was unable to access the Internet, whew! I spent 2 days going through the links and pasting them to this post. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go scream at something… I’m really glad I spent the extra time on Friday night to clean out all the links before posting, or I would have had even more links. BTW what happened was something blew out the inside of the box that converts the fiber optic signal to a phone and internet signal (my land line uses VOIP directly instead of converting at a remote location), and everything inside the box except the wiring had to be replaced.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

It’s raining, and a massive Feed

This time of year it isn’t unusual to get rained on here in the suburbs of Hell, but it usually is a brief storm with a day’s or sometimes several days’ worth of rain in a few minutes or at most an hour, and then nothing for the rest of the day. That’s not the case today. It started raining last night about midnight here at WoaB World HQ and has bee raining slowly but steadily ever since. Since I have errands to run this afternoon that means my fenders are going to be used for more than just shiny decorations today, and also that my rain gear is going to get used as something other than a windproof outer shell. It’s actually cold enough to require rain gear today. To say this is an unusual spell of weather for this location is understatement.

Moving along by distance (more or less) today we have 2 links to the ride for a fallen cyclist in Austin over the weekend. Cyclists ride in remembrance of friend and Friends pay tribute to cyclist killed in hit and run The facts in this case support the supposition that the driver was asleep or drunk when he hit the drastically over-lighted cyclist. Note in spite of reports that the cyclist was not wearing a helmet there has been nothing released that indicated he died of head trauma or even had a scratch on his head. What killed this cyclist was not a lack of a helmet, it was a drunk or distracted or drowsy driver at the wheel of a dark-colored SUV.

Another hit-and-run murder of a cyclist in the Carolinas. Cyclist killed in S. Charlotte hit-and-run At least this wreck had witnesses who could ID the vehicle, somewhat. This was a 2-part wreck, something on the road took the cyclist down, and then the motor vehicle hit him while he was down. All I can say is to avoid watch for bad road conditions. Oh, and don’t read the comments.

Another wreck caused by road conditions in the Carolinas. Bicyclist injured after crash on Blue Ridge Parkway Given the recent bad weather that just moved through the area there may be light debris on most roads that would normally be used by bicycles, so be sharp over there guys.

The rest of the post is LifeStyle and Infrastructure! articles, with our first link having a bit of both as I post the link. Kelowna News The first 3 reports from this one link have news about an infrastructure closing and 2 lifestyle articles before going off in another direction about a funeral. What you may see is dependent on how fast you can click over there… 😉

The article makes conclusions starting from their premise, but the fun stuff mentioned in the link is still fun even if it does come from faulty logic. Annual Wildomar Bicycle Safety Event Striving To Save Lives The young man died of massive internal injuries but because he didn’t have any head injury and he wore a helmet we should all wear a helmet, can you see the fallacy in this statement? I won’t bore you with the details, but there are more than one.

Two links from different outlets of the same media company on LAPD mis-interpreting CA vehicle laws. Law Defines a Bicycle as a ‘Slow-Moving Vehicle’ and from the other outlet Law Defines a Bicycle as a ‘Slow-Moving Vehicle’ Notice that they changed the meaning of the word “along” to suit them for blaming a cyclist for getting hit…

TN is still trying to get the laws to protect cyclists and other vulnerable road users from more lethal devices. Bill would boost safety for cyclists across Tennessee Basically it says that if you hit a vulnerable user and that user should have been avoidable had you seen him/her and there was nothing that should have impaired your seeing that user outside your vehicle, then you’re at fault in the wreck and have committed a crime. Or in simpler terms it takes “I didn’t see him” from a get out of jail free card into an admission of guilt, as it should be. About the only time this doesn’t place most of the blame on the driver is in situations of reduced visibility, such as night with an unlighted road user, or during fog or heavy rain, and in cases of fog or heavy rain there is still the “due care” provision that requires drivers to “not hit anything” by reducing speed in those conditions. Now all that’s needed is for LEO to actually use these laws, something they have shown reluctance to do in the past with previous laws to protect cyclists. Search the archives for TN wrecks for examples of what I mean.

And final link, MD has filled a critical gap in their laws between failure to yield and vehicular homicide. Maryland adds protection for cyclists The bill which is expected to avoid veto would create a new crime that is more heavily punished than failure to yield but much less than vehicular homicide, the new law allows a fine of $5000 and up to 3 years in prison, which was a huge step up from the maximum $300 fine with no jail or prison for failure to yield.

And that’s all the news that gives me fits today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Lots of links today, both updates and new reports

I thought a descriptive if wordy headline best suited today’s Feed. We had several stories that had multiple reports, and some updates reports on old stories as well as new stuff. Hopefully I will get this all straightened out and not put reports in separate paragraphs that belonged together. 😉

Up first is another report on the American Fork canyon incident in UT. Mesa Cyclist Injured In Utah Crash This doesn’t add much to the reason for the crash, but it does tell us more about one of the victims.

