Would you know what day it was absent external cues, and the Feed

Seriously, I am having difficulty remembering what day of the week it is without Mrs. the Poet being at work. A big part of that is her uniform shirt changed based on the day of the week, which reflected the menu for the day. Days when there was red sauce on the menu (that was likely to also be on the people preparing and serving) they had red shirts as part of the uniform, with different colors for other days, and a spirit shirt for Fridays. So I would know what day of the week it was by looking at the clothes Mrs. the Poet put out the night before. Now she doesn’t wear a daily uniform, and nobody knows what day of the week it is without consulting a calendar. Old People’s Problems, amirite?

Up first is this report from Houston. Woman found guilty in hit-and-run death of bicyclist in 2013 That headline could be better worded. Punishment phase underway for woman found guilty in fatal hit-and-run I think the second video is the first time I saw the victim’s bicycle, notice the damage is consistent with a straight from behind impact and that there is a broken reflector mount under the remains of the seat on the seat post showing the bike was visible from behind had the driver been looking in front of the car for a cyclist.

Including this because I build bikes and it is absolutely true. Welcome to Atomic Zombie’s Murphy’s Moments For those not in the know A. Z. is one of the largest vendors of bicycle plans on the Internet.

More infrastructure news from NYC. New MTA Victim-Blaming Campaign Is the Opposite of Vision Zero Again, I want to know how many cyclists have died as a result of running into the back of a stopped bus, versus hit from behind or right hooked.

More NYC infrastructure. New York’s pedestrian and cyclist safety is still a long way from “Vision Zero” More links to the tone-deaf MTA videos.

Remember that MO Mayor who told a cyclist to get off “his” road right before he ran the cyclist over? So does the DA. Sunset Hills Mayor Accused of Striking Cyclist Faces Grand Jury, Impeachment If you were harassed by a red Mercedes convertible with MO plate 3636 please contact the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney with the deets… We might get this one, just like we got Dr. Christopher Thompson in CA. And as I was posting this a refresh of the page brought this to light: “The grand jury has indicted Furrer on one count of second-degree assault, a class C felony, and one felony count of first-degree property damage. Next stop: trial.”

Legal infrastructure news from the most deadliest state in the US. Roman & Gaynor Sponsors the West Coast Cycling Team Lawyers sponsoring a bike team/club, what could possibly go wrong? XD

Canadians are so polite. Passersby lift pickup off injured Canmore cyclist after crash

A little lifestyle from the UK. Family pays tribute to killed Horsham cyclist

The cyclist in this video has about zero reaction time when the car pulls into his lane. This is just a reminder of why I quit doing wrecks. I like my sanity. Cyclist catches crash horror on camera

Will your next bike have a built-in smartphone dock? Upgrade your bicycle into a smart bike with this connected bike system

The best thing about this is there is already a theme song. Oh the shame of being married to a MAMIL (that’s a Middle Aged Man In Lycra) And the theme song: You And Me Baby Ain’t Nothing But Mammals Video I like the machiname on this particular video. I never could get my video game characters to dance, I could barely get them to run in the right direction most of the time.

And those were all the links I could stand to read today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet

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There’s white stuff on the ground and it ain’t coke, and the Feed

Woke to bitter cold this AM with a pretty good breeze, then things started getting really weird. This white stuff fell outta the sky…

And of course I’m pulling your collective legs, I recognize snow when it hits me on the top of the head and covers the ground. I haven’t seen snow like this in an age, a fine powder that blows and drifts gracefully even in light breezes. Seriously, I haven’t seen snow like this since I moved away from the mountains of UT to lower latitudes and altitudes back when Jimmy Carter was still president. Of course just because I know what snow is and how to handle it that doesn’t mean that other people here in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell know what to do when the white stuff hits the ground. The hundreds of wrecks, mostly fender-benders, on the streets and highways of the Metromess are testament to that. The powdery snow on the walks was no problem to negotiate on the way to the mailbox but Mrs. the Poet reports that other sidewalks were not as good as ours and she slid around a bit on the way home. She also reports passing 3 wrecks during the part where she rode rather than walked.

Up first, the TX teen afflicted with affluenza again avoids jail in the deaths or permanent maimings of 7 pedestrians while the driver was drunk on stolen beer. ‘Affluenza’ Teen Ethan Couch Evades Jail Time Again This wreck was in the next county to the west from WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell.

Also in TX LEO in Houston caught a hit-and-run driver from about 2 month ago. Houston woman arrested in cyclist’s hit-and-run death The cyclist was hit from behind in the bike lane and then left for dead. There is a very good chance the driver will get some prison time as she has a previous DUI and admits she was drunk at the time of the wreck, so drunk that she doesn’t recall the wreck.

More on that MN wreck where the driver rammed the cyclist from the street onto the sidewalk through a snowbank. Bicyclist fatally struck by van in Minneapolis; DWI suspected The cyclist might have survived without getting crushed going through the snowbank. More Suspect in crash that killed Minneapolis bicyclist released from jail

From CA, the suspect in a DUI hit-and-run was released from jail because the CHP hasn’t finished their investigation and the limit for holding a person without charge is 48 hours in CA. Suspect in Cyclist’s Death to Be Released From Jail Today You would think that they could hold her based on the evidence they already have, but no.

