OK I’m taking a step back because really stupid people pushed me into it

I’m posting this in response to something on Twitter yesterday that I read after posting yesterday’s post. The post was to the effect that because cyclists choose to ride in the roads we are responsible for what happens to us.

First is the false “choice” of riding in the street. If you want to get someplace you have no bicycle infrastructure for 99+% of all trips so it’s not a “choice” to ride in the street. It is a necessity.

Second we are not the ones using WMD as transportation that kills ~40K people/annum directly by impact and another million or so by pollution, and that’s just in the US. So it’s drivers killing cyclists, not cyclists forcing drivers to kill us. Drivers are not paying proper attention to traffic (and bicycles are traffic) and cyclists are suffering for their inattention. Or for their choice to drive on short trips. And for their demands for free storage for their property when not in use has literally destroyed city centers.

And for you not reading my recent posts I have a soft spot in my heart for cars, when used in an appropriate manner like motorsports in a controlled environment, or making long trips between places not served by any form of public transit like rural areas. Cars are a good fit for rural areas, but then we try to force them into urban areas where they are a crappy fit or worse. Unfortunately I’m not smart enough to figure out how to bridge between areas where cars are a good fit and cars are bad-to-deadly-on-a-daily-basis fit. I mean I’m no dummy, people in rural areas need cars and light to heavy trucks for their daily lives or they will be forced into poverty. On the other side of the coin those same cars and trucks are killing people in cities. And they are not so good for rural people either.

The real problem is we have baked automobilism into our economies so much that trying to prevent the harm it causes will cause as much harm as the harm we prevent, just of a different kind. To put this in a different perspective it’s like you have a cancer that will kill you painfully in a few weeks, and the operation to cure the cancer will kill you in a year, but it won’t hurt much. Either way you still die ahead of schedule. And there are times when it would be so much easier to be an absolutist instead of looking on both sides of the argument.

Had my toes done again, and the Feed

One thing that enduring the swollen foot debacle uncovered was my toes were getting squished a bit because the nails needed trimming. I can tell this because I got bruising around the nail beds caused by the pressure on the beds from getting pushed against the inside of the shoe. One thing I can’t depend on any more is waiting until it hurts to let me know the nails are getting too long, because my toes were all black and blue but I didn’t feel anything aside from a bit of pressure at the ends. I guess my pain tolerance is getting greater, or I’m just not getting the pain signals through the nerve damage any more. Anywho, I got my toes done and now my shoes are much looser. I tell you, getting old ain’t for wusses.

Up first is a tragic tale of kittens gone bad. Slow down plea after hit and run cyclist kills kitten on London commuter route towpath and Cyclists urged to slow down on canal towpath after beloved kitten killed by bike in east London The cat ran across the path with only the kitten and the cyclist knowing how much reaction time was available, then the cat ran onto the boat. I would have thought the cat was OK myself, and I have been cat-owned most of my life. Still, common decency says at least stop and check to make sure the cat was OK.

Our Daily Ted. 20-year old OC driver faces 10 years for 2014 DUI death of Dana Point cyclist

And another link about the same thing. Man to Be Arraigned in Alleged Drunken Crash that Killed Cyclist on PCH I agree with Ted on this one, as a minor the driver was not allowed to have more then 0.01% BAC (it is possible to reach 0.01% BAC just by consuming a high carb meal for people with some strains of intestinal flora).

More on the CO cyclist killed by a buzz job from a dump truck. Ghost bike ceremony for cyclist killed by truck is Saturday There were two major components to this wreck, bad infrastructure that limited crossings for a man-made obstacle, and an impatient driver who chose to pass at the wrong place and time possibly because he had a certain number of runs he had to make every day to pay for his fixed costs before he started making any money.

AZ bike wreck victims are remembered. Cyclists killed in crash remembered at Mudshark The cyclist was the male rider of a mixed couple that were killed on a tandem bike.

Another case of windshield bias from LEO. Injured cyclist disputes account of BTV crash The fact remains that the truck still turned in front of the cyclist, not giving him time to react. Also not LEO deliberately misquoting the sign in the picture. It does not have the MUTCD BMUFL language or symbols, all it says is that vehicles turning right must yield to bikes. Which BTW the truck that hit the cyclist failed to do.

