Not many links today, and the Feed

I got done pre-filtering the Feed early today because there were so few links to stories that were not about bike wrecks, and I even included a few of those where infrastructure was mentioned. It’s looking like Mrs. the Poet and I are going to be spending NYE at home with the cat rather than going out to party. The nice T-gurl that rents a room from us is going to a party, but I’m not sure what the crazy lady directly across the hall is doing, so we may end up having to stay up with her as well… The cat prefers to sleep in a lap on NYE and he’s not particularly picky about whose lap he sleeps on so long as the lap doesn’t move.

On the Good News Everybody front there have been several new Yehuda Moon cartoons published. The storyline that was being followed when the comic was last posted has been abandoned long ago, and the new ones are stand-alone jokes rather than fleshing out a story, but any Yehuda is better than no Yehuda.

The headline explains this one adequately. The best bicycle infrastructure cartoon I’ve ever seen

More infrastructure news from America’s Amsterdam. PBOT’s whimsical bike lane characters make a comeback I like the superhero <Edna Mode>”no capes”</Edna Mode>

And ANT is shutting down as the man who did most of the bike-building decides to take a better-paying job working for someone else. About I seriously worry when a bike builder closes shop but continues to work in the business. That represents another voice silenced from the choir.

Our Daily Ted, pt. 1. 36-year old bike rider killed in Fountain Valley collision; third Southern California bike fatality in three days

Our Daily Ted, pt. 2. The holiday bloodbath continues — teenage bike rider killed in Rialto OK I really feel bad for Ted right now as these were all mostly local to him.

And more good news on the carnage wrought by motor vehicles. Roadway Fatalities Down in 2013, But Bicycle Deaths Rise As I keep saying about UK drivers, the roads and cars are getting better along with the medical care after a wreck, but drivers seem to be getting worse and worse. Having said that I see this as just “noise” in the data that gets amplified because there are so few cyclists getting killed in relation to drivers and passengers getting killed. And by “noise” I mean that there were only 11 more people killed riding bicycles in 2013 than in 2012, which is bad, but not as bad as it seems. Seriously that’s less than one person more a month.

And those are all the links I could find today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

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Yehuda Moon is going away, permanently this time

Rick Smith (artist for Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery) is moving to greener pastures come the end of November and will wrap up the web comic 12/31/2012. I assume that his means wrapping up all the unfinished story lines but Rick isn’t letting on about that. All unfinished subscriptions will be pro-rata refunded, if I’m reading the e-mail right (and I apologize if I’m reading it wrong). I hope this ends like Calvin and Hobbes with all the arcs at an end and a universe stretching in front of them, not like Peanuts where the artist died in the middle of drawing a page. However since this is a planned retreat and not the artist dying at the drawing board, I’m going to expect the former style of ending and not the latter.

The word is the buffer is full of completed comics all the way to the final one. Let’s all get together in cyberspace to count down Yehuda, Joe, Thistle and Fizz along with Fred and Fenders down the ramp for their final TT.

PSA, Opus

Not feeling particularly chipper today, and the Feed

I woke up this morning with a very dry mouth and throat, a touch of a sore throat, and a voice that resembled 5 miles of dry creekbed it was so gravelly. Now the dry mouth and throat are gone, but the sore throat and gravel voice remain. This is unfortunate as I have a speaking engagement tomorrow. Also I’m supposed to help get groceries today but as the available budget is somewhere between $2 and $3 I don’t see this as particularly burdensome to haul home. Now eating with a grocery budget of between $2 and $3, that’s going to be a problem that will probably include beans, frequently.

Up first is a hit-and-run in Baton Rouge LA. Bicyclist in critical condition after Tuesday hit and run LEO have a very good description of the weapon vehicle, which ran a stop sign at the time of hitting the cyclist on the through street. Intersection wreck, use the protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent. Interesting to note the ratio of anti-bike to pro-bike comments was heavily skewed pro- rather than anti-, this time. Another link Mid City cyclist outraged at hit and run accident that injured rider