Also in CA charges are filed against the driver that ran head-on into a cyclist while sleeping (the driver was sleeping, not the cyclist). Manslaughter charges for Santa Cruz driver who fell asleep at the wheel I covered this wreck pretty thoroughly back when it happened.

The teens who assaulted a TN cyclist with both a motor vehicle and pepper spray have been charged and arrested. UPDATE: Teens charged in cyclist assault The bit that bothers me is they are still making noises about charging the cyclist for slapping the vehicle as it passed violating the 3-foot passing law. So they are going to charge the cyclist for being close enough to hit the weapon vehicle that was assaulting him?

Closure from the UK (almost). Driver guilty of causing A444 cyclist’s death by careless driving Speeding driver runs a red light and kills a cyclist, final closure not available until April 4 when sentence is pronounced.

I could have used these guys back when Gigi and Blue were stolen. The Sith Lord Vader Squadron Want To Help Get Your Stolen Bike Back

What do you do when you’re without a car and you are not in an urban area? Transportation Cycling in Rural Areas: Some Food for Thought

An example of good bicycle infrastructure. Where Traffic Signals Automatically Give Cyclists Priority

Some good infrastructure of the legal variety emerging from FL. Get tough on hit-and-run drivers

Infrastructure news from CA. SFMTA Adopts Policy That Seeks To Eliminate Pedestrian, Cyclist Traffic Deaths I suggest that charging drivers when someone kills a pedestrian or cyclist instead of dismissing it as an “accident” would be an excellent first step.

Infrastructure from NC. Latest cyclist death raises questions about road safety News flash, NC roads are safer than a third world country’s but not by very much.

Ever have someone blame you for something another cyclist did, maybe years ago? You’re a cyclist, so it’s your fault Logic doesn’t work, appealing to their sense of fairness doesn’t work, and applying a hammer to the offender’s forehead doesn’t work…

Last link, the worst driver in Ca has vanished from the face of the Earth. Dr. Thompson disappears, why ghost bikes are needed, and Times Steve Lopez says LA isn’t doing enough Now that the state of CA no longer has a vested interest in keeping TTTWLAMWAMD alive he can get run over crossing the street? That would be karma biting with a vengeance.

And those were all the links that gave me fits or otherwise about bicycles today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Things are “interesting” and the Feed

The Feed was light on links but heavy on the “personal interest” stories. I like those better than the reports of people getting maimed and killed. I almost didn’t need to do my daily web comic crawl to keep my head from exploding.

Up first is someone I haven’t written about for a long time, because he has been in prison. Unconfirmed rumor says Dr. Thompson may be back on the streets soon; LA BAC meets tonight I even made a special tag for him back when he was still in the news on an almost daily basis: TTTWLAMWAMD for The Thing That Walks Like A Man With A Medical Degree. I just could not believe an ER doctor could use a motor vehicle as a weapon when he had to deal with broken bodies from motor vehicles almost daily. As I posted to the article I hope a condition on his release is he never drive again.

A link that brings back bad memories of Chip Seal fighting the neanderthals in Ennis. Delaware Cyclist Ticketed for Riding His Bike Is Arraigned The cyclist was riding in a 9 foot wide car lane that was barely wide enough for a car, much less a bike and a car.

Sad news from the Emerald Isle. Female cyclist dies five days after crash in Kerry

Infrastructure! news. Sheriff releases two-year report on analysis of wrong-way drivers The scary part is they are trying to make the roads Drunk-Proof.

Transit strike? What transit strike, I ride a bike. Bike the strike! Let’s get London to work on two wheels

Comparison of costs of cycling to costs of motoring. My Carfree Story

It seems Anthony Weiner has had an epiphany. Anthony Weiner rides a bicycle This was the guy that just a couple of years ago was calling for the destruction of all bicycle infrastructure in NYC.

A participant in extreme sport says wear your helmet when attempting to defy gravity. THE HELMET ARTICLE

Last link is a fellow blogger with a lot of perspective. A frozen water bottle, a crisis of identity – and why winter cycling keeps winning me back

And those were all the links that I found interesting about bikes today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Friday night could have gone better, and the Feed

Friday night was Pagan Fellowship at my church, mostly a gabfest with beer and wine. Some people see this as a low-pressure dating situation and several people bring their dates to the event as a way of quickly introducing themselves in a non-threatening environment (when was the last time someone knocked on your door asking if you had heard the news about the goddess?) that is easy to leave. Friday we had a couple of people bring their dates to the event including one lesbian couple on their first date. I’m not going to name any names, but the date did not go as planned for the person from the church. She was hoping for the possibility of sex, but that was ruled out early in the date. Then she got barfing drunk which made her embarrassed and convinced that her date would now hate her. That did not seem to be the case, but the truth and her perceptions are not congruent in this situation. In formulaic terms Truth =/= Drunk Logic. As far as my alcohol consumption went, I stopped at 3 beers in about 5 hours of activity (I was thirsty). I did not get to the “unable to walk a straight line” condition which happens early for me because of my nerve damage in my leg and brain damage. Some day I need to get tested to see what BAC% I need to reach the “staggering drunk” condition as I am not far from staggering around when I’m sober. And [*Deity] knows that on bad days my speech is halting and slurred even without alcohol, so having a bad day and adding a little alcohol to that would probably get me tossed into the drunk tank pronto.

