Taking care of business before Mrs. the Poet leaves, and the Feed.

I was running all over town to take care of things like utility bills, phone bills, and paying for the storage unit, after I did my duty as a citizen and voted in the Super Tuesday primary. This was a great endeavor that took many hours to complete because of several missed connections with DART. This time the missed connections were not DART’s fault, unless you count a lack of headway as “their fault”. Seriously I finished each stop I would leave just in time to see the bus go by in the direction of my next stop and I would have to wait 45 minutes to an hour for the next bus. So I spent 2 hours actually doing the things, and 5 hours waiting on the bus to get there.

Up first is what should be Our Daily Ted. Today’s post called on account of pain Get well soon Ted.

FloriDUH! driver hits cycle from behind, blames cyclist for being in the middle of the lane. Man on motorized bicycle killed in crash And I do not see what the criminal record of the victim has to do with this wreck, again… Message to LEO, if the cyclist was hit from behind then speed DEFINITELY has something to do with the wreck.

New Portland bike infrastructure had been open less than 24 hours before someone in a motor vehicle screwed it up. New Sellwood Bridge opens with a “Dang!” I see a vehicle that needs to be recycled. Into bicycles.

Compare the above incident to what has been going on near a school and see if you can tell me what the difference is. Southeast Portland elementary warns parents about unsafe cycling near school Agghhh! those cyclists going almost 10 MPH through a stop sign are a menace to everyone! But the pickup truck driven by a drunk driver with suspected drugs in the cab on a MUP closed to motor vehicles, that’s just a chuckle. Except the “chuckle” closed the MUP for most of the day and the adjacent traffic lanes for more than 6 hours.

Some good infrastructure news from Portland. First Look At Nike’s New Path Through The Woods Pretty, so pretty I forgot to copy the headline before deleting the page and had to reconstruct it from memory.

More on the hit-and-run rampage in NYC over the weekend. Hit-And-Runs Kill 3 Within 4 Hours in Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx Nothing new here.

More from CO on why the bike hate? Joe Clement: Why the aggression toward cyclists? Why? Simply put cyclists are Others and part of human nature is to Hate Others, not in your group.

Another cyclist hit up in West Canuckistan. Teen cyclist injured in Maple Ridge crash Drunk and almost killed a cyclist, and the driver is out of jail before the cyclist is out of ICU.

Here’s another feel-good story, this time from Jolly Olde. Paralympic gold medallist Dame Sarah Storey leads group of cyclists in Grimsby to highlight pedal power

A victim’s mother complains about crap infrastructure in the UK. Mum of tragic Bobby Colleran in new call for drivers to take more care

And the wars have started in Oz over the draconian new fines against cyclists. Bicycle commuters surveyed as new laws come into place in New South Wales and New cycling laws: One of the first bike riders hit with $319 fine for not wearing a helmet All I have to say is what is the fine for rivers not wearing a helmet? Buehler?… Buehler?…

And there will be a race from one of the two series the Sprint-T is designed to compete in this month over in Ft. Worth. Goodguys AutoCross This will be in 2 weeks at the Texas Motor Speedway north of Ft. Worth and literally just a hop, skip, and a jump away from WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. The only problem would be I still haven’t picked a tire/wheel combination that fits the rules yet, the Hoosiers are not UTQG wear graded and are not really made for dry grip. I would have to go with a 17″ rim diameter or larger to get high performance tires in the required UTQG rating, because they just don’t make high performance summer tires to fit 15″ rims these days.

And It’s getting late and almost time for Mrs. the Poet to get up and get ready to go to NY for her sister’s memorial service(s).

Billed@€0.02, Opus

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This looks like an easy day for posting the Feed

I know this won’t go out until after midnight so that I can catch that last update from the search service I use, but it also looks like I will get a break to watch TV or modify the vacuum cleaner so that even though the beater bar won’t work it will still get the loose stuff off the top of the rug. Modifying the cleaner is a temp step to clean things up a little until Mrs. the Poet can decide on what kind of new vacuum cleaner she wants.

OK I worked for a couple of hours on the vacuum cleaner and besides the beater bar belt constantly getting thrown and chewed up it turns out the real reason the cleaner stopped picking stuff off the rug was a clogged intermediate filter at the bottom of the debris canister that prevented any air from getting through. This prevented the vacuum cleaner from cleaning.