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike 8 years in a row, they got another one. Cyclist struck, killed by driver First of all that the fact that the driver remained at the scene had to be mentioned prominently says a lot about society, none of it very good. Second that bike was hit on the driver’s side of the vehicle at high speed, notice the hole in the windshield right over the steering wheel and the broken front triangle on the bike. Third, it looked like this was a wreck in the left-turn lane where a slower than speed limit speed should be in effect because of getting ready to make the turn and the limited room available. IOW the cyclist was doing everything right and according to law, and the driver just ran him over without even slowing down with the cyclist right in front of his face. That also says a lot about our society and culture that is equally bad

A UGA student is left-crossed by another student on campus with an all-student witness and assistance group. UGA student bicyclist transported to hospital after striking a car Intersection wreck, use the protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent. Seriously, why do you need a car to get around the campus of the University of Georgia at Athens? This is a small school with a compact campus, unlike say UT or USC. Even the town the school is in is Not That Big, perfectly suited for getting around by bicycle. Since the article didn’t specify if the facial injuries were upper or lower I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that if a helmet had been worn the injuries might not have been as bad. I mean I know that most people are not going to wear a full-face helmet like I do, hell if I hadn’t had my face ripped off and sewn back on I wouldn’t be wearing a full-face helmet. I would be wearing one of those “urban” or “city” style round helmets with the hard shell and some coverage to the back of the head. More Bike Rider Injured

A child riding on a sidewalk is killed. Child killed on bicycle identified There should be no question about this, the child was riding on the sidewalk, the weapon vehicle was crossing the sidewalk, vehicles entering a sidewalk MUST yield to traffic (pedestrians and cyclists) on the sidewalk. Even in areas where riding on a sidewalk is not legal, bicycles on the sidewalk still have the right of way over other vehicles crossing the sidewalk. I don’t know if this was an area that prohibited riding on the sidewalk, but I don’t think it was. Intersection wreck (every driveway is an intersection) so intersection protocols to avoid, and as the child was already on segregated infrastructure that was being crossed by the weapon vehicle that was required to yield to traffic on that infrastructure, the only changes to the infrastructure that will “help” are severe penalties for those causing harm when crossing the infrastructure… Take the weapon vehicle and recycle it, then a steep fine and/or jail time. For the very rich jail time is “worse” than a steep fine as they have lots of money but not much time that isn’t spoken for already.

More on the WI teacher killed while taking the “scenic route” to school. Belgrade wrestling coach killed while biking on highway Again, I see blaming the cyclist for being there to get hit, not the driver of the deadly weapon for over-driving his headlights and not avoiding the other vehicle in the road in front of him. The “dark highway” was mentioned more than once, the weapon vehicle’s headlights never…

A cyclist is hit from behind in the Great White North. Cyclist killed in East Garafraxa The cyclist was blamed for not wearing a glow in the dark clown suit, the driver was let off for driving without functional headlights. There seems to be a theme developing in today’s post…

A UK wreck with death and injury that seems to be a case where the dead victim was in a wreck either solo or with another vehicle and was then hit by a vehicle of some description while first aid was being administered by a passer-by. Man who died in road collision near Craven Arms was a cyclist I am including this wreck because it was strange, not because there is anything useful to be gleaned from it besides hoping Yehuda Moon is one of the first 1-3 people on scene.

Infrastructure news from the UK. British Cycling secures meeting with justice minister and Justice minister agrees to meet British Cycling to discuss justice review If they can do something about drivers getting 100 hours of community service and a few weeks to a year ban on driving when they should be getting a year or more in lockup and a permanent ban on driving with more jail if caught, then good on them.

Someone is desecrating a shrine to the dead in SC. Who’s Stealing the William Wilson Ghost Bike?

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Yehuda Moon moves out from behind the paywall, and other news on Wreck-free Sunday

I have been meaning to mention this for a couple of weeks, but Yehuda Moon has moved from behind the paywall. When their old comments software went down and was no longer supported they had a choice: lose 4 years of comments or lose the paywall. Since the paywall has been as popular as a porcupine in a nudist colony, and the comments section has been the primary reason people were paying to read the comic, we have today’s headline.

As some of you might know I love cars when they are on a closed track all going the same direction, and not driving around me. Today we have two of those going on TV, the Grand Am Rolex series in Sonoma, and the NHRA Nationals (The Big Go) from Indianapolis. I haven’t been able to follow the NHRA points battles as well as I would like, the “regular job” of this blog kind of monopolizing my time and evening services at church coming at the same time as the ESPN2 broadcast of the races. Having been a road racer from back when Reagan was president, and a hard-working SCCA member (I still have an award plaque from working every event in an entire season back in the 1980’s) I’m very interested in the Grand Am event. I’m a nuts and bolts kind of road racer, I like restrictive rules that encourage design innovations, like Formula Ford. I’m not quite as enamored of rules packages like Daytona prototypes that while they have lots of different engines the rest of the cars are nearly identical in geometry and appearance by rules rather than by evolution. The Gen3 cars have only 2 aero packages that look almost identical, to go with the Gen2 pair of aero packages. So you have 3 or 4 chassis makers that have 2 sets of bodywork that have to interchange as the aero package is tied to the engine manufacturers. The Corvette package is only for use by the GM engine cars, while the other aero package is for the Ford, Porsche, and BMW engines and aside from the side pods and the tail light panel I can’t tell them apart, similar to the Gen2 packages that had a common windshield (I think, they looked almost the same).

Now if you want to talk about a simple, restrictive but open rules book you don’t need to look any further than the ISMA rules for Supermodified racers for oval tracks. Maximum wheelbase, no minimum, maximum width, a near spec-engine rule (cast iron Chevy big-block of 470 Cu. In.) very few engine location rules (the front 2/3 of the wheelbase) a spec tire rule with a choice of left rear tires to adapt the cars for different radius turns (basically everyone is going to use the same left rear tire because stagger is such an important variable and the size gaps between allowed tires are large enough that only one combination will work per track). If I was still building oval track cars this is the rules package I would be building under.

Now a rules package I’m not too fond of as a builder is the Sprint Cup rules that are such that you can change a Dodge Charger to a Toyota Camry with an engine swap and swapping the nose cap, tail cap, and window pillars. For the teams this is great, because it really reduces costs, but for us nuts and bolts geeks it is utter purgatory.

That’s the reason why I like building bikes. Actually I like building recumbent bikes, not those hyper-regulated UCI things that have rules for everything including the rider’s shoes for aerodynamic parity. And the aggravating thing is the bikes are so highly regulated under the UCI that finding any edge requires cubic $ expended in wind tunnels to tune the rider position while the unfaired recumbents we just lay the rider back as far as he can still see what’s out front and call it good. The faired bikes you have to use CFD and wind tunnels to get that last MPH out of it for IHPVA records and WHPSC championships, but for HPRa and WRRA races you can “eyeball” it and call it good and still win races. You can run an entire season with a new bike in HPRa for less than the cost of wind tunnel testing for a single rider in the UCI, and win races if you’re a good enough rider. The thing is that even in the HPRa a good rider on a mediocre bike will beat a mediocre rider on a great bike. You need a great rider on a great bike to be sure of winning, but because this is not a pro series the riders are the biggest variable to deal with. The design of the unfaired (“Stock” class) bikes has pretty much evolved to a fully reclined SWB bike with a small front wheel and lots of chain and leg overlap of the front wheel. The other classes are not so evolved and there are many different variations of what works and what wins in each class, with what works best for the rider being the biggest factor. What works for one rider is trash for another, which makes for some interesting racing, both from the “read about it later” and the “watch it while it happens” points of view.

And that’s what has been running through my mind today (and this week).

PSA, Opus

I feel a breeze, and the Feed

Well as of right now as I type these words the video and pictures of losing more than 5 months of hair and beard growth have not yet been posted, but there is a constant draft in my house and in the rest of the world. I know that is because what used to be covered by a thick coat of hair is now exposed, but it still feels on the emotional level like the whole world has gotten drafty.

Up first, more on the cyclist that died in NC after being hit by a drunk driver. Cyclist Hit By DWI Driver In Lexington Dies This was the cyclist that was hit at a speed of between 50 and 55MPH on the shoulder of the road by a drunk driver who also hit-and-run. The driver had almost double the legal limit for BAC%.

Another NC cyclist death by a drunk driver. Greenwood teen charged in fatal bike crash Drunk driver runs off the road, hitting and killing a cyclist, but they had to mention the cyclist was not wearing a helmet… Anyway intersection protocol might have helped, Breathalyser interlocks on motor vehicle engine controls would have prevented this.

Just a short drive from the previous wreck, a cyclist is killed in a SWCC. Man hit, killed while riding bike Google Maps was unable to locate the intersection where this wreck was supposed to have happened, and I did a manual search for the intersection myself from one side of Sumter county to the other on US15 with no luck either in locating any kind of “Road 404”. The only 404 I found was a 404 error, So either this was a local designation that was not incorporated into Google Maps (and just to be sure I zoomed in to the shows lot boundaries level of zoom) or the intersection was mis-identified, or the wreck never happened and the whole article was a ruse to drive web traffic and gather eyeballs for the ads. Assuming the wreck really did happen as described it had to have been at an uncontrolled intersection where the cyclist must determine that there is a big enough gap in traffic before attempting to cross. I didn’t see many intersections where the speed limit would have made it impossible to see a car coming at night before you could cross on a bike. But the wreck supposedly happened @ 0545, still deep dark in the early morning. Anyway, intersection protocols to avoid, SBR to prevent.

In Eastern WA, a motorcycle hits a bicycle killing both riders. Neighors not surprised by deadly motorcycle, bike crash Nothing on the mode of the wreck, but locals say that motor vehicle traffic was routinely too fast for conditions there. There was an intersection mentioned in the article I read (which may be different from the one there when you click the link) so I’m going to suggest intersection protocols to avoid the wreck, and SBR to prevent it completely.

Another link to that smelly ball of goo that NYPD wreck investigation has become. A Push For More NYPD Accountability For Fatal Cyclist Crashes Yep, this one is turning into a hold-your-nose kind of deal.

Speaking of hold-your-nose, the killer of an RAF officer in the UK is sentenced. Delivery driver hit and killed RAF officer who served as Queen’s aide – but escapes jail as he was ‘blinded by the sun’ Apparently it is peachy keen to continue at speed when you can’t see past the front end of your vehicle, even if it kills someone.

Another UK killer of cyclists is actually sent to jail. Learner driver from Rainham jailed for killing schoolboy Thomas Stone Well, this driver was not even fully allowed to drive alone, was not insured, and at the time of the wreck was alone in the car…

LifeStyle! ALEXANDER: Disabled athletes should inspire us Handcycling can be fun, and is a great form of low-impact cross-training. It would be better if the vehicles didn’t cost as much as a decent used car, but given the production volumes and the fact that they’re subsidised by insurance for most of the people that need one, I don’t see prices coming down in the near future.

Last link is to an article on possible post-lithium developments in battery technology. Supercharged! Battery Power for the Future In case you wonder why this is important in a bicycle blog, one of my passions is e-assist bikes, and one of the stumbling blocks for those is a lack of both power- and energy-dense batteries at a reasonable price, that can be recharged as fast as filling a tank on an ICE-assist bike. Also the lack of good batteries are the major impediment to electric cars, for pretty much the same reason. And electric cars will be much easier to live with than ICE cars because drivers will have to drive slower to conserve what energy they can get in the car unless they want to have to charge every time they stop. IOW unless there is a major change in battery physics that makes batteries equal to gasoline I don’t see e-cars being driven as hard or as fast as ICE cars, because they will be stuck away from the charging point. I don’t see an easy way to bring a few Wh of electricity to a stranded e-car that has depleted the battery, like you can bring a jerry-can of gas to a car…

And last thought, Yehuda Moon is coming out from behind the paywall for a week, if you haven’t read it, or haven’t read it for a while, you should click the link in the sidebar and go there…

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Read the comments to my last post, and the Feed

If you read my last post you know I announced that Rick Smith had found a way to actually turn a profit from Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery. Well you should read the comments to that post, and thank you whoever you are. That sentence will make sense after you read the comments.

Up first is a story with multiple links about a man killed s few miles from where I used to live in TN. Cyclist Struck By Vehicle, Seriously Injured and Cyclist struck, seriously injured At this point media and LEO are not blaming the cyclist, which in this case is a strong indication that the driver of the motor vehicle ran the red light at this intersection. I haven’t ridden a bike there, but I have been to this intersection and from what I remember it is a nightmare for a cyclist, with either 8 or 10 lanes to cross whichever street you’re riding, plus a wide median on one of the streets, basically an intersection that a cyclist can’t cross unless they are first or second in line when the light changes or they have reached cruise speed shortly after the light changes, crossing under a stale green would be nearly impossible without spending several seconds still in the intersection after the light goes red. More MPD: Cyclist in ‘critical but stable condition’

A Tulsa sidewalk cyclist is blamed for being there to get hit. Cyclist Injured After Being Hit By A Truck Obviously the driver was not expecting a cyclist on the sidewalk entering the road (or apparently anyone else either) and hit the cyclist because of that. To avoid ride where drivers can see you in the road, but if you are a regular reader of my blog I don’t need to tell you that.

Another story that generated a lot of links was this MIT graduate getting hit near Boston. MIT 2010 alum killed in traffic accident and Bicyclist struck, killed by tractor-trailer in Cambridge also Bicyclist Dies In Cambridge Crash more Cyclist Struck, Killed By Truck In Cambridge another one Cyclist struck, killed by truck in Cambridge Yes that last link was from Louisiana Bicyclist dies after being hit by truck in Cambridge More Bicyclist struck and killed by truck Another one Bicyclist killed by truck was MIT graduate Next to last link MIT graduate is identified as victim in bicycle-truck collision Last one Cyclist killed in Cambridge accident ID’d After reading all the reports this appears to be a right hook, and the final position of the bicycle indicates the truck driver was at fault. The Wicked Local link stated the bicycle was under the rear wheels of the tractor portion of the vehicle, which was a tanker semi-trailer and a tractor. Anyway, if this wreck could have been avoided intersection protocols would have been the way to do it.

A cyclist is hit and killed in AZ. Elderly cyclist struck by car and killed in Oro Valley The bike in the picture looks like it was hit from the side, and the place where it was hit looks like a sharp S-curve from the picture. One way that this wreck makes some kind of sense from a physics point of view is the driver was buzzing the cyclist to “teach him a lesson about riding in the street” and swerved into the cyclist from the side, or the driver was cutting the corner while the cyclist held his line and the driver pushed the cyclist to the side. Same wreck, just one is stupid pretending to be smart, and the other is just oblivious.

And another reason why drivers aren’t worried about hitting a cyclist, Kalifornia Edition. CHP recommends manslaughter for motorist suspected of causing Gilroy cyclist’s death The date in the link stated the cyclist died more than 3 years ago in October 2008, leaving less than 9 months to bring the driver to trial before the statute of limitations expires on these charges.

Infrastructure! news from the UK. Call to change safety mirror rules If I read this article correctly, a Cabinet-level official has to approve these vital bits of infrastructure, each one individually. This sounds like it was intentionally made to make this as difficult as possible so it wouldn’t get done unless the Secretary was in a magnanimous mood.

I wonder how many Interstate highways were financed with bake sales and golf tournaments? Residents vow to raise private funds for Yorkville bike path

And that’s it for today, I can’t take it any more.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Yehuda Moon back up, and the Feed

Yehuda Moon appears to be back in business on a Mon-Fri schedule behind a paywall after the previous 4 years was Kickstarted to dead-tree format. While I’m happy for Rick finding a way to turn a buck at it, I’m going to miss the comics and the comments as I don’t have the money for things like helmets and headlights for my bike, or to keep working computers in my office. So as much as I enjoyed the comic when it was free I won’t be able to read it now that it’s behind a paywall.

Up first an Amish woman is hit-from-behind in OH. Amish woman 1 mile from home when killed The woman was wearing a reflective vest and had a blinking taillight, so it wasn’t like she couldn’t have been seen had the driver been looking. or may she was seen and targeted for riding a bicycle on the road like I was. Anyway, hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, not that I think they would have done much good given all the other measures the cyclist took to avoid getting hit. Interesting side note, the comments on this link are disabled.

One driver hits 2 cyclists with the right of way in Phoenix AZ, no charges filed. Two Cyclists hit in Cave Creek AFAIK this was a right-hook of cyclists who were using the bike trail where it crossed this road right where it intersected a road parallel to the bike trail. I can’t see the video, but the picture I could pull up seemed to show the cyclists ended up in the wrong lane for a right hook or a left cross, the driver would have had to be pulling into the wrong lane for the cyclists to end up where they did. So at this point I don’t know exactly what is going on on this one, but it looks like it might have been an assault on the cyclists who were crossing the road.

Infrastructure! news from GA as drought conditions are tearing apart a bike trail. Safety concerns for cyclists on Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail This is exactly the same kind of destruction the drought is inflicting on the roads here in the suburbs of Hell.

Final link is infrastructure from Montreal up in the Great White North. Clear bike paths of snow and ice, study says More people would ride if the bike lanes and paths were kept clear after snow falls. I wonder if they did a similar study of drivers staying in if roads were not cleared (ow! I sprained my tongue sticking it too far in my cheek).

And that’s it and I’m out of here as I go get more things to make my new taillight more awesome. With the new stuff this light will actually exceed the output of the Honkin’ Huge Taillight^tm, while using less power from the more powerful but physically smaller and lighter battery, which means longer burn time, 17.5 hours theoretical based on the rating of the cells. And there is room to add even more light to the bracket should I desire it at a later date…

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Yehuda Moon packs it in again

It pains me to relate that Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery (see link to the right) has once again ceased publishing new comics. I’m not privy to the reasons other than burnout and the need to get something going that made more money, but that was in the posting about Rick quitting in the comic.

As a (former) bike builder I have a little of most of the characters in the comic (yes, even a little bit of Kevlar Bead), but I wouldn’t be doing this blog if there wasn’t a lot of Yehuda in my personality. I want to use the power of bicycles to build a better world, just like he does, and I get angry at cagers for not sharing the roads then acting like I’m the selfish one. We could solve so many of the problems facing this country just by switching our transportation away from private motor vehicles using fossil fuels towards bicycles and electric rail to move people and goods with trucks used for the last mile problem i.e. local deliveries only. Our highways would last for hundreds of years if we take out the millions of cars and the heavy trucks, we could take a lane in either direction for rail (or just make one side for rail) and reconnect our towns with rail that we now connect exclusively by trucks… and pollution would drop because it is so much easier to remove the bad stuff out of a stationary source than it is to clean up a mobile source like a car or truck. We could move our butts with bicycles and our goods with trains, as well as moving people long distances by rail (with bicycle cars to get the bikes from one place to another when going long distances). Obesity would disappear practically overnight, pollution would take a little longer, global warming will take more than my mind can come up with but bicycles will end up being part of the solution eventually…

Well at this point I don’t know if Rick ever intends to resume comics or if he’s going to leave the story hanging with Yehuda on the way to Interbike inside a cargo container bound for Las Vegas, but if he does I hope in the Yehudaverse they get the whole street for bikes with a cars keep to a single lane on the far right no faster than walking speed. Maybe something nice will happen to Yehuda in Vegas and he’ll come back with a booth girl on each arm (and riding a triplet when not hanging on his arms). Bon voyage Yehuda! This is not goodbye but farewell until we meet again.

PSA, Opus

Riding the virtual alleycat, and the Feed

It’s an “Interesting day” so far today, got up and immediately got on the computer to “ride” the Yehuda Moon “Virtual Alleycat” race and got on a site and couldn’t find teh checkpoint, so I bookmarked the site and got to filtering the Feed and making the post.

Up first for no particular reason is a very brief article from Seattle. Bicyclist Seriously Injured In Collision With Car I don’t see what the problem is with LEO in this case. The cyclist was riding as required in the outside lane, the driver changed from the inside lane to the outside lane and hit the cyclist from behind. The charge is attempted murder with aggravating circumstances, life without parole , go to prison and stay there forever. To avoid as a cyclist, use the hit-from-behind protocols, as a driver maybe some anger-management classes to deal with displaced anger issues because there is nothing the cyclist in the other lane is or has done to you that in any way justifies this behavior.

Still on the West Coast but moving a little south to CA, a lawsuit over an unsafe and unmarked road condition. Council To Hash Out Million-Dollar Lawsuit Filed By Injured Cyclist Apparently there were metal plates left in the road that were the same color as the pavement instead of being marked with red paint on the edges and also raised up on the leading edge of the plate that if you didn’t hit the plate just right you would lose control of the front wheel and crash like the plaintiff. The problem is if you have to be constantly watching for people in motor vehicles trying to kill you you can’t also keep an eye out for slick metal plates at an angle to your path. I really don’t know how you can avoid wrecking on a hazard like this.