And the reason this post is going up on Sunday instead of Saturday is I got up late and only got the links filtered before I had to leave for my D&D game at 1330, which them ran until 0045 the next morning as we closed out our last adventure doing a little PI work for a local guild leader and incidentally passing the word to the local monarch that treachery was afoot and there were those plotting against His Majesty and trying to take over the kingdom/principality. We barely made expenses and made it away in good health losing and gaining a member of the party in the process. So we went on a monster/treasure hunt and cleared more in the first month than we did in the entire 6 months we spent skulking about in the city of “Fukawi” as in “where the…”. During the entire adventure I only got to use my magic to climb walls and look into windows and courtyards and over roofs. I never got the chance to shoot at anything/body. And when your character uses the flow of wild magical energy as their power source, not actually doing anything magical is like watching hours of porn (sexual or violent) and then not doing anything with the energy, it makes you a little crazy and wanting to DO SOMETHING with all that energy.

Also, today I went shopping for stuff I needed for the upcoming camping trip, D-cell rechargeable and some knee pads, and something I’ll need to use for the Patron Auction next Sunday, an anvil as part of Hephaestus’ altar. Carrying the anvil home on the bus was fun, carrying it to church will be even more fun.

Up first is more on that Mormon missionary killed in CA. Teenage Mormon missionary from Charlotte dies in Calif. bicycle accident The wreck is believed to be an intersection wreck with the cyclist turning right and violating the right of way of he weapon vehicle which sounds suspiciously like a SWSS wreck. Anyway as it was in an intersection, use the intersection protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Another wreck in CA that was most definitely not the cyclist’s fault. Teen Cyclist Suffers Moderate Injuries in Another Pacifica Bike Collision The driver ran the stop sign on this one, which made it kind of hard for the cyclist to avoid when the driver pulls out in front of you with no time to react. Infrastructure won’t help much either because the driver could have prevented the wreck with the built infrastructure by obeying the stop sign and not proceeding until the intersection was clear.

A RI hit-and-run. Hit and run driver kills a man riding his bike Hit-from-behind so use the protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right so that there’s no way for a driver to leave a cyclist dying in the middle of the road.

Another cyclist is killed in a bike lane in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike for longer than I have been doing this blog in any of its incarnations. FHP: Man on bicycle killed in hit-and-run I’m sure that is anyone actually bothers to look for this driver that his defense is going to point out the cyclist was riding salmon which says nothing about the fact that the cyclist was hit while riding in the bike lane, not in the middle of the street. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid (as well as riding with traffic), and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A wreck in NOLA that I have almost no idea how to prevent. Violet man shot twice, killed Friday night while riding bicycle I have to mention it just out of respect for the victim, but I have not a clue how to keep people from shooting people on bicycles. It really boils down to how do you keep people from hitting cyclists deliberately except it is already illegal to shoot people to death.

Another cyclist in the Great White North “wins” the door prize. Driver Sought After Cyclist Injured The driver basically threw the door into the passing cyclist, coming a fraction of an inch from killing or paralyzing her. More Cyclist suffers broken neck bones after crashing into car door, police seek witnesses

A young cyclist apparently runs a red light in the Great White North. Whitecourt teen killed in collision near the Valley Centre Mall and Whitecourt RCMP investigating after 14 year old cyclist killed collision I’m not really following this wreck as the narrative seems a little wonky to me. If I’m reading these two links right, the kid ran a red light and then lost control of the bike and slid under the monster pickup truck. At any rate, it was an intersection wreck, use the protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A UK wreck story, with sentencing. Carnforth driver fined and given penalty points after Nether Kellet cyclist collision UK media laws prohibit releasing anything that could be considered evidence in a criminal case prior to it being made public record at a trial. This results in great frustration for cyclists trying to create better infrastructure and laws because many bicycle wrecks are no more than “a cyclist was in collision with…” and nothing about what happened so people don’t know how to prevent similar situations from turning into wrecks. This wreck was a Christopher Thompson special, a “swoop and squat” maneuver on a pair of cyclists that included a buzz job during the swoop and before the squat. If only the sentence was similar as well.

Hit-from-behind wreck in Oz. Cyclist killed in Yan Yean Not much I can say, hit-from-behind protocols to avoid or to mitigate damages, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

More from EnnZed on the deadly driver that passed unsafely and hit several cyclists, killing one and injuring several more. Fatal crash driver failed to wear contact lenses also Driver who killed cyclist jailed for 12 months While I’m somewhat glad for a jail sentence, it wasn’t enough for killing a human being, and he only got a 2½ year driving ban instead of lifetime.

Infrastructure! news from IL. Oak Park drafting law to require helmets for bike riders under 17 IL doesn’t even have a helmet law for motorcycle riders. And I have never heard that head injuries cause fatal bike wrecks, so apparently people are getting injured and then having the wrecks.

Infrastructure news from WA. City of Tacoma ordered to pay injured bicyclist $242,000 The cyclist had been over the route several times before when the road defect was coned off and when riding in the dark and not finding the cones naturally believed the road defect had been repaired when it hadn’t. I don’t know why the damages were so high in this wreck.

And this final link from a lawyer after a rash of car on bicycle wrecks in MI. Bicycle Attorney Jason Waechter Asks Drivers to Watch for Cyclists on the Road

And those were all the links that gave me fits yesterday.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

It’s been a long hot Summer, and the Feed

Looking at the stats for what the Weather Service calls “summer” here and Wow! it has been hot. Not just the usual Oh Gawd Why Do I Live Here? kind of hot with 30 days of 100°F highs out of 90 and an average temperature in the low 80s, but a Summer that had an average temperature that was nearly 87 with a series of record high morning lows and record high highs, sometimes both in the same day. Of course that is mostly theoretical because we still have a great deal of “summer” left to go here in the suburbs of Hell, where our 4 seasons are Cold, Hot, Melt Your Tennies, and Still Damn Hot. Most places would call our Spring and Fall temperatures their “Summer”, much as our Summer lows were higher than their highs. Why do I live here still when I have the option of leaving? Well because I like having something to complain about, the heat really isn’t that bad compared to some places I have lived (hello, Morocco?), and because I have something here I have wanted all my life, roots and people that I have known longer than 2 years that are not related to me. When you have lived in 47 states and 3 countries by the time you turn 15 having someplace to live with the same address for more than 2 years is an incredible luxury. I’m just glad that the military doesn’t do that to people any more, as the kids I grew up with had many of the symptoms of combat veterans, including very high rates of alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide. But that is fodder for another post…

Up first are updates and reactions to the woman that was run over after being honked at for trying to avoid debris from a construction site 3 days after Irene, in NYC. Erica Abbott Cycling Death Was ‘Totally Preventable’: Hurricane Irene, New Construction to Blame also Relative Of Cyclist Killed In Bushwick Blames Construction Company For Her Death and Cyclist run down on Williamsburg street What we now know: The construction company failed to secure their makeshift fencing prior to the storm and then failed to remove it from the street after the storm, the cyclist was trying to ride around the debris when the driver of the MB honked at her for moving out of the bike lane, which startled her and she fell off in front of the MB which ran over her neck severing her jugular vein, killing her in a few seconds. Some have blamed the cyclist for not doing a shoulder check but from what we now know the cyclist had allowed enough room to get around the debris had the driver not honked at her at close range and startled her with the loud noise. She fell over about 4 feet from her original line of travel which means the MB driver had the required 3 feet to pass if she hadn’t honked and caused the rider to fall. For those of you that ride regularly you already know how loud car horns are when you aren’t in a car. For the rest of you, we know you’re there, for the most part cars make enough noise that unless you are coasting up to us we can hear you about a quarter of a mile behind us. You don’t need to honk.

Another update on the LEO who was injured in a rare bike-on-bike wreck in the DelMarVa area of the East Coast. Bethany police chief’s condition improves Still nothing on the mode of the wreck so I can tell you what to do to avoid a similar wreck. Condolences to both cyclists on their injuries and wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

Infrastructure! in Canuckistan. Does Alberta law do enough to protect cyclists? The writer recognizes that there is a big difference between 2 tons of steel, plastic, and rubber, and a person riding on a bicycle and it isn’t just that motor vehicles move faster.

More infrastructure from Jolly Olde. Worrying number of hit-and-runs down to ‘reduction in traffic police’ Yes LEO are part of the infrastructure that makes cycling possible, or impossible depending on how you look at it and where you live (NYC cyclist ticketing blitz?). But having LEO out there removing bad drivers from the roads is a vital part of the infrastructure. Think about what LA would be like if every driver knew he or she could behave like TTTWLAMWAMD and face no consequences for it. Now my wreck is an example of what happens when the legal infrastructure for cyclists is ignored, the driver went completely unpunished until Karma caught up with him.

I have a very narrow window to get the post out tomorrow, there may not be one.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Another visit to the Lab Rat Keeper, and the Feed

First the good news: I only gained a single pound while visiting friends and family in TN and being the designated garbage disposal for unfinished restaurant meals. I was 207.6 last month and 208.6 this month. The bad news is this is the heaviest I have been in over a year… 😦

The Feed was very large but mostly motorcycle wrecks and stories about people that used to ride bicycles that died while doing something else. Also I have made the editorial decision to defer reporting on bike wrecks in the SoCal area to BikingInLA because he gets notified as much as 24 hours about a link before I do. But if something really big breaks, like the Thompson case, or that guy from India that went nuts and started hitting people at random with his Hummer, then I’ll jump on that bandwagon with both feet.

Up first because that’s where I found it is this SWCC wreck in CT. Bicyclist hit by car This variation on the SWCC narrative has the cyclist riding off the sidewalk in front of the car with no mention of direction of travel for the bicycle or point of impact except the bicycle hit the right front of the car. There are several different scenarios where a bicycle could come in contact with the right front corner of a moving vehicle, so I can’t tell you how to avoid this wreck except to say not to ride on the sidewalk. I’m not saying the cyclist was riding on the sidewalk, I’m saying that you are almost invisible to drivers if you do ride on the sidewalk, so don’t.

A man is hit-and-run in Indianapolis. Police: Cyclist Dies After Hit-And-Run Crash Aside from the bicycle there is almost nothing I can say about this wreck to tell you how to avoid it. He was riding a bicycle and then he got hit.

Another hit-and-run against a cyclist by a drunk driver in SC. New details emerge in deadly bicyclist hit and run This one was a hit-from-behind wreck with no place for the cyclist to use as an escape route.