I’m having a WTF!?! moment with this link from the Great White North. Dog attack not the cause of Hamilton man’s death, autopsy reveals OK so there is a man laying in the middle of the road being attacked by a dog, and the man dies, but the dog didn’t do it? Did the dog bite him after he got hit and run by a car?

Lots of cyclists getting hit in Far West Canuckistan. Three Vernon cyclists hit by vehicles cause for concern One SWSS, one no details aside from someone getting hit, and a third vlind driver who didn’t know if the cyclist he hit was in the bike lane or on the sidewalk, because he didn’t look as he crossed either one.

Not sure how you could deal with this infrastructure meltdown. Young boy injured after cycling onto road surface which had melted in heatwave Something similar happened in the TdF a few years ago when Lance was riding, the lead rider in a breakaway hit a melting patch of road and went down while Lance showed his cyclocross skills.

Another “don’t ride there” article about some of the busiest intersections in the town. 16 cycling blackspots you really should avoid in Lincolnshire The roads head here said “We recognise through providing a separate space on the road, cycling lanes offer protection for cyclists, and measures for cyclists are incorporated in transport strategies.” but they were not going to pry one red cent from the roads budget to pay for them.

CCTV footage of the woman crushed by a delivery truck in London shows her pulling alongside the truck as it was signalling it was going to cross the bike lane. Woman cyclist killed by delivery lorry was ‘on top of the world’ after landing her dream job Apparently under UK law cyclists are not allowed to pass a vehicle in an adjacent lane signalling for a turn.

I think the comment at the end of this article is the best thing I have read all day. ICEguard: the new helmet attachment that logs accident details for cyclists The device is basically a combination black box and Road ID, and would be quite handy in a wreck. The comment: yuhuhbhb 13 hours ago
Car driver caught breaking the law: ‘vigilante cyclists!’. Car driver films cyclist chewing gum: ‘idiot cyclists, they’re their own worst enemy, they should get their house in order, roadtax, hi-viz, insurance, blah blah blah!!!’”

Presented without further comment from Yr Fthfl Srvnt. ‘If there aren’t as many women cycling as men … you need better infrastructure’

And a demonstration of the need for better infrastructure. Justice for an injured London cyclist

To illustrate that it’s only a small percentage of truck drivers that are anal sphincters. POLICE COMMEND TRUCK DRIVER FOR HELPING INJURED CYCLIST

And another article about missing infrastructure causing death and injury in Oz. Lack of funding, technology, leads to massive cyclist toll So who goes to jail for all the dead cyclists caused by a lack of infrastructure?

Since technology was mentioned in the previous paragraph, here’s some that is helping enforce passing laws in test communities. This Invention Could Boost Bicyclist Protection Laws Yep, a device that measures how far from the end of the handlebars a car passed a police cyclist. Perfect for writing tickets and even better for informing drivers about the law. TN has had a 3 foot passing law for years as a state-wide law, and still people don’t know about it

And I’m outta links, and TIRED.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Still dealing with pedal extremity edema, and the Feed

Well the swelling went down in my good foot, the one on the end of the leg that didn’t get mangled. The bad news is the one on the other leg the swelling did not go down. It’s uncomfortable to walk with it and I still can’t get a shoe on it. 😛 And now I have these tiny divots under the scars where my shoe got ripped off my foot in the wreck. They look very strange…

Up first is Our Daily Ted, Part One. Morning Links: LA advocates sue over Glendale-Hyperion redesign; bike lanes and bikeshare dominate the news The number of unanimous votes from the council is not out of the usual for here in TX as most issues are pretty cut-and-dried before they ever get to a council meeting, but the unanimous votes for a general plan then voting against specific parts of that plan when it comes time to implement them is kinda dodgy.

