Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and the Feed

This will be the last post of 2015, and I have to say that I’m slightly surprised at having survived this year as a blog and as a blogger. There were car wrecks and tornadoes, food poisoning, muggings and other mayhem, and none of it actually touched yr fthfl srvnt author. It all kind of swirled around me so that I could see it and report on it, but not have to suffer through it. Another bit of evidence that I’m a character in a story reporting back on what I see and feel as others live the story. I really need a better writer for my sex scenes…

Up first, the driver who killed a MD cyclist was violating two traffic laws to cause the wreck. ‘It’s Just So Unreal’: 19-Year-Old Cyclist Dies After Crash With SUV The two laws? Failing to obey a traffic control, and not stopping for a car stopped in front of a crosswalk. The cyclist had no chance to avoid this wreck as his view of the weapon vehicle was obstructed by the car that was following the law.

A NYS resident doesn’t have to leave the house to get above the legal limit for BAC. NY Woman Beats DWI Charge Because Her Body Is A Brewery This is an actual medical condition that I have been aware of for at least 25 years because I read about it before I moved to TX back in 1989, and again some time during the “Aughties”. So, rare, but not unheard of.

Cop hit cyclist in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Cyclist, Patrol Car Collide In Miami Gardens Cop claimed to have the green light when the cyclist “pulled out in front of him”. The geometry of the wreck indicates the cyclist was in the intersection for several seconds before the patrol car got there, meaning this could have been a stale green crossing where the cyclist had the right of way over the cop car. But since the comments have been closed for the article the only place you will see that is in this blog.

A WV cyclist is blamed for getting right hooked. Keyser man injured in bike/van crash at Memorial Bridge Nothing more I can say about this.

CT LEO are asking the public’s help in finding a cyclist’s killer. Shelton PD Seeks Help Finding Hit-and-Run Driver Who Killed A Cyclist

DiYDoT in action in Portland. Activists use traffic cones to improve safety of bike lane along new Orange Line MAX Yay DiYDoT! Doing what the regular DoT can’t or won’t do to make streets safer.

Lastly, did anyone order a box of kittens?

And that’s it for 2015. Here’s hoping 2016 is at least a little better.

Billed @$0.02, Opus the Poet

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Definitely in the “slow news” part of the year, and the Feed

This is the time of year when I don’t have much to link to, mostly from Oz and other “Down Under” locations. There will be a spike starting 12/26 and generally running until 1/7 the next year as kids get run over while riding new bikes, but that is Really Depressing to think about right now. Anyway, while things are slightly less deadly around the blog I figured this would be a good time to remind people that if they make enough noise with their elected officials they can pretty much shut the Feed down by not having any stories about dead or injured cyclists to link to because there aren’t any cyclists getting killed or injured. All it takes is getting the infrastructure right so that cyclists and pedestrians are not second class on the roads. The Dutch have had 40 years of development in not-killing cyclists and pedestrians under their belts and they have all their specifications on line and freely available for anyone to use.

Up first is a kind of death that is becoming all-too-common for CA cyclists. Girl riding bike shot, killed in Compton; suspect sought This is not a bicycle problem, but just something that happens to people whether they are riding bicycles or not.

On the other side of the country a rather cryptic wreck report from a blotter. Croton Cops: Cyclist Hit By Car; Laundry Owner Wants His Carts Back. “Police did not charge the driver.” AKA “No criminality suspected” and aside from the fact the cyclist had broken bones and the driver did not suffer anything other than a slight delay that’s all I know about this wreck.

Good news from a Seattle wreck. Injured bicycle rider’s daughter looking for Good Samaritan Since nobody saw the wreck and reported on it I can’t say how to avoid it or if changes to the built infrastructure would have prevented it.

A little kid riding a bike in Oz gets hit and killed. Two children die in separate road tragedies in 24 hours Kid was JRA outside his house when hit, which under the Dutch model would have been shared space with either a 30 km/hr (18 MPH) or a 20 km/hr (12 MPH) speed limit and severe penalties for hitting children.

Last link is Infrastructure! news and very good news at that. Hadley poised to settle federal case with bicycle advocate; agrees to pay $27,500 in lawyer’s fees Basically the town has been told to stop harassing cyclists riding in the street, pay the lawyer’s fees and refund all fines and monetary penalties accrued since they started giving the guy a bad time for obeying the law. Incidentally the police chief has been “sick” since the initial summary judgement against him. Things that make you go “hmmm”.

And those are all the links about bicycles that I had, most of which did not cause fits.

Billed @€0.02, Opus