And this NC wreck report was almost totally useless. BREAKING NEWS: Cyclist killed in accident One killed and another transported to hospital and the only thing we know is that at least one of them was riding a bicycle. Maybe.

Remember what I said about bike wreck in SoCal? This one gets mentioned here. Davis Bicyclist, 71, Killed After Hit by Two Cars This has happened before, not too far from this wreck site, where a second car hit a downed cyclist before anyone could get to the body to check how badly injured he was. The bike was so badly damaged that police were unable to determine if the bicycle lights found at the scene were for the front or rear of the bike or if they were working at the time of the wreck. This is one reason why some authorities are saying that a bicycle needs 2 rear lights mounted vertically from each other, one flashing and the other steady. If the driver happens to glance at the bike during a dark phase of the flashing light there will still be the steady one to show the bike is in the road.

A left cross in Canuckistan, followed up with a hit-and-run. Cyclist taken to hospital following hit-and-run This is one of the least-avoidable types of wrecks there is because of the potential lack of reaction time depending on when the driver makes that turn. Intersection wreck protocols with emphasis on the quick-turn to the right to lessen the angle of impact and reduce the energy taken during the wreck. Remember avoid the wreck if humanly possible, but do it in such a way that if you don’t avoid the wreck you reduce the energy transfer from the other vehicle into yours (and you!).

Another GWN wreck involving a teen-aged cyclist. Cyclist, 14, killed after being hit by vehicle and 14 Year Old Cyclist Killed in Collision Not much to go on this time except that from the time of the wreck we know that lights and reflectors would not have made a difference in this wreck.

A real tear-jerker from Oz. Driver cries in court over cyclist’s death If the driver feels so bad about killing the cyclist why didn’t he drive with greater care about how he drove? And does anyone believe the bit about only going 15 km/hr (9 MPH) at the moment of impact? Apparently the judge didn’t as he found guilty on the aggravated charge rather than the lesser driving without due care.

And that’s all I can stand today, it didn’t take long to wear off my vacation.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

I hope you had a happy Massive Consumption day, and the Feed

OK so I’m a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to the secular celebration of Christmas, so sue me (or buy my silence with products). Anyway, the drunk (and otherwise intoxicated) drivers have exacted their toll on the cycling public this year (with the totals still not complete). As I type this out I haven’t even opened the folder for the Feed, but my witchy senses (and half a century of experience) tells me there will be drunks killing working stiffs riding their bikes home from menial jobs late at night. I really hope I’m wrong.

Up first is a report on why some (many?) people believe we need separate infrastructure from cars for bicycles, as a rider looking not to get hit by cars runs over road debris and gets injured in CA. Cyclist Injured After Hitting Debris On Road I love the final sentence in the article “Police said even though the cyclist was wearing a helmet at the time, the impact was strong enough to inflict head injuries that required a trip to the hospital.” The Magic Plastic Hat failed to save this man from harm, he must be a non-believer in the power of the Magic Plastic Hat. Or maybe, the Magic Plastic Hat was designed to protect when you stop and fall over, not when you fall at speed or get hit by a vehicle.

Hit-and-run with a possible drunk in NJ. Police seek information in Millburn hit-and-run Not much to go on with this one, black vehicle, possibly a Lexus, with debris left at the scene. Hit-from-behind protocols would have been appropriate in this case.

Another story on the female cyclist hit by the left side of a right turning truck that was passing on the right in the same lane. Cyclist’s Family Sues Truck Driver for Mom’s Death The more I read about this wreck the less I believe the CHP’s version of the story, because their physics just don’t match the real world to explain how the cyclist ended under the wheels of the truck. And I still don’t see how the truck driver passing on the right in the same lane was not found to be at least partially at fault, when passing a bicycle in the same lane the motor vehicle must be to the left of the bicycle, not the right. To pass a bicycle on the right the motor vehicle must be in a separate lane.

A rather large chunk of the rest of the post is from Jolly Olde. First from there is a report on a cyclist’s killer getting 4 years after being found high on pot at the scene of the crime. Driver locked up after he killed a cyclist while high on cannabis and Driver who killed cyclist while under influence of cannabis gets four years While the fact that the driver got any prison time for killing a cyclist is heartening, the driver would have gotten a higher sentence had he killed a dog with a chain. There was a story a few weeks back about a UK citizen that had abused a dog getting a 10 year sentence…

Still in the UK, the killer of a cyclist hit from behind on a straight stretch of road is sentenced. Cost of cyclist’s life – just £110 Yes, you read that right, less than $200 in costs and 200 hours of community service for homicide, because the victim was a cyclist…

A UK cyclist is injured by a hit-and-run driver in Spain, caution gory details. Cyclist Alan’s Spanish nightmare Not much information even when the wreck happened in another jurisdiction, it’s hard to do things differently in the UK even when the UK media laws don’t apply. Habits and all that.

Aftermath of a UK cyclist killed by a hit-and-run driver. Chris’ death will be hard to bear for family I am filled with such anger at people that do things like this. Hit-and-run should be treated like any other assault with a deadly weapon, not just swept under the rug.

Another report on the teenager that was left-hooked by a garbage truck in Oz. Christmas tragedy: teen cyclist killed Again this is a sad story that was entirely the fault of the driver of the truck that was passing the cyclist and turned left (mirror image of a right hook in the US) without clearing his left side for traffic.

Updates on the story from 2009 where a cycling lawyer was hit by another lawyer driving a car. The Explainer: The doctor, the lawyer and the forgiving soul

And that’s all I have for you this Christmas Day. Have a cup of cheer but don’t drive after it, and be as merry as is possible in these harsh economic times.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

I know it’s late, but it’s still a Feed

Yeah, sorry about being so late tonight, but I had Real Life^tm that had to be dealt with first, including obligations to my church. You will live, which is more than I can say about some of the subjects of the Feed. So just count yourself lucky if the worst thing you have to face is not having my blog post ready to read when you think it should have been there.

Up first because I still can’t believe it. The LAPD will actually do the jobs they are paid to do. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck vows to better protect cyclists Stay with me here, even though 90% of this article was linked to yesterday, this one is slightly different and has more words. But the implication that until there was a protest in the rain that hitting a cyclist was OK but now that cyclists came and lined up at the microphone in front of people charged with regulating the budget of the LAPD, now they will enforce the law when someone does something illegal to a cyclist. The thing that makes this really annoying is that until this happened you couldhit a cyclist deliberately and nothing would come of it.

Another case of hit-and-run that became attempted murder. Man suspected of deliberate bicycle accident put in jail I mean, stop and think for a moment, had he deliberately rammed another motor vehicle, there would have been no question that it was an assault or attempted murder. But in this case the man was allowed to roam around freely for over 3 months before he was arrested. How many more people could he have killed or maimed in the interim? BTW this was another one of those kinds of wrecks that you might have been able to avoid by being Superman, with super hearing and super quick reflexes, but if you were Superman why would you be riding a bicycle? 😉

Here’s another one that makes you go “Hmmm…”Missoula man gets prison time for fleeing Reserve Street crash that killed cyclist He gets 3 years out of a 10 year prison sentence, not for killing the cyclist, that was just dandy. The sentence was for fleeing the scene. The implications again just floor me. The fact that the driver had pot in his blood at the time of his wreck and admitted being high, and had a previous wreck that killed a bystander, neither of which figured into the sentence, makes me slightly nauseous.

And this article is so full of omissions that I just can’t begin to name them all. Motorists and bicyclists – finding a happy median Yep only quoting the first part of the law and then ignoring the several paragraphs of exceptions that follow, and ignoring case law and substituting their own biases for facts in interpreting the parts they did put in…

That UK cyclist killed in a roundabout by a Lithuanian driving a white Mercedes semi has been named. Cyclist killed in crash with lorry named as Marc Dunk This was a terrible wreck, getting run over from behind by any kind of vehicle is every cyclist’s worst fear because these wrecks are so frequently fatal. BTW I didn’t find this out from any one article, UK media laws are very strict and I had to piece together bits of information from several articles on the same wreck to come to this conclusion. Unfortunately while I know how, I still don’t know the cyclist’s lane position yet so I can’t say if my standard hit-from-behind protocol would have helped. May the cyclist RIP.

More on the Julia Moore crash trial. Witness was first to speak to driver after fatal crash The more I read about Moore, the more disgusted of her I am. There was just no place for the cyclist to go to avoid this woman. Who expects a car to come through a red light after the cars have already started to go through in the other lane?

The father of a cyclist injured by a hit-and-run driver wonders how he got such a small fine. Dad calls for change to driving laws A £185 fine works out to be about $300US for a hit-and-run with injury. TANJ!

In South Africa where thousands of cyclists are preparing for the largest competitive cycling event in the world, discussion of why so many are getting killed or injured beforehand. Death on the roads My favorite line from the article: “[M]otorists bitch about cyclists riding abreast yet the cyclists who are killed are usually riding alone. ”

They finally named the cyclist found dead in a creek in Enn Zed. Woman killed in bike accident named See, this is why I say to have a form of ID that won’t fall out of your pocket in a wreck, why you should use the link in the bikejournal.com store to buy RoadID or just some dogtags from a local Army/Navy store.

This is another reason why I don’t think that changes are going to come soon. Cycling Safety Campaign On Hold The safety campaign got put on hold because they spent the money on something else instead. Saving lives is something they can do some other time.

Because so many of their bike lanes were built before standards were instated SF has many miles of bike lanes that place cyclists in the most dangerous place to be on the roads. Saving Life and Limb By Avoiding the Door Zone Good information in this article, read and remember what you read. You don’t want to fail the pop quiz, there won’t be any opportunity for a retest.

A benefit was held for the cyclist victim of a crash, who is now relearning how to walk. Benefit held for injured cyclist My injury wasn’t as severe as this lady’s, but here insurance is much better than mine and she’s getting much more rehab than I got. I say good for her, anyone hurt in a wreck deserves better treatment from their insurance than I got. If you’re in the area, drop a donation into the bucket for her, and don’t worry about me.

A recall notice on a cyclocross bike. Bicycles and framesets If you bought a 2010 Redline Conquest Pro bike or frameset, the carbon fork can separate from the aluminum steertube, leaving you with a faceplant situation if you’re lucky. This is similar to what happened to Hincapie in the Paris-Roubaix a few years back.

And people were racing my favorite kind of bicycle in Florida’s sunny climes last weekend. Recumbent bikes flash speed on velodrome Lots of fun was had, you should be there next year, you don’t need a recumbent, just a bike or trike and a helmet.