Up first we get an update on the supposedly salmon cyclist hit by a cop in Southeast TX. Cyclist injured in officer-involved accident dies Again, I will believe the salmon label when I see the wreckage and the coroner’s report on the cyclist’s injuries. I’m not saying that cyclists don’t ride salmon some times, just that without outside verification I refuse to accept the driver’s version of the story even if the driver was a LEO.

I have been following this one since day one and I always suspected the driver of trying to pull multiple fast ones to avoid going to jail. Judge Considers Tougher Sentence For Former San Ramon Attorney Who Killed Cyclist In Dublin and Judge considers tougher sentence for ex-local attorney who killed Dublin cyclist Seriously, the hit-and-run didn’t tip everyone off that this guy was scum from the get-go? And hiding the weapon vehicle inside his garage instead of parking it where he could show it off to the neighbors like he normally did? Or not telling anyone about the wreck until they found his wrecked car in the garage? Seriously fornicate this guy with a barbed-wire condom in a splinter-infested knothole, with a salt and alcohol based lube. Or just put him back in prison for a couple of years.

Since we are in CA anyway, let’s check our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Rio Hondo bike path closed, Glendale matches LA’s hit-and-run rewards, and way better wayfinding

And late-breaking Daily Ted Part 2. Breaking news: Bicyclist killed in Montclair hit-and-run

More news on the wreck of 4 cyclists hit from behind in NC. WOMAN WHO HIT 4 CYCLISTS NEAR ANGIER CHARGED The charges seem to be about as severe as they can get for a wreck not involving a dead cyclist. “In addition to the reckless driving charge, Williams is charged with improper passing in a curve and four counts of improper passing causing serious bodily injury.” I’m hearing that the oncoming car stopped before reaching the wreck scene when the cyclists were hit, which means the driver panicked about missing the car. I’m wondering what the tox screen will pick up.

Low-information wreck in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Bicyclist struck and killed by vehicle in Fort Myers The video had even less information than the text, all it had was a bunch of pictures, most uncaptioned, of cyclists who were killed in the last 12 months.

CO letter about a cyclist hit. Adelaide Perr: Tears for injured cyclist

Still in CO they cited the cyclist injured in a wreck. Cyclist cited after being seriously injured in crash Looking at the street view and the narrative the cyclist was making a left turn and failed to yield. She must have misjudged the speed of oncoming traffic, or thought they would yield to her.

More on the NV cyclist killed by a drunk driving without a license in an unregistered vehicle. Brother of bicyclist hit and killed by ATV says, “he liked to make people laugh” I know there is the “halo effect” for people who are recently killed, but it almost always seems like the majority of cyclists killed by motor vehicles were good people with a record of trying to do good things.

More on the OH driver acquitted by a jury of drivers. Brecksville man found not guilty in crash that killed two cyclists

I almost fell out of my chair when I read this the first time. Commissioner Fritz floats another idea: Car-free streets This is the same person who said that cyclists didn’t “deserve” more infrastructure until every one of them obeyed all the traffic laws. Now the shoe seems to fit the other foot much better.

More OR infrastructure news. Oregon will phase out ‘Share the Road’ signs Again I favor the “BMUFL” regulatory sign than the “share the road” advisory sign.

Infrastructure news from NYC. Five Years Later & The Prospect Park West Bike Lane War Rages On I noticed that some of the people pushing this lawsuit are doing so from nursing homes or beyond the grave now.

More infrastructure this time from VT. COLCHESTER/RIVERSIDE AVE. INTERSECTION STUDY PUBLIC MEETING #1 Current state of affairs in an autocentric mess that nobody can navigate safely without a light armored vehicle. Suggested changes are improved pedestrian crossings and bike lanes.

Infrastructure from WI. State Infrastructure Spending Plummets This is not just bike infrastructure, but everything. Roads, bridges, water mains, the whole shooting match. Bike infrastructure has taken a bigger hit by percentage than roads and bridges, but everything has suffered. That’s the thing about “tax and spend”, you have to spend sometimes to keep things running, and you have to tax to get the money to spend.

News from far West Canuckistan. Friends gathered to bid a final farewell to a man killed in a freak cycling accident Hit by a thrown object that was tossed from a garbage can by a guy with his head still in the can. He probably never knew he hit anyone.

From the Great White North. Trending: Toronto boy, 5, makes heartbreaking posters in search of stolen bike His bike was stolen from the playground where he had ridden it to go play. D:

Also from West Canuckistan. Woman facing charges for hit and run in Vernon last fall They caught her because she only “ran” as far as the power pole she took out. This person should never drive again in her life.