There was a bad bike wreck in CO. Madison cyclist killed in Colorado accident and Cyclist crash fatality is first in monument It appears the cyclist hit something in the road that caused a front washout throwing the cyclist to the pavement where he sustained fatal head injuries. There were no other vehicles involved in the wreck. How to avoid: watch for road debris and ride in the clean line even if that requires riding in the lane with cars.

An elderly MI an suffers head injury in a wreck with a slightly less elderly woman driver. Elderly bicyclist injured in crash Not clear here why the cyclist proceeded in front of the car nor why the car failed to stop in time to not hit the cyclist.

A PA cyclist is killed by a UPS truck. Harrisburg bicyclist killed in crash in Swatara Township No verifiable word on the cause but from the comments section I think we can rule out not seeing the cyclist. The bike was reported to have been festooned with reflectors, and the driver reported no trouble seeing the cyclist according to another comment. Why the driver failed to avoid the cyclist he had no trouble seeing is a question best left to the courts.

The other PA wreck was a single vehicle wreck on a bike trail. Maine man killed in W. Pa. mountain bike crash and Maine biker killed in Beaver County accident Another reason to not ride off road without a riding partner. His helmet was not very effective either. Wear a helmet but wear it right to prevent facial injuries. The bottom of the front of the helmet must be no more than a finger width above the brow ridge on your skull.

Another hit-from-behind wreck, this time in MO. Bicyclist injured after being struck by car near LaGrange Usual precautions against being hit from behind, plus because this was a night wreck add a bright taillight to the list. I recommend the Honkin’ Huge Taillight^tm. Click the tag to find a list of materials to build your own HHT.

Another drunk hits s cyclist head on, this time with a twist. Joliet bicyclist seriously injured; motorist detained Yes another salmon cyclist gets hit. There was lots of blame to go around in this one starting with the drunk driver and extending to the cyclists riding the wrong way on the street. Hasn’t the news gotten out yet? Ride with traffic on the right side of the street/road. Don’t drink and operate a vehicle (car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle…). Just don’t.

A cyclist in CA gets hit while crossing a road in the crosswalk. Bicyclist struck, injured in College Terrace Since we don’t know which direction the cyclist was traveling in this wreck it’s hard to say who was at fault. Using Google Street View we can see the intersection was between 2 light controlled intersections, so the cyclist may have started crossing the 6 lanes of traffic when the way was clear, but been caught out after the light changed.

LEO aren’t saying much about this wreck in NC. Bicyclist Injured In Greenville Accident About all we know from this report is a cyclist was hit by a motor vehicle and was not killed.

ID LEO are busting speeders that endanger children. Law enforcement cracking down on speeders in school zones As I pointed out in an earlier post, going from 20 MPH (most school zones) to 30 MPH (speed at which cops will ticket you for speeding in a school zone) raises the fatality rate from 5% to 50%, and reduces the walk-away rate from 45% to 5%, not to mention that drivers have 50% less time to react at 30 MPH than they do at 20 which means that hitting those kids is more likely. It’s a bad combination of more likely to hit and more likely to kill if you hit.

It has been a bad year for cyclists (relatively) in HI. Bicycle Riders Face Grim Statistics Of Injury Or Death In Hawaii Notice that the statistics were drawn from a very bad year for cyclist deaths. Lately the numbers have looked much better.

This was just brought to my attention today, even though it’s more than 7 months old. OYO RESTAURANT TREATS CYCLISTS LIKE PESTS Well restaurants have the right to refuse service, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it when they do.

Cyclists ride for a good cause. Riders take to streets for Special Olympics “Shave your legs and saddle up!” We have good deeds to do. 😉

A rather breathless helmet-centric “safety” article from my SF colleague at examiner.com. Save Your Life! Always Wear Your Bike Helmet! Yes, always wear a helmet when you ride, just don’t expect miracles from it. Mine saved my life when I was attacked and left for dead by a pickup truck wielding terrorist back in 2001, but it didn’t prevent my brain damage. I have about 2/3 the mental ability I had pre-wreck, mostly lost in my ability to communicate verbally. I’m alive but no longer able to find work outside of posting to the internet. And if you think posting to the internet will make you money I would like to show you my last paycheck for 5 months of work for examiner.com of just over $26.

And another in a inconsistent series on why I consider motor vehicles to be WMDs. Vehicles crash into buildings Monday and Tuesday I wonder how the reinforced cinderblock garage is doing after getting hit @80MPH or so? And what caused the homeowner to build a reinforced cinderblock garage in the first place, most detached garages are barely enough structure to survive twice the expected snow load in that area.

And that’s all I have for today.

Billed @$.02, Opus