And that’s all I have tonight. Come back in the morning for more.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Again few wrecks from the US and Canada, much consternation here and abroad

I’m back from the Lab Rat Keeper, still percolating right along. My BP is better than it has been in decades (since before they lowered the definition of high blood pressure down to 120/80 in fact) my rest pulse is akin to a Zen elephant’s (very slow) and my weight is down, after Thanksgiving no less! They are double-checking the Red Cross on my Hgb levels, the RC had it as 11.8 when I tried to donate a couple weeks ago, but back in the summer when I was testing a new med and getting that stuff tested every couple of weeks my Hgb and Hcrit were both good. But I wasn’t taking Azor during the test, I was on a different med. So, maybe I have found a new side effect for Azor when taken over an extended period of time. 😛 On the blood donation front I still haven’t been able to donate since my last donation in 7/2007. I might as well go ahead and get that tattoo now while I work on getting my Hcrit and Hgb levels back up, this looks like it might take a while…

Up first because something has to be, a report on a head-on crash between a cyclist and a cab on the wrong side of the street in DC. Crash Last Night at 31st and M, NW What can I say? The cab was driving on the wrong side of the street. Given that DC streets have danged high curbs to prevent sidewalk flooding (or so I was told back in the dark ages before Clinton, or even Carter) a cyclist doesn’t have any escape route should a motor vehicle do something as stupid as driving on the wrong side of the street unless the cyclist is extremely skilled in the “bunny hop” to clear the curbs and not wreck. The wrong-way vehicle would prevent any escape to the left (where the motor vehicle would be if it was on the correct side of the street), and you can’t hop the curb, the only other option would be to abandon the bike and accept road rash over broken bones and massive internal trauma, and hope the bike does some major damage as it goes under the motor vehicle.

Kill a cyclist, go to jail… Hit-and-Run Driver Sent to Jail “Lipe pleaded no conest to felony hit and run, and a judge ordered him to spend the next year in jail and four years on probation.” But not for very long in jail. From the limited details of the wreck in the article it appears the cyclist could not have avoided this wreck that took him into the canal. I don’t know if the cyclist drowned or was dead prior to being in the canal.

In the City of Brotherly Love there ain’t much love between the various modes of transport: drivers hate pedestrians and especially cyclists, cyclists hate pedestrians and especially drivers, and pedestrians just hate anything that can hit them hard enough to hurt including cars, cyclists, and joggers (other pedestrians). Readers Write: We don’t need your stinking traffic rules And apparently everybody hates the traffic laws…

From my examiner.com colleague in Toronto, jurisprudence reports from the Great White North. Toronto Goes To Court – Bryant and Kenk Trials Both Begin Bryant is scum, but Kenk is in a class by himself. Of course from what I know Kenk never killed anyone to obtain any of the bicycles he had, they were all stolen after the owner had left them to go do something else, much like someone stealing a parked car. Bryant killed a cyclist, that much has been determined, all that’s left is did the cyclist do anything that would warrant a response of deadly force? It is known that Darcy Sheppard had been drinking, but my back-channel report was that toxicology on Sheppard found that he was not drunk, considerably under the legal limit, and that Bryant was never tested for drugs or alcohol.

A huge WMD almost takes out a building and a cyclist nearby as a driver apparently has a seizure at the controls of a large truck. Two hurt as lorry ploughs into pub Fortunately the only injury was to the cyclist, as normally the front of the pub and the sidewalk in front are packed with people during operating hours. This is why there should be a physical exam requirement on a driver’s license, like there is for a pilot’s license. Bi-annual exams would have caught the physical issues that led to the driver having a seizure, and a psych evaluation would prevent people like TTTWLAMWAMD and Bryant from having access to the WMD that motor vehicles have become. Anyway, there was no way for the cyclist to have avoided this wreck except clairvoyance, so just look sharp out there.

And another incident involving a truck in the UK. Cyclist seriously injured after being hit by lorry And in this case they know even less than the typical UK wreck report.

Finally something (slightly) less lethal than a big truck, I hope. Cyclist from Godalming killed in collision with car $&(% no, still lethal, still nothing I can point to and say “Do this, don’t do that” and you can avoid a similar wreck.

I love the UK’s media sometimes, where they can advocate a point of view without fear of court for creating a false impression. Sign of the times: The cycle path with a painted symbol every few feet (and still someone is going the wrong way) so the photographer stands in front of the cyclist, facing away from him and when the cyclist passes in the oncoming lane, the photographer takes his picture to “prove” that cyclists can’t even follow the laws in their own protected places, with markings on the pavement every few feet (probably at every intersection with a driveway).

Another working cyclist in South Africa is hit by a truck. PIC: Cyclist pinned under truck nothing yet known about what caused the wreck, “It is thought that the bicycle delivery man had entered Mitchell Road and the driver of the truck was unable to avoid him.” Typical car-head thinking on display.

A police blotter from a Chinese newspaper reports, you have to scroll down a good bit to find the bicycle wreck. Cyclist killed in hit-and-run

A lawyer tries to explain that cyclists belong on the roads and that people in cars should respect that. Finding equilibrium

The DCist finds lots of interesting infrastructure news. Go Home Already: Making Friends Lots of interesting things in the report.