Shades of “Stop de Kindermoord” protests in the Netherlands at the ends of the 1970s. Mum organises march to highlight traffic ‘dangers to children’ near Cambridge Railway Station

Sure crack down on the victims of road violence, not the perpetrators. Cyclists targeted in police blitz just days before major fines take effect And don’t forget the draconian fines for not wearing a silly foam hat.

Last link, this setup was actually an option that came with the kit for my SBC engine for the Mini Sprint-T. Potvin Supercharger Meets High Tech T-Bucket Seriously, there were 3 options for the kit induction one of which was the blower in that article.

And I’m outta links and getting sleepy again.

Billed @€0.02, Opus (Does anyone notice I switch back and forth between $ and € on this sig line?)

I had errands to run on the Big Feed Day

Now that Mrs. the Poet is home I have access to her account for paying the bills that my income won’t cover (which is just about everything except groceries). So I spent a few 2½ hours out in the 99°F heat paying bills that had to be covered today or face huge late fees. I was fully hydrated before I left and did not stop to rehydrate until I got home, so I’m all hot and sweaty and thirsty now. That’s called “living in Texas”. 😛

Up first the biggest story continues to be the cyclist hit by a texting driver in OK. Young Teacher Biking Across America Senselessly Killed By Driver On Her Phone also Key Biscayne native killed riding bike on Oklahoma highway and this Schoolteacher Killed by Distracted Driver While Biking Cross-Country for Charity: Officials Wow a bike wreck covered by People magazine! NYC teacher killed during cross-country bike ride for charity And from Gothamist NYC School Teacher Biking Across Country Killed By Distracted Driver In Oklahoma and even this Teacher on cross-country charity bike trek killed by driver looking at cellphone in Okla. Am I allowed to say this was a senseless death? Because this was a seriously senseless death. This is even easier to avoid than a DUI murder: put the fucking phone away when you are behind the wheel or handlebars. BAM! your driving or riding abilities are improved 1000% over your on-the-phone state.

Our Daily Ted, Part 1. Morning Links: It’s Mobility Monday — contact your councilmember to support LA’s Mobility Plan as written

And Part Two. Update: 23-year old Newport Beach e-bike rider died after colliding with parked van and Corona Del Mar Cyclist Killed After Crashing into Parked Car Something caused that cyclist to be a couple feet off the curb at nearly the speed limit when he hit the back of that van. Seriously I have seen bikes hit by cars going 40 MPH on the wrong side of the road that had less front end damage than the bike in this wreck. Unfortunately the only witness in police custody has been transferred to the coroner’s custody…

Part three. An open letter to the LA City Council in support of the Mobility Plan 2035

And another wreck in Sooner Country. Cyclist killed in Pontotoc County crash If the street view of that intersection is to be believed, there is no way to safely cross that ramp as a cyclist, and no way to avoid the frontage road riding from northeast to southwest or vice-versa in certain areas. This is as much an infrastructure failure as a wreck between two vehicles.

Interesting response to a MI wreck. Boy seriously injured in car-bike accident in Lansing What is interesting about this report is in the comments section, where none of the comments blamed the cyclists involved, and at least one directly blamed the driver. And this is in spite of a Street View that shows the weapon vehicle had right of way and the cyclists were facing stop signs. I wasn’t able to follow the street view far enough to find a speed limit sign, but from the comments it can’t have been too high as this was in a residential area.

Another hit-and-run in PA. Cyclist injured in hit and run in East Liberty, police say If you see a car missing a mirror near Philly, call the number in the article.

More on that 2 vehicle bike wreck that was minus any motor vehicles in Philly. 68-Year-Old Man Seriously Injured After Collision With Another Cyclist While Riding Bike Not known if the victim was the one riding salmon or the other one.

Another bike wreck minus motor vehicles in MA. PMC Rider Seriously Injured In North Attleboro Bike Crash The PMC is a ride on the long direction of MA from NY to the sea going east. Neither of these guys finished the ride.

And in upstate NY they can’t figure out how a cyclist got hit from behind. Bike rider seriously injured in Kinderhook collision Seriously? “when a Hyundai Azera driven by Leah Tricozzi, 45, of Valatie, heading northwest on Route 28, struck Donald J. Wilber, 68, who was biking in the same direction in front of her, for unknown reasons.” When a car hits a car travelling the same direction do you try to figure out a way to blame the slower car for getting hit, or do you just write the damn ticket?