Daily Ted, Part Two. Guest Post: Provoking, Scaring and Piercing the (Driver’s) Reptile Brain Part 1

It was a wreck like this that caused me to stop doing wreck analysis in this blog. Family and friends mourn bicyclist killed in hit-and-run on Elysian Fields Avenue Sounds like a genuinely nice guy. I’m sorry to hear of his passing, the world needs more artists to show us what is beautiful in this world. More Police search for driver who killed bicyclist and fled

And 3 days ride from WoaB LEO blame a cyclist for crossing an exit ramp on a highway built more like a freeway and the only way through for the cyclist. BCSO: Fatally struck cyclist may have been at fault I can’t get an accurate location, just “Hwy. 90 west of San Antonio” so I can’t say if there was a route that kept the cyclist off the highway. But to blame a cyclist for not seeing a turn signal on a vehicle behind him by more than a quarter of a mile is absurd. At that speed (60 MPH) a vehicle would travel almost a half mile in the time it takes to cross an offramp.

One got away in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Bicycle may have saved boy in van crash Apparently the bike made the kid a little more mobile than he would have been afoot and prevented the stolen van from running him over.

And in another neighborhood, a child cyclist’s death is met with “You want infrastructure, you have to pay for it.” Rubonia faces cost of sidewalks after child’s death Now where are they going to get that kind of money, and why aren’t tax dollars being spent on the commons? (Aside from the fact that this is a non-white neighborhood?)

Remembering a cyclist killed in the Great White North. Oakville cyclist killed in Milton remembered for his passion and devotion to his family and teaching

Road.cc weighs in on the laughable sentence for the driver who killed a cyclist while texting non-stop behind he wheel. Driver who killed cyclist had been checking WhatsApp messages leading up to collision

Why the UK needs better bicycle infrastructure. Cyclist deaths: Why you are 17 TIMES likelier to be killed on a bike than in a car And that picture of the remains of deceased cyclist Ying Tao was just horrifying.

They came desperately close to killing another cyclist in London. Cyclist injured in west London crash as bike snaps in two under wheels of lorry Did you see where the cyclist was hit? In the “bicycle box” at the front of the intersection, exactly where he was supposed to be, and on the driver’s side of the truck.

Really now! Injured cyclist has bike stolen while being treated on ground

After reading the contents of the last three links I certainly can believe this headline. Law firm calls for protection for cyclists after nearly 500 injured on roads in Bath, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire And with 3 out of 4 cyclists not at fault for their wrecks something needs to be done.

An act of terrorism against cyclists in Oz. Wire strung across road could have seriously injured This could have been fatal if the rider had been a few inches shorter or the wire a few inches higher. I hope they charge the miscreants with acts of terrorism meant to kill.

And I’m all outta links again. I’m going to go elevate my foot.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the swollen Poet

In pain and having a mild allergy attack, and the Feed

After getting the gas on Francis/es this morning because I got done too late to buy gas last night, I mowed the grass this afternoon. The good news: I rode Francis/es for 1.04 miles today in 92/93 degree weather. Bad news, I still need to make that extended stem so I can sit comfortably and see the road.

More bad news, as I was doing the filtering my feet started to swell a bit until I couldn’t put my shoes back on. I will still be able to put out the garbage and recycling tonight for trash pickup tomorrow, I just won’t be very graceful about it. I think the swelling is due to my lower legs getting peppered with cut grass as I was mowing this afternoon.

Up first is Our Daily Ted, part 1. Morning Links: DUI driver in Palos Verdes rampage gets three years; scofflaw cyclists no worse than drivers I think it might be just me, but when I read “no worse than drivers” the image that comes to my mind is the 30K+ people killed by motor vehicles annually. I don’t think that is exactly what we are to aspire for.

Daily Ted part 2. Guest Post: The Benefits of a Bicycle for Urban Transport A reasoned, sober look at the benefits of city cycling.

And my second favorite bike blog also had a guest post. Guest article: Biking on the cheap There’s getting by and then there is having a bike to be proud of. They are not mutually exclusive, but you would never see me sourcing my tires from a dumpster.

One of the great ironies of history is that protected American bike lanes and intersections were being planned and pilot installed back in the 1970s, before the Dutch influence began, in response to the OPEC oil boycott. America Could Have Been Building Protected Bike Lanes for the Last 40 Years But as is normal with things being done for the first time (integrating bike infra with motor vehicle infra) Sturgeon’s Law raised its ugly head, and instead of throwing out the crap 90% they threw out everything.

And while we are on the subject of US infrastructure, here’s Portland trying to get Dutch style residential streets. City says diverters possible on SE Clinton Street this summer Again had they read the CROW manual this would have already been done.

Speaking of consequences of bad infrastructure, a cyclist gets hit because the stop signs were facing the wrong direction. Troopers: Cyclist hurt after crashing into SUV Notice the completely blind intersection where the cyclist was hit? The cyclist could have come to a complete stop and not being able to see oncoming traffic pulled right in front of the SUV. Not saying that is what happened, just that that’s how it could have happened. That’s why the CROW manual puts the stop/yield signs on the motor vehicle side of the intersection with a bike path, because cars don’t fall down when they stop moving.

And WY starts enforcing a new law for cyclists this month. WHP enforces new “three-foot rule” for bicycle safety and Highway patrol to crack down on new bicycle safety law

A good bit of infrastructure news from NoCal. COMING TO CALTRAIN: MORE SPACE FOR BIKES ON BOARD Solving the “first/last mile” problem.

And a sad update on the cyclist hit by a dump truck making a close pass in CO. Cyclist Killed By Dump Truck It must have been a long, painful death to have taken this long. Pity his killer won’t take that long to die as well, but the Constitution forbids that, cruel and unusual punishment.

NYC is still having a gender discrepancy in their bike counts. Why Do So Few Women Bike In NYC? Infrastructure is a big part of the problem, followed closely by jerk drivers trying to force their way into the bike infrastructure.

And this is a big reason also why women don’t ride bicycles in NYC. Driver Who Killed Park Slope Boy Has License Suspended For 6 Months Six months of “don’t get caught driving” for killing a kid playing at a park in a residential area.

Speaking of drivers not getting what they deserve, here’s another link to that texting driver in Jolly Olde getting carted off to the hoosegow. St Albans cyclist death: John Michell jailed for killing Mark Greenwood Less than 2 years for killing someone leaves me with less than schadenfreude, more like schaedenfrumpy?

And WTF?!? Cyclist suffers fractures to face in London Colney attack Punch someone in the head as the cycle by in the street? What are you, a Daily Mail commenter?

Last link is a Canuck grump. Develop regulations for memorials “Don’t leave reminders of how deadly the thing I use to get around really is!”

Sorry this is going up so late but I had to stop and elevate my foot because of the sudden swelling after mowing the lawn.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Getting ready for game night, and the Feed

I had enough food for myself, except for stuff that goes bad when you let it set, so all I got today on the grocery run was some salty snacks and soft drinks for the gamers, and a gallon of milk because I consume nearly that much in a week between all the coffee and cereal I consume when Mrs. the Poet is not cooking breakfast for me. And whew! run-on sentence. I also had to go pay the utility bill because they will be closed tomorrow so I can’t pay it then. And sometime I need to get this unruly mop on my head trimmed down and shaped up so I look like a respectable human being, not some troll living under a bridge.

OK up first because this is just too freaky, the county judge and prosecutor both had bike wrecks on the same day in OH Franklin County judge, prosecutor crash bikes on same day and Ohio prosecutor, judge injured in bike crashes in separate incidents on same day The prosecutor was riding the judge’s old bike that his staff bought for him in 2013…

Still dealing with LEO and “coincidence” two bike cops had brakes fail at the exact same time after doing crowd control at a crime scene. Police Officer on Bicycle Injured in Sherman Oaks CollisionThe brakes on BOTH bikes failed? As a bike mechanic that seems… highly unlikely. Also was it both brakes on both bikes or just the front brakes or different brakes? This strikes me as a case of sabotage.

Still on strange “coincidences” involving LEO, this time in NYC. NYPD Officer Has Raging Hard-On For Upper West Side Cyclists This is reminiscent of the Dallas report where one downtown officer issued 53% of the helmet citations… Or the time NYPD issued tickets for leaving the bike lane while they parked their cruiser in the bike lane.

But don’t worry, the judicial branch will prevent you from getting ripped off by the cops. Judge: Cyclists Charged An Extra $88 By The DMV Are SOL Umm, maybe not…

More on the driver charged with homicide in the death of a cyclist in Seattle. Seattle man charged with vehicular homicide in cyclist’s death Something is wrong here. The security tape at the restaurant he was at showed a pretty non-drunk individual who left half his beer behind (and ate a ton of food), but the police report from a half hour later said the driver told them he had 4 beers and his ADD meds and appeared very drunk. I’m adding 2 and 2 and getting pi. Not that I have any sympathy for a bicyclist’s killer, it’s just half a beer with a big dinner and he left looking sober to staggering drunk less than a half-hour later? What happened in less than 30 minutes to get from what left the restaurant to what killed the cyclist?

More on a cyclist getting shot in L.A. Update: Man On Bike Shot, Killed In Commerce At this point motive is unknown, no suspects…

And more on the cyclist shot in Detroit. Bicyclist, 55, shot dead in Detroit Black SUV with one suspect dressed all black, the other dressed in a white T-shirt and a black hat… And they got out to make sure they shot the dude. And don’t read the comments section, your skin will fall off…

Another link to the attempted murder of a group of cyclists in CA, by the driver of a stolen car. Bicyclists seriously injured in hit-and-run collision in Yolo County I mean seriously, WTF?!? Was someone testing the theory that you can get away with murder if you hit someone on a bicycle with a car?

More on the drunken assault and killing of a cyclist on a street that would have made the wreck either impossible, or much less damaging to the victim had the planned changes been made. Man charged in hit-and-run that killed Highland Park cyclist There would have been no way for the driver to reach 80 MPH had the speed pads and road diet that had been planned and budgeted for 3 years ago been installed…

And was this an assault, or just a very stupid driver? 1 dead, 1 injured after car hits bicyclists; riders were owners of Havasu bike store

And seriously, how much more can you find against this driver, because that impact site on the weapon vehicle was directly in front of the driver. Cyclist’s death still under investigation If he was drunk it’s DUI manslaughter, if he was sober it’s murder. That’s the only thing I can take away from this wreck. There was no way the driver “didn’t see” the cyclist, and no way for the cyclist to “swerve” into that side of the truck from the shoulder that looks to be maybe a foot wide or not wide enough to use as a bike lane.

Someone else thinks the tacks and pins in the roads are terrorist attacks on cyclists. Sabotage and hatred: what have people got against cyclists? A very thoughtful article.

And I’m out of links and patience. Time for a snack and a lie-down. Arthur Dent is being a pain in the neck 😉

Billed @€0.02

What? Starting a post before noon? And the Feed

I know it’s amazing that I am actually home and starting to filter the Feed and do the post and it’s not even noon yet. After the events of this week this seems like I have an eternity to work with here. In reality I have to go grocery shopping and attend a church board meeting, so I will have to rush a bit to get this done.

A pinball wreck in CA sends a cyclist to hospital.
Cyclist injured in Santa Clarita crash Nothing on who hit whom first, at this point I don’t even think LEO knows what happened. At any rate pinball wreck is essentially unavoidable as there are too many random components to take into account. Get the infrastructure right to prevent a similar wreck.

Still in CA a cyclist is injured and LEO are sitting on the details. Bicyclist injured in crash Nothing on the mode, just that the cyclist had a back injury from the wreck (which ain’t hard to do). Intersection wreck assume that intersection protocols will help avoid or mitigate the outcome of the wreck, and that infrastructure will prevent it.

A Seattle pedestrian is assaulted with a motor vehicle. Police: Driver rams pedestrian for telling her to hang up and drive I would say that is also the kind of driver to “nudge” a cyclist she thought was “impeding” her on the road. I wonder if the SPD is actively looking for the Honda with expired tags?

