Grocery Day again, and the Feed

OK today’s opening paragraph is both non-bike and non-humor. There was another theater shooting yesterday, only this time I know the location. Know as in have been to that theater several times to see various movies. The “shooter” this time was a real loony, he only brought a non-lethal training rifle, pepper spray, and a hatchet to the theater, and a fake bomb. The theater was showing the new Mad Max movie, the “feminist” one. I don’t know if any of my friends from when I lived in the area were at the theater or anyone I knew even tangentially because, well it has been close to thirty years now and my memory for names is pretty bad. You can ask my kids how many times I have used one of the cats’ names while talking to progeny. So, anyway, prayers and energy to the wounded in body and spirit.

Up first is more on the murder of a cyclist in NC (yes, I went there). Memorial created for cyclist killed by motor vehicle Drugged out driver crosses several lanes of traffic to hit a cyclist riding on the sidewalk? YES I’m going to call that a murder.

Our Daily Ted comes back after a day off with medical issues. (Writer’s block is a medical issue, right?) Morning Links: Mobility Plan passes but defers battles, Tito’s Tacos owner battles Culver City over CicLAvia The taco stand is going to be inundated with hungry cyclists unless the owner manages to totally piss them off before the event.

There aren’t enough bike lanes in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell to make parking in them an issue, but I “get” the rest of this comic from Bikeyface. Whatever “Dude, you almost got me killed there!” “Whatever.” [cyclist beats driver to death with u-lock] “Whatever, dude.”

And the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike adds another fatality to the total. Teen on bike killed by hit-and-run driver in east Orange County and Teen killed on bicycle – search for hit&run driver also, late to the Feed FHP finds car that may be fatal hit-run vehicle Apparently a witness to the wreck was a car guy and was able to identify the make and model of the weapon vehicle. Debris at the scene verified the ID.

LA (the state, not L.A. the city) has some seriously bad drivers. Returning from memorial for bike rider who was struck and killed, another bicyclist is hit Hit by a driver running a stop sign. The irony here is the cyclist would not have been there to hit if he had not stopped for his own stop sign… More Bicyclists remember friend who was killed in crash

From a little south of that wreck. After 5th cyclist death, increased safety on City Council agenda

From down the road from where I used to live, a survivor. MTSU AD Massaro injured in bike accident, back at work The guy broke his neck in two places and rode home… I think I may have found competition for my “unkillable badass” title. Actually there is no competition for that title, you either are or you are not an unkillable badass.

Joisey is seriously not bicycle friendly. Cyclist from N.Y. injured in collision with car at Clark Street and Route 46 in Wharton Another classic left cross wreck, but watch it get blamed on the cyclist (again).

An injured VA cyclist has the $$ to offer a reward for the driver who left him to die in the road. Augusta County Cyclist Injured in Hit and Run Offers Reward for Suspect “This person won’t be able to keep their mouth shut, since they evidently did it on purpose, so eventually they’ll have to brag about it and that will lead to their demise,” Steve.

A low-information report from the Great White North. Cyclist struck, seriously injured in Mississauga Love the comments section (not).

A cyclist in Canuckistan crashes next to a road. Invermere cyclist with no ID in coma after being found at the side of the road I keep harping on having wearable ID (not so much any more, but there is a limit to repetition). Seriously, this happens all the time it just doesn’t always make the news.

Remember that driver who spent several seconds looking at his phone instead of the road out his windshield? Lee Mill cyclist-death trucker cleared of dangerous driving Apparently driving with your nose in a phone instead of looking where you’re going isn’t “dangerous driving” when you are driving a semi.

The cyclist who went over the edge of a bridge is memorialized. Tributes paid to Ilkley cyclist killed in bridge fall I still think they need to fix that bridge.

No government in the world has ever made bicycle licenses work. Australia: Licensing cyclists will not ease the pain of being hit by vehicles But that doesn’t keep the crazies from trying, over and over.

Way back when, driving was considered anti-social. Before “Accident,” Deadly Driving Was “Homicide By Automobile”

Bob Mionske (as usual) is on it. Legally Speaking: At least three feet

Hydration with a full-face helmet is a problem, but this system can keep you from dehydration. No-drill Motorcycle Helmet MotoGP Hydration Mod One of the things I had the most trouble with was getting a drink while riding with my full-face helmet was getting the water bottle around the chin bar.

And I’m all out of links.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Unkillable Badass Poet

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This is gonna hurt, and the Feed

I am taking a break from filtering because 1) my butt is getting tired, and B. my brain is getting slightly crispy around the edges as I deal with some monumentally stupid/trollish comments left on some articles, and π) I need to go hit something. I figure a punch-a-pillow break is better than any of my alternatives.

Up first because “why not?” is Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Hollywood bike parking becomes a homeless site; a blogger argues bike lane air is bad for LA kids While bike lane air is “bad” the consequences of sitting in traffic in a light armored vehicle are orders of magnitude worse.