Another one killed in the most deadliest state in the US to ride a bike or walk. Fatal bicycle crash in Polk County and 2 Die in Separate Polk Crashes The cyclist appears to have been setting up to make a left turn on one of the intersecting streets in the area. I call this one an infrastructure failure, the cyclist was doing what it takes to make a legal left turn and appears to have had the legal requirements of lights and reflectors (not mentioned means everything legal 99% of the time).

Meanwhile in NC a drunk crosses the centerline and hits a cyclist head on. Driver charged with DWI after cyclist hit, killed in Hickory Remember what I said about the bike running into the back of the van in CA? This is the picture I was writing about. Notice the blood on the roof of the weapon vehicle, which sustained additional damage from hitting a pole after hitting the cyclist on the shoulder of the road. It almost looks like the driver was targeting the cyclist.

These kind of wrecks make me the craziest because they are almost always the fault of the cyclist and so easy to prevent. Huron: 15-year-old bicyclist killed by train See what I mean? All that is needed to prevent this wreck is staying behind the crossing guard.

Another hit-and-run in OH. Pickerington man injured in bicycle crash If my area readers see a vehicle matching the description of the weapon vehicle notify LEO at the number given in the article.

Read the article, then read the comments to see why the article fell on deaf ears blind eyes. Editorial: An open letter to cyclists, motorists Seriously, it is like they read the article and then completely dismissed it because it didn’t comply with their prejudices.

More of the same in a different accent. Bicyclists seek solutions following accidents

This is just one city among thousands in the US, albeit one of if not the largest city (depending on how you define “largest”) so multiply this by say, 100? NYC’s $138 Million Pothole Problem

Tragic story from the Great White North. Did vigilante kill Michael Sullivan for pretending to take child’s photo? Not a True Canadian then. And talk about jumping to fatal conclusions.

Ugghh! Cyclist struck by SUV in Oshawa intersection Who outside of the weapon vehicle is saying the cyclist ran the red light?

I was uncertain about including this one because it was so low-information. Cyclist dead after collision in Vaughan

Not a good ride in Jolly Olde. RideLondon 2015: cyclist dies from suspected heart attack while climbing steep Surrey hill I’m reading separate reports that I can’t link to at the moment that are blaming heat and dehydration for the death.

And here is one of the Good Guys. Cyclist going the distance to help terror victims

And I am out of links, hurrah!

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Unkillable Badass Poet (this will be my sig for the rest of the month to celebrate my upcoming Death Day 08/31)

I feel like I got hit with a truck again, and the Feed

My son couldn’t get over here to do grocery day yesterday, so I had to grab the old ALICE ruck and walk up to the store myself. This is one reason why I need to recover as fast as I can and get back on Francis/es, so I can go back to doing the grocery shopping on my own without having to have someone drive me there and back. I only got the items I’m about out of, milk, yogurt, soda, and bread. Well, except for the bread all of those items were pretty massive, and I made the mistake of combining a trip to the hardware store two blocks up the road to pick up new door knobs and locks to replace the ones that just broke this morning. Anyone remember that song from “Hee Haw” about bad luck? Yeah, they could put a few verses in there for me. Anyway I had a gallon of milk, 2 2-liter bottles of generic soda, 4 pounds of yogurt, a bottle of beer, three doorknob sets, a front spindle to a 1937 Ford and 8 stainless steel bolts to fit the steering arm holes on the spindle (which I brought to the hardware because I needed to make sure the bolts fit), and two loaves of bread. And now I wanna lie down and have a nap. Or something. Yeah, something because as I was getting up from my desk to have that little lie-down my back decided “This would be the perfect time to seize up!” so it did. And that was about two hours ago and I haven’t even started to filter links, so here’s to working through pain. Except it doesn’t really “hurt” as much as “not work right”.

And before I forget THANK YOU SCOTUS!!!! for making marriage equality the law of the land. This isn’t like Roe v Wade where women got control over doing something that they would really rather not do if circumstances were different, this is people in love doing what people in love do, getting married. So get out there and get married to the person you love. I charge competitive rates and can do Wiccan and Klingon rituals (but I have to find a new priestess for the Klingon ritual, my last one has gone to Sto-Vo-Kor). Contact me if you are in the DFW area and need to get a religious service done. I guess this means I will have to take down the Gay Marriage Challenge page as not only was nobody able to convince me that same-sex marriage was bad, but neither were they able to convince the SCOTUS.