An SC town has a spate of cyclist not at fault wrecks, so this media outlet tries to blame cyclists for not following the law. 3 deadly bicycle crashes in July spotlight laws on Grand Strand After mentioning the numerous “Bikes may use full lane” signs around town they still found a way to blame the cyclists for getting hit…

A media outlet in CO jumps on the “helmets first” “bicycle safety” bandwagon. Keeping kids safe while bike riding

Infrastructure in FL still going nowhere and cyclists are getting riled up about it. Critical Mass: It’s Time for Miami Police and Motorists to Respect Bike Riders

A cyclist in far West Canuckistan is given a ticket for parking her bike in the bike rack (no I’m not making a bad joke). Office building installs bike racks, tickets cyclists who use them

Drivers will hate you for riding a bicycle even if you’re the most considerate cyclist in the world. Law of the jungle

Last link, a cyclist finds boy parts off the side of a bike path. Coroner to examine human remains found near Montebello bike path I have found body parts in the street before, but I saw them being removed from the body they had been attached to during the wreck. This would be worse.

And that actually does it, all the links that gave me fits (about bicycles, there were a lot more that gave me fits that had nothing to do with bicycles, particularly the one about marketing tampons to 12YO girls) and it is just barely 1500.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Caught in the rain last night, and the Feed

I got a ride home last night from a meeting at church. It wasn’t the rain that was the concern as much as it was the lightning, and other drivers. Rain really degrades the performance of reflectors which are my primary source of conspicuity for the rear of Blue. I think I might have mentioned I have a couple of square feet of reflectors on the back between the old license plates, the mailbox reflectors, and the reflective (formerly blinky) vest I wear. I have a large taillight that awaits a battery charger for the NiMH battery I built, the build for which awaits parts. Also the guts of the formerly blinky vest will be used to make arm bands to attach to a vest with more reflective material and either safety orange or safety lime color to replace the police-surplus dark blue with safety lime reflective vinyl stripes. It works with the reflective stripes but a different color will work better. So anyway getting back to the original topic of this paragraph, the reason I took the ride home was not so much to stay dry as to avoid getting hit by bad drivers or lightning which got really bad a few minutes after I got home, or when I would have been about half-way home riding. I have no spells or anything that will protect me from lightning while I’m on the bike.

Why FL is (still 7 years running) the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Police: Driver not charged after hitting cyclist Cyclist hit from behind but the tail light might have been obscured so the driver is absolved of fault or charges. I covered this wreck back on the day it happened…

Media is having a hard time keeping up on the cyclists getting hit in AZ. 2 cyclists injured in accidents One wreck was a right cross by a driver not paying attention to the other vehicle in the same lane, the other was a right-turning driver not looking in the direction of travel. First wreck, the cyclist had no time to react as the weapon vehicle was not fully past before turning and the cyclist would have had no warning about the impending turning movement. The only thing that would make this wreck avoidable or prevent it would be laws that right hooks were automatically the fault of the driver and those laws were strictly enforced. Now as for the second wreck, the driver was not watching for traffic, pedestrian or cyclist, in the direction she was travelling when she made the turn. Whoever would have been in that crosswalk would have been hit.

Update on a wreck a year ago in ME. $10,000 reward offered in search for driver who hit, seriously injured Lisbon cyclist The driver came over into the shoulder of the road to “buzz” the cyclist, this was not a wreck that could have been avoided by a cyclist.

Another wreck with multiple cyclists injured. 3 teens riding bikes injured in collision with motorcycle in northwest Iowa The motorcyclist was travelling too fast for conditions and laid the bike down to avoid killing the cyclists, resulting in serious injuries but no fatalities, so I think he achieved his intent. From the report the cyclists were doing everything right, including riding on a low-traffic road.

An IL cyclist was doing everything right and still go hit. Lincolnshire biker hit by car in Lake Bluff Intersection wreck, intersection protocols to avoid. The wreck took place an intersection between segregated bicycle infrastructure and surface streets with a separate signal phase for the bike infrastructure which the cyclist was obeying, so it’s not like there needs to be anything done with the physical infrastructure here. Recycle the vehicle, and if the victim dies from the wreck let the driver watch the recycling from the inside of the vehicle.