A cyclist who was killed is remembered for another one of the things he loved. A new legacy for the man who loved music and life “Last week, the symphony announced the Shermans’ $40,000 gift will create an endowed chair in David’s name.” That will certainly make people remember you for being something other than a guy that got killed riding a bike.

A story that I’m sure those of you who don’t strictly use this site as your cycling news source have heard of by now. Driver who killed eight cyclists in horror road smash was high on marijuana Usually pot mellows you out and you don’t drive angry (or so I’m told, I never knowingly consume mind-altering substances stronger than caffeine and then operate a motor vehicle), but this driver was under a ban for dangerous driving in Italy so there might have been some other issues that had nothing to do with smoking pot.

Another cyclist is killed in India by a speeding car. Five people killed in road accidents in Faizabad The driver was going too fast but in trying to not hit the cyclist with his entire family on the bike he ran head on into a bus and still killed the cyclist and his entire family. There were entirely too many variables in this one to tell you how to avoid a wreck like this. From the story it sounds like there was severely impaired sight lines in both directions. Add vehicles travelling too fast for conditions and you get mayhem.

The widower of a cyclist that was killed by a head-on driver in Enn Zed shows compassion for the driver. Widower says driver ‘a victim too’ I still can’t see what she was a victim of other than her own bad judgement in driving too fast, but I will acknowledge the man for his compassion.

And that is all the news that fits today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Another trip to the Lab Rat Keeper, and the Feed

I made another trip to the LRK today to monitor my vitals and check to see that I have been a good boy and taking my meds. I had a new nurse taking my vitals which is always funny to watch, a little less so now that they started warning the new hires about my rest pulse. I was really working the old cardiac muscle hard 46 times a minute with an average BP of 121/79. This is what happens when I don’t get to finish my coffee before leaving the house, with a “normal” dose of caffeine my rest pulse is up around 50-55…

Up first from the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike we get another DUI hit-and-run murder… Fla. man charged in death of cyclist As of the moment the charge is DUI manslaughter, but I’m sure a more appropriate murder charge will be filed eventually. As for how to avoid, fat chance. The cyclist was killed well off the road on the shoulder and was hit from behind, to have gotten any further over the cyclist would have had to be riding in the loose gravel and broken glass on the unimproved portion of the shoulder. The cyclist had already done as much as any rider could to prevent his own death, but there isn’t much you can do about drunks aside from installing a breathalyser interlock on cars as they come off the assembly line.

On the other side of the country a doped-up driver with a kid in the car hits a cyclist and leaves the scene, but witnesses recall the distinctive paint job on her car and she’s caught within hours. PD: Hit-And-Run Driver Caught On drugs, carrying drugs, with a baby in the car, runs a red light and t-bones a cyclist, yep, they’re digging a new basement for her to live in under the jail. Shame about the boy losing his mommy, but I think CPS (or the CA equivalent) will be able to find him a much better parent that will take care of him and make sure he takes his meds to control the “issues” his mother left him with…

Ghost bike in the PGH. Ghost Bikes: Rough memorials honor cyclists killed while riding When I think how close I came to “earning” a ghost bike of my very own…

A Canadian cyclist is honored by the formation of… a hockey team? Tribute to fallen cyclist It’s a cute jersey, and I don’t know how big a hockey fan the cyclist was before he was killed, he might have been a huge Leafs fan. The important part is that something came out of this for the good of many if it couldn’t be good for all.

In Jolly Olde a truck driver that killed a cyclist gets jail. Ten months in jail for lorry driver who killed Margate cyclist The driver was looking for “boy racers” that used the area as a racetrack instead of paying attention to the cyclist he hit at a pedestrian crossing (the cyclist wasn’t in the pedestrian crossing, he and the truck were going the same way).

From Oz, someone booby-trapped a popular cycling route with a live electrical wire. Prank puts cyclists’ lives at risk The wire would have caught anyone riding a bike taller than a recumbent low-racer, hitting an adult on a DF bike about stomach height.

Still in Oz, the widow of a cyclist wants to speak with the board deciding the professional fate of his killer. Cyclist’s widow wants legal board reform The driver was a douche, and the widow wants to put a face on the victim for the board debating the killer’s punishment.

In news from fictional universes, the man that attempted to kill Yehuda Moon was arrested today and charged with multiple counts including attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon as well as felony littering. Confessions

And that’s all folks!

Billed @$0.02, Opus