And Pt. 2 of Our Daily Ted. 22-year old alleged sidewalk rider killed in South LA hit-and-run How do they know the cyclist “swerved” off the sidewalk in a hit-and-run? And every time I see the word “Slauson” I think this. I used to watch that stuff when it was new. Yes, I already know I’m old…

Another link to the driver banned from owning a cell phone for 2 years. Cellphone ban for driver who killed cyclist is ‘a reminder every day,’ judge says The driver is allowed to use WiFi devices, but anything that directly connects to any cell phone system.

One of the most deeply held tenets of WoaB is “Don’t hit the pedestrians.” Pedestrian Suing Cyclist After Collision On Dearborn Street From the comments section the entire suit is a pack of lies intended to prey upon the prejudices of the (potential) jury, the pedestrian in question walked into the cyclist’s path while walking in the bike lane instead of crossing it, the equivalent of walking down the middle of a street, and the bike was equipped with two independent braking systems, fixie with a front brake. Still, DON’T HIT THE PEDESTRIANS!

OK this one is bizarre beyond words. Bicyclist injured in downtown Woodland accident Adrenaline can be a scary thing. It can make you really stupid, so that you get up and run away from getting hit with a car hard enough to smash the windshield hard enough to spray broken glass on the front seat occupants… Something got this cyclist wound up on adrenaline before he got hit, because there wasn’t enough time for any adrenaline from the wreck to kick in so that he could get up and run away from the wreck like that.

This IL story is a bit better than the one in an earlier paragraph. The ‘Wheel’ Deal: Flossmoor Cop Gifts Bike Crash Victim with a New Ride

I’m including this for a single sentence from LEO, the most sane thing I have ever read credited to a LEO. Cyclist killed by tractor trailer was on way home from work Did you see it, or has it been deleted? “Police say Goodrow was not wearing a helmet but suspect it would have made little difference.” Really, a styrofoam hat against 50K pounds or more of truck and trailer? And regarding the lights and reflectors the VA Vehicle code reads “… shall be equipped with a headlight on the front emitting a white light visible in clear weather from a distance of at least 500 feet to the front and a red reflector visible from a distance of at least 600 feet to the rear when directly in front of lawful lower beams of headlights on a motor vehicle.” So the rear reflector (without a light) was within the law, and the cyclist was hit from behind so the headlight was moot. The truck driver should have seen the cyclist but failed to pass safely.

From NYC another pedestrian is mowed down. 5-Year-Old Boy Struck By Driver On Prospect Park West

More on the Trek QR recall. 3 Reasons Why You May Have a Trek Bicycle Injury Lawsuit And I have one very good reason why you don’t have a valid lawsuit: in order for the “defective” QR to cause the problem it did you have to leave the QR in the open position. The equivalent would be to fail to tighten the lug nuts on your Chevy and then sue GM when the wheel falls off…

While we are in the figurative WI courtroom. Homicide charges loom for driver who hit, killed 2 bicyclists in Muskego I thought there must be foul play in order to hit 2 cyclists and kill them both…

More on the cyclist killed riding USBR 36 in IL. From the view of a cyclist The comments section was toxic. Literally toxic.

From the Great White North. Battlefield bike ride across Europe to aid injured soldiers If any of my Canadian reader$ feel $o inclined…

And court news from Jolly Olde. Bus driver in court over Washington cyclist’s death Still don’t know anything about what happened because of UK media laws, except that LEO think the bus driver “did it” whatever “it” was.

More on those detection systems planned for testing in London. Thermal cameras will watch for waiting cyclists and turn traffic lights green Typical comments about cyclists not paying a tax that hasn’t existed since 1937 in the comment section…

And one wonders what will happen to the program in the last paragraph in light of this report. Tories withdraw £23m of promised spending for cycling in latest cuts

Remembering a cyclist killed by an overloaded semi in Oz. Family honours Brisbane cyclist as memorial mural unveiled at accident site on Annerley Road The truck hit the underside of the bridge and fell on the cyclist riding to the side as the truck passed.

And trying to make the death mean something. Cyclist’s widow calls for inner city truck ban I see a workable compromise: Trucks move in the ban area by trip permit only with bicycle outriders fore and aft to keep the truck from running anyone over. Truck moves no faster than bicycle speed so no cyclists would be endangered by them. Make the permits non-profit (just administrative costs only) and the costs for the cyclists either on a per-mile rate or a per-job rate with a mileage or time limit per job and a new permit required for each trip in and out of the ban zone, each permit good for one round trip in and out of the ban zone. Cyclists get full employment, other road users are protected, and goods are still delivered to destinations inside the “no truck” zone.

And I’m outta links and patience. I wanna watch some tube and veg out.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Well, it isn’t an infection, and the Feed

I don’t know exactly what is making me sick, but I’m pretty sure that I don’t have an upper respiratory infection (yet). So far everything coming out of my nose is water-clear, and depending on my hydration it has about the same viscosity as water. So, no infection, but not sure exactly what it is. I just know that when I take allergy medicine it doesn’t help much. A little, but not much. It slows down the drip but does nada for the aches and pains. I don’t quite feel like I was hit by a truck this time, but maybe a motorcycle? Lots of aches and pains there…

NYC has a massive infrastructure problem, but nobody wants to admit it. NYPD: 1,399 Pedestrians and Cyclists Injured, 16 Killed in Traffic in October 1415 dead and injured people in 31 days tells me that the infrastructure is not optimized for anything but motor vehicles and that mode is not really optimized. The 15 dead pedestrians are almost twice the number killed by bicycles in NYC since 2001. Stop and think about that for a moment. Motor vehicles have killed almost twice as many people in 31 days as bicycles in 15 years. And yet people keep insisting the bicycles are the problem?