WI sees another cyclist injured by a motor vehicle. Boy injured in bicycle crash Intersection wreck with a cyclist not watching for traffic when riding out of an alley. Notice more attention paid to not wearing a helmet than not watching for cross traffic when leaving the alley. Intersection wreck, intersection protocols to prevent which includes stopping and looking when going through an intersection where cross traffic doesn’t stop.

A wreck in NJ. Bicyclist struck, killed by tractor-trailer in Brick This wreck makes no sense. This is the most vicious right hook I have ever read about. Intersection wreck, use intersection protocols to avoid and get cyclists off main highways to prevent. Another link Truck hits, kills bicyclist on NJ road; rider knocked over, then run over

A wreck in DE with no details aside from a picture of the scene. Man riding bicycle hit by car in Newark The bicycle in this wreck does not appear to be seriously damaged from the single picture from the scene. All I can tell otherwise from the picture was intersection wreck, therefore intersection protocols to avoid. And get the infrastructure right to keep bicycles and cars separated where appropriate, or slow motor vehicles down to safe speeds where they have to mix. this intersection looks to be either inside or at the boundary of an area where bicycles would have to share the roads with motor vehicles so this would be an area that needed a slow speed limit (20 km/h) I used to live in such an area when I was a child where every street in the residential area had a 15 MPH speed limit. Apparently the people in charge of doing Navy Housing back in the 1960s and ’70s had a better understanding of motor vehicles than planners in TX in the 1980s where the speed limits are twice as fast.

More on the wreck in AR where the cyclist was killed in an Interstate highway that was the only way across the Mississippi river. Family mourns, questions death of cyclist killed on approach to I-55 bridge As I had surmised the cyclist had used the bike/ped crossing but had not reached the exit where he could get off the highway yet.

Infrastructure! from west Texas. Cyclists Feeling Unsafe on Basin Roads, Increased Traffic and Fatal Wrecks to Blame Note that a cyclist was hit while riding on the sidewalk to try to stay away from cars. I tell you they are handing out licenses to just about anyone that can prove citizenship here in TX. Not to the ones that can prove they can drive, just the ones that can prove they are here legally.

Chicago is also having infrastructure issues but what they have is orders of magnitude better than what we have in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell, and orders of magnitude worse than they get in the Netherlands. Protected Bike Lanes and the Demand for Cyclist Education

An infrastructure article from Oz. Dooring fears prompt bike lane rethink Bike lanes entirely within the door zone leads to death by door prize, whodathunkit? I notice that in very few cases were the relevant authorities willing to remove car space to make riding a bicycle safer. In many cases the bike lanes were just made narrower to allow doors to be opened without impinging on the marked bike lane.

Infrastructure from Berlin by way of Chicago. Berlin bicycling: an interview with bike blogger Wolfgang Scherreiks

LifeStyle as a cyclist makes routine 300 mile bike rides in a single day. Cumberland County bike rider travels more than 300 miles a day There are people in RBENT (my club) that do the same thing but don’t get their names in the paper for it, but then their bikes are a sight more comfortable than the Cannondale ridden by this guy. Most of the club rides recumbents.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Not finish drink coffee put witty headline here, and the Feed

Yes, that cogent remark was made within minutes of booting the computer this morning, which was just minutes after getting out of bed and while still waiting for the day’s first cup of coffee to complete the preparation process. My morning cup of Joe is more than just a caffeine delivery system, I like my coffee to deliver flavor as well. So besides the actual coffee there is a bunch of other stuff the has to be prepared before I can drink the coffee. Some day there will be an affordable automatic latte system that makes espresso shots just the way I like them on demand. Until then I will have to put up with automatic drip brew with milk heated in a microwave.