The big story as far as links are concerned is the UK driver getting arrested for murder in the death of a cyclist who was hit-and-run earlier in the week. Investigation into Harworth cyclist death becomes murder probe and Police name man charged with cyclist Richard Pencott’s murder as family pay tribute also UPDATE: Police arrest man on suspicion of murder after cyclist killed in Harworth not done yet Man arrested following death of cyclist Not a whole lot to say in this one because of UK media laws, but arrested for murder is really something. It has been frequently said in both the UK and this country that if you want to commit a random act of murder just get in a car and drive until you see a cyclist to run over, then claim momentary blindness after the fact. Until I saw this I would have said killing a cyclist was a “perfect crime” as it seldom gets prosecuted, and even when it is prosecuted convictions are few and far between, and when convicted the “sentences” are laughably lenient, mostly community service. But when you structure community service correctly it can be a great deterrence against the perpetrator ever doing it again, because they won’t have much free time to commit another vehicular assault. Not much of a deterrence to others, but that one will never hit another cyclist. Are you kidding me? Man charged with murder after cyclist dies in collision

Our Daily Ted, part one. Morning Links: Metro commits to DTLA bikeshare, US pros swear they’re clean, and $50K reward for fatal hit-and-run Even Ted has a link to the UK murder arrest.

And Daily Ted, part two. Update: Arrest made in horrifying high-speed Highland Park fatal hit-and-run If the road diet planned for the street where the cyclist was killed had been allowed to go through the driver would not have been able to reach anywhere near the speed he was going when he hit the cyclist. And now I see they caught the guy who was still drunk 4 hours after hitting the cyclist, which means he was super drunk at the time of the crime. They found pieces of the victim still on the car when they arrested the driver. More Man arrested after bicyclist is killed in hit-and-run in Highland Park Gil Cedillo is an accessory to this crime.

So, NYPD, how is that Vision Zero thing going for you? Issuing lots of tickets for people running down people in the crosswalk or bike lanes? NYPD: Drivers Killed 18 Pedestrians and Cyclists in May, and Injured 1,262 So, that would be a “no” on tickets for people hit crossing in the crosswalk or riding in the bike lanes.

What is wrong with drivers in AZ? Truck runs into four cyclists Seriously to hit 4 cyclists at once in front of witnesses (oncoming traffic) and scatter them “like popcorn”, is either attempted murder or someone that needs to never drive again.

More on Google trying to make Silicon Valley more like Amsterdam or Copenhagen. Google’s bike plan aims to turn Silicon Valley into the next Copenhagen $5 million seems like a lot of money, and it is, but for the number of communities they are talking about and the spread they have to cover because of sprawl, it’s a very large drop in a fairly large bucket. To extend the metaphor, they have covered the bottom of the bucket, but have a long way to go to fill it.

When you have a memorial ride for just the cyclists killed in the last two weeks, there is something terribly wrong with the infrastructure. Local Cyclists To Ride For Those Who Died In The Past Two Weeks

Oh the horror! Most area cyclists aren’t wearing helmets while riding, Statistics Canada says Windsor area cyclists are riding at about 21% helmets, while Victoria are riding with 83% helmets. So Victoria riders have how much lower head injury statistics than Windsor? Any? Buehler?

Road.cc looks at the KSI stats and comes to the same conclusion I did: UK drivers everywhere are prats. DfT admits “ever increasing problem with pedal cyclist casualties” as serious injuries rise 8 per cent Cycling increased 3.8% but serious injury went up 8%? Yep, your drivers are crap. Or maybe your roads are crap and having mediocre drivers isn’t helping any. But yeah something somewhere along the line is crap and people are getting permanently injured because of it.

Perhaps the problem is a lack of enforcement? Campaign for ‘properly enforced’ speed limits after cyclist killed in collision

Sisyphus has a stone, cyclists have politicians. Devon MPs spearhead cyclist safety campaign

And in the meantime we get things like this. Alan Cronin: Man in court charged with death by dangerous driving after cyclist killed

Last link tonight is from Oz again. Motorists, cyclists all need re-education Some cyclists don’t know the rules, but all cyclists are just doing their best to “not get hit”. So the education really needs to be on drivers so they can Know when cyclists are riding according to the laws and not hit them.

And I’m ready to go to bed, or at least lie down for a bit and try to relax.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the extremely happy about the SCOTUS marriage decision…

Ugh, Monday again? and the Feed

I used to like Garfield, back in the ’80s and early ’90s, but one thing I still like is the Monday hate from a cat that doesn’t do anything all week or during the weekend, but somehow still hates Monday. The irony could be used to build a bridge… My reasons for disliking Mondays are more concrete. If I don’t write about bikes on Saturday or Sunday then the links accumulate for 3 days and I have a monster to deal with come Monday. But as the alternative was never getting time away from injured or dead people who got that way on a bike, having a heavy workload on Monday beats a padded cell 7 days a week.

Up first because the computer is locking up and giving me fits and I need to clean out some links, Part 1 of Our Daily Ted. San Diego cyclist killed by distracted driver; fourth SoCal bicycling fatality in just the last four days This has been a rough stretch again for Ted.

And Daily Ted Part 2. Morning Links: Bike lane riding in the Biking Black Hole; Caltrans looks at active trans; hero cop saves a cyclist OK I thought I had a lot of links on Mondays…

As mentioned in today’s Daily Ted, there were some terrorist attacks on cyclists in the UK this weekend. Cyclist knocked down by ‘cut-throat’ wire stung up on bike path by twisted thugs Several thin wires set a various heights along a bike path by a golf course with injured cyclists finding most of them before LEO cleaned out the rest. And Cyclist crashes as tacks sprinkled on Velothon Wales route – but others praise local support Looking at the comments there were several cyclists injured after getting tires punctured by tacks, but only one “officially” injured. And for the UK commentariat here in TX something like this would be attempted murder if there was a possibility that someone could die because of it.

NYPD has a law that protects pedestrians and to a lesser extent cyclists, but they aren’t enforcing it. Tragic city bike accidents test new Right of Way law — as traffic incidents result in mixed legal recourse A big part of the problem is only 31 officers in all of NYC are allowed to issue those tickets for “failure to yield” that come with the big fines, and they are only called to the scene when someone dies or is likely to die, or is “seriously Injured”. Apparently getting one’s leg turned into hamburger doesn’t count as “seriously”.

And what if the US had nationalized health care that went all the way down to the guy in the ambulance? We would get stuff like this. The moment a cyclist bleeding to death was saved – by a balloon fed through her leg: Woman, 24, undergoes emergency procedure after paramedics decide she would not survive journey to hospital They can do this because there was a surgeon on the team that went in the ambulance. Here in the US that doesn’t happen. And so people die who don’t need to, because profits.

Considering all the technology used to catch speeders, and the fact that so many tech geeks ride regularly, this was practically predestined to happen. Police use ultrasonic device to make sure drivers stay 3 feet from cyclists Personally I would like to see gigawatt laser cannons used to keep drivers away from cyclists (get too close and lose the front of the car), but until that happens, tickets backed by video recording the illegal pass as measured with ultrasound will have to do.

This one hurts a little. Funeral set for Montevallo woman hit and killed while riding bicycle Cyclist killed in a hit-and-run after either getting robbed or escaping getting robbed and trying to get to a safe(r) place.

This one brought a tear to my eye, too. Hundreds of bicyclists ride to promote safety and honor teen killed, another injured This was in MS, not known as a particularly bike friendly state.

It shouldn’t take a dead cop to get moving on keeping cyclists safe, in fact nobody should have to die to get movement on keeping cyclists safe. Officials discuss bicycle ordinances and safety tips in light of Joplin police officer recently injured in bicycle crash Sorry, injured cop, not dead cop. And I noticed that all of the laws discussed were restrictive on cyclists, with none saying anything about not hitting cyclists or that there are more cases where the cyclist has the right to the entire lane than not.

More on the MA cyclist shot and killed. Surveillance video captured slaying of boy on bike, DA says Sorry about the auto-playing video.

They caught a hit-and-run driver in the Great White North after he turned himself in. Keswick man charged in fatal Yorkville hit and run Apparently he cleaned himself and the car up before turning himself in so that he couldn’t be charged with anything except the hit-and-run. Except now they can add “obstructing justice” or whatever they call it in Ontario.

I’m not seeing anything con in this pro and con article on bike trails except that maybe they don’t have enough of them. Let’s Talk About It, Trail Systems

First of many infrastructure articles from roundabout Jolly Olde. Cyclists Demand National Lorry Safety Crackdown When a single mode of travel killed roughly 40% of cyclists last year and 100% of cyclists this year it is a pretty safe assumption that there is something fundamentally wrong with that mode of transport as it pertains to bicycles.

Still on that subject but from another sort of Anglophone country. Campaign to warn cyclists of lorry blind spots There’s your problem, drivers can’t see out of the cabs of trucks well enough to not hit cyclists sharing the streets in the city. Or the pedestrians in the crosswalk either…

A possible solution to the urban chaos. Dublin City Council Poised to Ban Cars in City Center

While we are still doing UK news. WATCH: Chester Triathlon pays tribute to cyclist killed in road accident Yep, I got a little misty on that one, too.