Among those interesting things was a parking enforcement vehicle parked in a bike lane. Oh Look: A Parking Enforcement Car Blocking a Bike Lane They are allowed to use the bike lane as they write tickets for vehicles parked in the bike lane, but it is still annoying to find a car in the bike lane.

And that’s all I have tonight.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Making baguettes, writing about bike wrecks and trying to find a ride to rehearsal

I’m making bread, creating a post, and trying to chase down a ride to rehearsal tonight for the SolstiCelebration. I only got a notice about the rehearsal late last night with almost no time to arrange a ride that could haul Gigi down to the Cathedral of Hope. And I’m doing this all at the same time, of course.

Once again almost all of the links are from outside the US, with most from the UK and Enn Zed, and only a total of 7 links even from the North American continent. Very few of the US and Canadian links are about specific wrecks, except for the ones about jurisprudence of course.

Up first because it’s a gripping story, the only person in North America that can make TTTWLAMWAMD look relatively good as a driver, Michael Bryant goes to court yesterday. Bryant case back in court Monday I’m hoping Mr. Bryant doesn’t get long to work at his new job, linked here yesterday, before he has to spend a lengthy stretch of time behind bars as a guest of the Crown. For those who have been living in a cave without newspapers or Internet access Bryant is accused of being the driver recorded on several security cameras hitting a cyclist from behind and knocking him from his bike, only to have the cyclist get back up to “discuss” the matter. Bryant then proceeded to run into the cyclist and drive on the wrong side of the street and up on to the sidewalk, hitting trees and lamp poles and eventually putting the cyclist against a mailbox that was bolted to the sidewalk where the cyclist, Darcy Sheppard, died from massive blunt trauma.

Also above the 49^th parallel is this story of a serial motor vehicle offender that killed a cyclist a few years back with a stolen vehicle stealing another vehicle and leading police on a high speed chase. Accused in high-speed chase was driver in fatal crash The excuse given for the first theft, the one that killed the cyclist, was lame to the extreme, “he stole the truck because he didn’t feel like walking“. Well he won’t be doing much walking in prison, but I think making him hike there wearing shackles and under armed guard, in public with maybe TV coverage, will remind him that driving a motor vehicle is a privilege that he will never ever get to enjoy for the rest of his life.

Another report on charges being brought against the killer of a UK LEO while he was riding a bicycle. Man charged over death of cyclist Jim Fleming on A413 Not as much information in this article as there was in yesterday’s.

And a cyclist is injured in, I think, the north of England. Cyclist hurt in Sticklepath road accident Again the UK media laws prevented any actual information about the wreck from being given, but the fact that at one point it was necessary to perform CPR on the cyclist indicates that this was a pretty bad crash.

A similar wreck in the south of England. Teenager injured in Southsea Again nothing useful, but the cyclist was removed from the scene on a backboard, indicating a possible spinal injury.

A road “defect” that has injured cyclists before the public transit that requires it can even be put into service in Scotland. Edinburgh tram lines throw cyclists off track Bless the Beeb for bringing this case of infrastructure for one group imperiling another.

More on UK infrastructure. The Mayor needs short term transport targets to keep him on track Boris has great long-term goals, but nothing in the short term that will take London there.

And in a story to rival Dutch police giving helmets and hugs, UK police give out HiViz vests to cyclists wearing dark clothing. Cyclists in dark clothing stopped by Hampshire police – and given free hi-viz gear While this is nice, why are they stopping legal cyclists over this issue?

From Enn Zed, more about the woman that turned in to a group of cyclists after running a stop sign. Sentence delay as police assess cyclist’s injuries Yes, it will be a while until they can communicate with the worst of the victims to determine how this female waste of human skin can be properly punished.

Back to North America for the first of the infrastructure articles, a woman in Canadia finds a way to keep cyclists and pedestrians from winding up under a snow plow. N.L. woman making snow removal safer Jeanette Holman-Price began lobbying for side guards, which run from the front wheel to the rear wheel, to be placed on trucks after her daughter was killed in 2006 by a snow-removal truck in Montreal. This is one of those things that is dangerous but has to be done or even more people are in danger, so they are always looking for things to make it less dangerous.

And back in the US a cyclist speaks about riding in the streets of Philly. Injured cyclist stresses bike safety After being hit by a car while biking, student Robert Stillwagon says he’ll keep riding as safely as possible. Yeah, how about doing something about the reasons why cyclists sometimes ride on the sidewalks, instead of punishing everyone for the transgressions of a tiny minority?

In CA they are starting to recognize that education has a place in cyclist safety. It’s time to stop killing cyclists I love the thought, I would like to see something behind it. The LAC defensive cycling course is a great start. This is another article that it would be a good idea not to read the comments.

Another lawmaker that “gets” it. Paulin drafting a safe-passing bill for cyclers Three feet is nice, but making hitting a vulnerable user a crime with some bite is required to really protect cyclists and pedestrians. That and LEO that do their jobs and actually enforce the laws as written, not as they think they should be.

A specialty license plate helps fund bicycle safety education in KY. Specialty license plate helps fund bike safety classes This is another article that I strongly caution against reading the comments. My mind is pre-exploded and safe from the words of idiots, I can’t assume the same about yours.

And finally someone here on WordPress read a book about bicyles and really liked it. My Favorite Books of the Year The one about bicycles was first on his list.

And that’s all I have today, I have to go finish baking the bread and other things.

Billed @$.02, Opus