I have succumbed to the siren call of having a Wish List at Amazon.com. If you go there and search for my Nom de Plume, you will find all the things I linked to in my Birthday begList post, plus a few things I found at Amazon and other places. This saves having to keep posting new beggingList posts when I have a gift-giving event coming up. I have included on the list a replacement battery for the new-to-me laptop I just got that will only run a few minutes off the charger…

I’m still pondering the first links to put up this morning. The ones that jump out at me are the guy hit in NY, and the bike shop hit in CA, but I think the bike shop “wins”… Car plows through bike shop This illustrates better than anything I can come up with why I say motor vehicles are WMD used to move people around. This driver destroyed the inside of a building and came within inches of killing a half-dozen people as shown in surveillance video of the inside of the store and was only stopped by the reinforced concrete wall at the back of the store. Notice where the car’s spinning tires have burned through the floor covering down to the bare concrete when he car was halted at the back wall of the store. As for how to avoid, it’s a freaking building, cars are not supposed to be inside bike shops.

Next are 2 links from NY about a man killed with no information about the wreck forthcoming from LEO. That usually means the driver was at fault and they can’t figure out how to make the driver look like the victim. Police release ID of bicyclist, 63, killed in accident in Hastings and Police Release Name of Cyclist Killed in Hastings Hang on there was a change in the second link where the CoP says he thinks the cyclist was riding salmon, but looking at the only crime scene picture I have access to on the web the weapon vehicle is pulled over on the wrong side of the road and has what appears to be windshield damage to the driver’s side of the car, but it’s a really bad picture as far as pulling details out of it. Perhaps the esteemed CoP mis-read the report and assumed the vehicle operator on the wrong side of the road was the cyclist?

First of two wrecks in CT has a young cyclist “hit by a car”. Teen bicyclist struck by car near Wesleyan Not much to go on in this report, nothing of places on the road or direction of movement.

The second CT link is a woman knocked from her bike without leaving a mark on the vehicle that hit her. Woman injured after falling from bike in Fairfield; Collision reports discounted I have seen several reports since starting this blog of people having life-threatening injuries that never left a mark except for cleaning the dirt off the car that hit them, not having any evidence of a collision is NOT the same as having evidence of no collision.

From the most deadly sate in the US to walk or ride a bike they only winged this one. World-class cyclist struck while riding The driver claimed she hit the cyclist in the road, the cyclist claims she was on the shoulder, either way the driver is at fault for failing to pass with at least 3 feet of clearance as required by FL law, why wasn’t the driver given a ticket? Hit-from-behind wreck, use the appropriate protocols to avoid.

In IN (I love when that happens. “In IN”) a Ball State student is hit on a bicycle. Ball State student injured in bicycle accident The picture and report both indicate impact from the cyclist’s right side as she crossed the street. but I can’t see any traffic control devices that the cyclist might have ignored. The impact zone on the weapon vehicle is dead center in the windshield, indicating the cyclist was most of the way across the street when hit.

A MD cyclist with a soft spot in her heart for stray and abandoned cats is killed while riding her bike. Cyclist Killed in Bowie ‘Was Stolen From Us’ and Police: Bowie woman, 24, killed in Friday collision was not at fault I don’t know why some LEO assume the cyclist was at fault when hit from behind in the lane of travel, it is the LAW in all 50 states that cyclists have the right to be on the road even when there is a shoulder that could be used. Anyway, hit-from-behind, nothing this cyclist could have done as she was already off the road when she was hit. Murder charges should be pending against the driver but it is unlikely she will even get a ticket.

They think hey might have found the weapon vehicle in a hit-and-run killing in Seattle. Police seize, release SUV in bike hit-and-run fatality One of the comments connected to this article asked why the weapon was returned if someone died from it, and somebody else pointed out that it was a vehicle, and that the Seattle PD was typical of most PD in that they were all afflicted with “windshield perspective” mostly viewing life through the windshield of a car and can’t conceive of living without one.

An Atlanta lawyer says it’s dangerous out there for bicycles but the new GA law requiring 3 feet to pass a cyclist will make it easier for your heirs to sue. Atlanta Personal Injury Attorney Cautions Drivers to Look Out for Bicyclists In Light of New Law

And in NYC recent cyclist and pedestrian deaths on Delancy Street have resulted in people looking to make changes to improve safety for people not in cars. Lower East Side Electeds Come Together for Safer Delancey Street I’m sure that any solution that is approved will only be the one that doesn’t cost any money or slow down drivers…

And that’s all I have at this time.

Billed @$0.02, Opus