You know the guy was liked by everybody except the killer when they name a bike club after you when you die in a wreck. New bike club set up in memory of cyclist

And from Oz by way of Road.CC in the UK, an idiot. NSW roads minister wants to CLOSE segregated bike lane in Sydney Really, close a bike lane that carries more people than the whole road next to it? You are an idiot.

And on that note I’m out of links, which means I’m also out of idiots. Hurray!

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

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

In recovery mode, and the Feed

After 2 days in a row of working well into the night before finishing a post, today I’m in recovery mode, trying to “chillax” and scrub some of the things I read yesterday out of my mind. That is unfortunately still part of the process even when I’m not doing wrecks and wreck analysis in the blog, I still get links that include graphic images or reports on bike wrecks that I don’t know about until I actually open and read them. So every so often I’m going to switch to another window and do Kittenwars! and let the cute relax me and calm me down. Thank [$DEITY] the Intarwebz was mainly invented to distribute porn and cat pictures. If I can’t get calmness one way there’s always another.

Up first because there is an autoplay ad with audio that is driving me crazy, a cyclist gets buzzed in the UK and it’s dismissed as an “accident”. Cyclist knocked off bike appeals to motorists for more caution when passing All I can say about the ad is to read quickly, because I never did locate the source to shut it down. As to the “judgement” of the LEO involved… There is a rule in the Highway Code that bicycles are to be passed at the same distance as another car or truck which this driver clearly ignored.

Why FL kills more cyclists and pedestrians than any other state in the US, part OMGWGAFAM. No fine for Lee deputy in teen cyclist’s death

And while we are on LEO getting away with vehicular homicide… DMV: No Punishment For Cop Who Fatally Struck Japanese Student

And in the same building… Truck Driver Who Fatally Struck Bushwick Cyclist Gets License Suspended For Six Months That’s right, he killed a cyclist and left the scene (hit-and-run) and the most they could do is a six month license suspension. [facepalm]Why bother?[/facepalm]

I can’t believe this was not already allowed by case law. Oregon bill would make stolen bike location info probable cause for search warrant I mean you have a tracker that is accurate anywhere from a few feet to a few inches and you can enter that data into Google Maps to see what building it is located in and possibly even which apartment in that building, but you can’t use that to issue a search warrant?

Another legal infrastructure case in MI. Law must do more to protect bicycle riders

And what can I say except that while most Canadians are really nice people, they still have jails and prisons in Canada for a reason. Calgary Cyclist Threatened With Sexual Assault After Being Hit

I keep harping on the fact that a cyclist is as likely to get hurt in a bike/ped wreck as the pedestrian, as demonstrated in this link. Two injured in Shrewsbury collision The cyclist and pedestrian were about equally damaged in this wreck, with no word on what happened because this is a UK media outlet, and their media laws prohibit anything that could become part of a criminal case from being published until it becomes public record in the trial.

And the judge in this case is an absolute ass. Cyclist killed trying to beat lorry across junction The cyclist was riding in the required position to the left of the truck and tried to go straight through where the truck was turning left, this is the UK equivalent of a right hook. The cyclist was not trying to beat the truck, she was JRA when the truck turned through the space she already occupied.

And more on the Oz passing law. Victorian Greens push for one-metre buffer when overtaking cyclists Not much to say at this point except Gigi is going to love the comments section.

And wrapping up is two more links to the UK’s worst mother. Hit-and-run mum refused to help teenager knocked off bike and Mother who knocked over teenage cyclist REFUSED to help him because ‘her children were late for school and they would be upset by the blood’ I wonder how many links I’m going to get in total before this dies out?

And praise [$DEITY] I am out of links.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, and a humongous Feed

I just opened the Feed folder in my inbox, saw how many links I have to open and filter to decide if I want to include them that I knew I was going to get at least one computer crash from excessive flash animated ads and wanted to get at least one paragraph saved to WP before I Filtered. After weeks of wearing long pants and sweatshirts (yes I know it was only a few days, stick with me on this one) I’m now sweating in shorts and a (ANSI Safety Lime green) wicking polo shirt in my office. Seriously, it went from 59°F to 77°F in my office in 3 days and I normally turn the AC on when it hits 78. I haven’t had time to acclimate to being warm yet, it wasn’t even this warm yesterday when I was doing that trouble-shooting ride on the new trike. We went from deep winter to summer in a long weekend, with the sounds of lawnmowers filling the air where only last week people were shovelling snow and sleet off their sidewalks. I hope you are enjoying this, because I think it would be freaking hilarious if it was happening to someone else.

Also the entire house is permeated with the smell of corned beef and cabbage cooking as Mrs. the Poet prepares our traditional St. Paddy’s Day dinner. I think I may have mentioned that I am descended from a long line of Irish bards and scholars (for a while that was a redundant phrase as bards were the keepers and purveyors of History among the Irish) so of late we have been getting a little more into our roots, at least culinarily. I have a recipe for Irish Soda Bread that is basically a one-pound buttermilk biscuit made from whole wheat flour, we have about a hundred ways to prepare potatoes, and every March 17 we have corned beef and cabbage for dinner.

Up first the story that is reverberating across the Internet about a callous hit and run in the UK. Teenage Cyclist Hit By Car Told ‘Sorry, I Can’t Stop, It Would Upset My Kids’ and Mum releases shocking photo of cyclist son’s bloodied face after motorist ‘failed to stop’ also UK teen cyclist hit by car told: Sorry, can’t stop, your blood would upset my kids, we’re late for school The blood would upset her kids? What about the kid shedding said blood because of her (presumed) husband’s bad driving? Things like this are what places the category “people in cars” on my version of Sydney Scoville’s “List”. My elder daughter has a much shorter “list” : “I hate people.” followed by a short list of exceptions.

And a stark reminder of where the real danger comes from on the roads. Homeowner cheats death after driver lost control of car and ploughed into KITCHEN Hey! was that house properly painted in HiViz so the driver could see it? And this is the part I really liked: “The building was deemed structurally unsafe and the property was evacuated along with a neighbouring house.” The house was so dangerous they had to get people out of the house that was hit and the house next door in case it collapsed. This is why I compare motor vehicles to artillery in degree of danger.

Another story that is gaining momentum but not at the same rate is a “joke” hate-filled rant by a purveyor of artisanal meats on his company blog. BiteClub: Sebastopol butcher’s cyclist rant sparks outrage and ‘I hate cyclists’ blog post ignites Internet firestorm I did have three more links to this story but they have been deleted since I initially filtered the links. Suffice it to say that the links that were deleted were very hot responses to the also deleted blog post.

Or Daily Ted. Morning Links: NoCal meat man meets justified anger from cyclists; getting ready for Sunday’s Valley CicLAvia

One wonders if this person just does not like people spending time (and money) in her town. SAUSALITO LEADERS CONSIDER CAP ON BIKES ENTERING CITY STREETS First of all, there is the logistics of the proposal, how would they even enforce it? Second, why bicycles that take up little space, are quiet, and non-polluting, but not cars that are none of those?

If you want to kill someone in this country look for someone riding a bicycle. Novi man gets 1 year for killing bike rider and Novi man gets 1 year for killing Port Huron cyclist This point has been made many times, if you want to get away with murder, don’t drink, and hit a cyclist from behind and claim blindness (“I didn’t see him”), and stay at the scene of the wreck.

A little good infrastructure news from OR. Bill in legislature would legalize safe crossings against unresponsive red lights I can’t tell you how many times I have waited 5 or more minutes at a traffic light that does not sense my presence but there is too much cross traffic to run the light…

Community news from where my brother lives. Hundreds turn out for ‘Come Clean for Jae’ community bike ride

Legal update on a wreck in the UK. St Margarets-at-Cliffe van driver Philip Sinden knew fatal crash cyclist Daniel Squire, jury hears And he persists in the SWSS “rode off the pavement (sidewalk) right in front of me” narrative. Stupid git.

Aww, the killer is sad. Is he sad because he killed a little old lady, or because there is a slight chance he may get a small prison sentence? Worcestershire trucker fought back tears at Dudley woman’s crash death inquest

More on the idiot cyclist that almost killed a couple riding a tandem when he ran a red light and crashed into their bike. Cyclist who hit tandem after pulling wheelie while going through red light pleads guilty to dangerous cycling Dollars to doughnuts the cyclist will get a stiffer sentence/fine/community service than a driver that killed.

Less than 4% of traffic, but killed more than 50% of cyclists killed, and most of those were women. Why are lorries responsible for so many cyclist deaths? There is something going on here, and I suspect it is vehicles not suited for the purpose (The HGV).

A little lifestyle in Oz. Close encounter led to long road back

And another Oz passing bill hits their legislature. Drivers to leave cyclists a one-metre buffer when overtaking, under proposed road rule change

And I’m done, and nearly done for.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet