I’m trying to get as much done as I can early today because we have a family friend visiting from England taking us out to dinner tonight. Since Mexican restaurants in England range in quality from so-so to vile we are probably going for Mexican tonight.
And while I start doing this in the early afternoon I know it won’t get posted until after midnight, so I’m just going to ask if you hugged your transgender friends yesterday for Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Up first because something has to be, NYC actually punished a driver for killing. SUV Driver Who Fatally Struck Woman On UWS Convicted Of Homicide And now we know what it takes to get a prosecution for killing a pedestrian or cyclist: Drive on the wrong side of the road, hit the victim with the right of way, and have the victim be the 4th person you have injured with your vehicle in 6 months.
Locally, go do this next week. Bike Friendly Richardson Presents: Black Friday Ride #7 If you’re not local, there are Black Friday rides all across the country, do one of them instead.
Bike Snob NYC tweets about parking costs that devolve onto business owners instead of car owners.
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Yet another link to the killer who got away with only 100 days for murder because he killed a cyclist with a motor vehicle. Stroger Exec Will Serve 100 Days For Killing Cyclist While Driving Drunk TANJ!
Down the road a few days ride from WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell a cyclist is hit-and-run. Cyclist killed in hit-and-run crash Those of my readers local to the scene keep an ocular exposed for motor vehicles wuth heavy front end damage.
The first of Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Sentence in Fiesta Island crash, red light-running SaMo driver, and a long list of bike events See the difference between being rich and connected and poor? More than 18 years in prison even when the victim survives, compared to 100 days for killing.
And Daily Ted part 2. Bike rider killed in midnight collision on Vincent Thomas bridge and another link Long Beach Cyclist Killed on Vincent Thomas Bridge
And Daily Ted part 3. Breaking News: Nine-year old boy killed in Irvine collision
The other big story is the coroner’s inquest on a cyclist run over by a heavy truck in Jolly Olde. Cyclist crushed to death after HGV turned left from ‘wrong’ lane at deadly junction and INQUEST REVEALS HOW WALWORTH CYCLIST DIED IN LORRY COLLISION and this, too Driver who killed cyclist was turning left from wrong lane The “money shot” for this story is this:“IMO this junction was deficient in that it did not prevent a careless collision but not so deficient that it causes the careful to collide,” he tweeted. Later adding: “Inquests into the death of cyclists never seem to me to be wholly satisfactory.”
Death by cop in OR is blamed on the victim. Cyclist on Highway 99 in Eugene struck, killed by on-duty Lane County sheriff’s deputy, Oregon State Police say and Opinion: Welcome to blame the victim season Cyclist was legally equipped and riding legally in the lane when the driver overdrove his headlights and ran the cyclist over, and they blamed the cyclist for not wearing the glow-in-the-dark clown suit.
While we are in OR here’s an infrastructure story from Portland. City finalizes plans for SE Clinton, promises two diverters by January They heard.
Trying to equalize the storage of actual human beings with the storage of motor vehicles in Portland. Commissioner Fritz questions city plan to legalize tiny homes near property lines, a perk currently given to auto storage Currently the only structures allowed to be zero lot line are garages, not even bike sheds which are garages for bicycles. “This is Amanda Fritz in a nutshell. If she didn’t have this job, she’d be on an HOA approving paint colors, issuing fines for ragged hedges, and questioning our commitment to Sparkle Motion.”
In NYC a woman learns to ride a bike in the city. Losing Your Fear Of Biking NYC: Braving Rush Hour This is supposedly the last article in the series, now that she has braved the perils of a Manhattan rush hour.
A deadly MI car/bike wreck. Warren police: Child on bike struck, killed Not much in the report aside from the dead cyclist, nothing on the mode.
I hate hit-and-run drivers. This one killed a cyclist in NC. Police seeking driver of truck that killed cyclist, left scene If you’re local, BOLO for a white pickup truck with front end damage.
I hate this hit-and-run just as much as the previous paragraph. Bicyclist killed in Everett hit and run accident “He was taken to Providence Medical Center in Everett and was expected to be booked into the Snohomish County Jail for vehicular homicide.”
Update on a CO wreck. Driver in Olde Stage hit-and-run that injured cyclist will be charged “Daniel Updike, 33, of Lafayette will be charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury, failure to report a crash, careless driving resulting in injury, aggravated habitual traffic offenderand driving without insurance.” I would say the driver was very lucky the cyclist survived, with a rap sheet like that he would have been charged with murder if the cyclist died.
Update on a MN wreck. Health of Student Injured in Bike Accident Improves
A wounded vet ride down by San Antonio. Injured veterans get ‘geared up’ for Soldier Ride trip
And another ride in FL. Injured veterans gather for bike ride: ‘Good to be with the brethren again’
And another ride in CA. Cyclists raise money for injured veterans
Infrastructure from Hotlanta. Building a Bikeable Atlanta With an Eye on Equality
Over in Jolly Olde they are starting to repaircorrect a deadly collection of intersections that all dump together. London Bank junction to be transformed for cyclists, buses and pedestrians The previous form of the intersections was just kind of thrown together from the old Roman roads, not actually “designed”. The new plaza will actually be designed for all modes of transportation, and hopefully they will stop killing people.
Over on the Emerald Isle they’re recognizing the infrastructure is not up to the challenge. 200 people killed on roads across the Ireland so far in 2015, with six fatalities in the last week.
Over in Oz an anonymous cyclist chastises a driver without distressing her more than she deserves. Cyclist leaves note for P-plater: ‘You look too nice for prison’ Roundabouts are the most difficult bit of infrastructure for novices to negotiate in Australia.
And I’m out of links and ready to hit the hay, except we don’t have hay, we have an old worn out futon.
Billed @€0.02, Opus
What a party! and the Feed
OK so it wasn’t all that wild. We had cherry pie instead of cake to go with the chocolate ice cream. So we did violate custom a little bit. But other than pie and ice cream it was pretty much a normal Monday evening for us. I got some interesting gifts. I got a seat-belt style belt from Hot Topic in green, I got a DVD of three episodes of Van-Pires story of undead cars that suck the gas of the living (no I’m not kidding), and Floyd Landis’ book. The cat deigned to sit in my lap for a few minutes that evening, but I forgot to take a picture of that momentous occasion…
Up first I was sent links to this story from 9 different sources including FB, the Feed and directly to my e-mail addy. Luckiest cyclist in Russia and quite possibly the world and the link from the Feed Cyclist cheats death three times in dramatic car crash Notice the cyclist’s behavior as he entered the intersection, he’s looking in every direction, at least twice at the near lane and then locks on the truck that’s not slowing down for the yield sign so he slows way down to not be in the lane when the truck comes through. Had the red car not been there this would have been a non-event, the cyclist’s situational awareness would have prevented him from getting too close to the truck running the yield and the driver could continue to be oblivious to traffic controls. The cyclist’s SA did save him in this wreck, but dumb luck played as great a part as his SA.
More on the pedestrian death in NYC last week. Cyclist Who Killed Woman In Central Park Calls It An “Unavoidable Accident” I find it ironic that a cyclist killing a pedestrian may be what forces NY State to change their vehicular homicide laws that have allowed drivers who were sober and remained at the scene to avoid even tickets when killing pedestrians in crosswalks, or walking on the sidewalks, or eating at the window seats in restaurants. Basically the way the law and supporting case-law are now in NYS if you’re sober and have a valid license, remain at the scene and did not post a rambling screed about some other class of transportation users needing to die horribly at your hands you skate for killing with your vehicle, and even those caveats are not set in stone as hit-and-run killers are frequently not prosecuted because of mens rea (“I didn’t know”).
Another link to that DC hit-and-run Cyclist Killed in Shaw Hit and Run This Weekend The narrative and the description of the scene suggest the weapon vehicle ran a 4-way stop at speed. This would mean the cyclist was probably well into the intersection prior to the wreck and had zero chance of avoiding this wreck without Kreskin levels of SA. For those of you too young to remember the Amazing Kreskin, substitute Jedi for Kreskin in that statement.
Another “cyclist didn’t stop” wreck, this time in SC. Troopers: Cyclist dies after hit by car in Spartanburg Co. Intersection protocols to avoid, especially the one about stopping at stop signs, and get the infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent.
Driver is sentenced for killing a cyclist in NC. Driver who killed cyclist gets prison time, hug from victim’s mom Hit cyclist, kill cyclist, leave body laying beside road, get 13 months in jail… Seems like a fair sentence to me for killing another human being and improperly disposing of the body, NOT!
More on that tourist hit in OR. San Diego cyclist struck on Friday near Netarts dies from his injuries Notice how this is worded to try to make it look like the cyclist should not have been there? Anyway, hit-from-behind protocols to avoid if possible, and please, please get that infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent. This is an area that gets lots of bicycle tourism and desperately needs such infrastructure.
A CA intersection wreck where the bike damage doesn’t match with the narrative. Bicyclist suffers life-threatening injuries after colliding with car at the intersection of Spruce and Eunice and Cyclist dies after North Berkeley crash with car The bike looks like it was hit from the side on the front end at speed not running into a car that had just pulled away from a stop sign.
Our Daily Ted from yesterday. Morning Links: Protected bike lanes are now legal; WeHo considers removing crosswalks to improve ped safety
And today’s Daily Ted. Morning Links: More media frenzy over fatal NY bike/ped collision; fallen SD cyclist was keeping blog of his trip
Infrastructure!-ish. A cyclist’s plea to motorists
And more infrastructure that the person who sent me the link found offensive (?). Roadshow: Bicyclists must pull over if 5 or more vehicles are behind them As long as they include “when safe to do so” and not just demand cyclists get off the road whenever cars get backed up…
And those were all the links that gave me fits or giggles today, a little short on the giggles but there were some.
Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet
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