Still in NYC they deal with the lack of space for bicycles and pedestrians by permanently making ²/₃ of the roads permanently off-limits to anything except cars? Eyes on the Street: The Part of Central Park That’s Only for Cars Yep, they be nucking futs.

And just how nucking futs are they? For Traffic Violence Victims, Cy Vance’s “Moneyball” Still a Field of Dreams Yep, really nucking futs.

And from CA why we have so many hit-and-runs against cyclists. Hit a cyclist, help a cyclist? These readers aren’t so sure Yep, hit ’em and leave ’em in the street to die because you saw a cyclist riding salmon once, or running a stop sign (nevermind that everybody runs stop signs in CA hence the sobriquet “California Stop” applied to slowing to bicycle pace and rolling the stop sign if it is clear), or riding in the middle of the lane…

More of the same from ³/₄ of the way across the country. Bikers vs. Drivers: Chattanooga is ‘bike-friendly’, but there is tension between cyclists, drivers Yep, forcing a driver to lift his foot off the gas for a few seconds is a death penalty offense. Enforcible immediately upon slowing the driver down. The graphic that goes with the article is really scary. I hope they got the ISP addresses of all those threatening comments, because if one of those dudes hits a cyclist it will prove premeditation.

Pantani (was/wasn’t choose one) murdered… Doctor debunks murder theory in Pantani death investigation Seriously now, the dude was poisoned without a physical struggle, that can mean only one of two things. First was that he did it on purpose. Second that he didn’t know what was in that drug cocktail he took, because someone changed the drugs he was using… And they still haven’t established this fact one way or the other.

A little Lifestyle north of the border. Salim Aoudia, cyclist killed in Griffintown, remembered with ghost bike

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike, an opinion. Guest commentary: Cars and cyclists safely sharing the road Thing is it should be easy, but for most drivers, it ain’t.

Back to CA for our last link. Bike Bakersfield to Light up the Night by installing free bike lights for cyclist

And again I have run out of links before I have run out of things to say about links.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet

Things are a little less hectic around here, and the Feed

An unstable détente has been reached between the tenants of Casa de El Poeta, but I’m still keeping the shovel handy for quick disposal of the bodies. Things have gotten more than a bit crazy around here as accusations and counter-accusations fly like hornets, but at the moment the metaphorical knives have been put away as most of the crew has gone to get dinner as the last of the laundry dries. Some of the stuff that happened was just crazy, and I wish I could tell y’all about it.

Up first, can people stop putting these things in internet comment sections when there is an article about bicycles? 9 Things Drivers Need to Stop Saying in the Bikes vs. Cars Debate I know this triggers that twitch from the “One Crazy Thing…” meme that people use to sell crap that doesn’t work, but this is the real thing.

A cyclist is killed by bad infrastructure in this edition of our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Dangerous SaMo corner, LA Calbike board members, East LA man killed in bike dispute In this case it’s bad car infrastructure, and some other links in there as well.

Mass protests against crap infrastructure are planned for the UK. Join us on Saturday to demand Roads Fit For Humans! WoaB heartily approves this event.

Even “crack” NYPD drivers sometimes find themselves unable to avoid a wreck when someone turns in front of them. Video: Teen Rescued After Being Struck & Pinned By NYPD Van Driver

NYPD Infrastructure FAIL! 70th Precinct Fines People for Choosing a Safe Place to Walk or Bike at Night Imagine closing down a street at dusk because crimes are committed on it after dark, instead of maybe catching the criminals or something?

I’m hoping this doesn’t devolve into another “helmets and hi-viz” program. Street Smart traffic safety program aims to protect cyclists, pedestrians

How to build a bike to go more than 80 MPH using the power of a single rider, from a guy that has been innovating bicycles for more than 20 years. Graeme Obree: We’re building a dragster The trick is to get the aero right, and then get the power production right with ergonomics, then get the handling right when you get the bike up to those rarefied speeds.

A problem with the legal infrastructure in BC. People seldom charged when cyclists get ‘doored,’ Vancouver data shows In spite of there being potential criminal charges when someone gets the “door prize”, LEO doesn’t want to get involved. Tough! “Getting involved” is their freaking job, ignoring this crime is discrimination against the victims.

This bit really gets to me, as the victim was trying to fix the world. Cycle death claimed health care champion This is Not A Wreck article.

A pop-up bike trailer that is a camper for 2 people. This foldable bicycle camper lets you live comfortably on the road Mrs. the Poet and I could sleep quite nicely in this for a few days at a time. I don’t see this working for much more than a long weekend though.

And those are all the links I could stand to read.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet