Ride Right, Drive Right
Florida has the unenvious distinction of being the most dangerous state in the country for bicyclists. zMotion, a bike club in Ft. Lauderdale, has taken matters into their own hands by joining forces with the Florida Department of Transportation and the South Florida Bike Coalition to improve conditions and foster cooperation between road users:
In an effort to increase driver and rider awareness and safety, Team zMotion — a Zimmerman Advertising Team — created the “Ride Right, Drive Right” campaign in conjunction with the Florida Department of Transportation. The campaign’s goal is to make the roads safer and to save lives by building awareness on the part of both motorists and cyclists.
So far, 17 signs reminding motorists and bicyclists of their rights and responsibilities have been installed along A1A between Boca Raton and Manalapan, Florida. The next phase will target Miami-Dade County.
8 Responses to “Ride Right, Drive Right”
Glad to hear that Fla is doing something about their serious cycle safety problems. Although, if you have ever driven in Miami, you have realized they have a serious uphill battle. I wouldn’t feel safe riding a heavily armored vehicle there much less riding a bike. The driving there is way over the top insane!
So Florida has the 3-ft. passing law? That’s a positive step, although I don’t know how you can enforce something like that. Maybe soon we’ll have laser/gps/radar combo sensors installed on bikes and cars that measure to the millimeter and record violations so we can present it as evidence in court, huh? ;-)
Texas, on the other hand, had its own 3-ft. passing law vetoed by our “beloved” Gov. Rick “Good Hair” Perry, even though he appears to be a cyclist (at least occasionally), since he’s been riding the MS150 from Houston to Austin for several years now. You would think he would be a little bit more bike-friendly.
3ft isn’t enough.
Tali, three feet isn’t enough.
Oregon passed a law in the last few years that states that vehicles must give enough space to a cyclist such that if he fell over he’d have enough room to not be hit by the passing vehicle. That’s clearly more than 3 feet for nearly all riders (unless they’re on a low-slung recumbent).
Unfortunately, transit and shipping special interest groups modified the law to include only roads where the speed limit is higher than 30 MPH and excludes all situations where a sidepath (e.g. bike lane) are available. This means that on the streets of Portland, the TriMet buses can still buzz by the cyclist awfully close.
I’ve been consistently riding in the streets of Miami-Dade County for the last 17 years as an adult, including a 3-year stint as a full time cycling commuter. While it is true that 3 feet is not enough… 3 feet is more than what we get now. Even if a law like that passed, Miami-Dade county would be the last place where it would be enforced. Drivers down here are overly aggressive and for the most part don’t respect riders, pedestrians or other vehicles. But something that I have learned through the years is that some change, even if slow can be positive…
We Floridians worked long and hard to get that honor, and now they want to take it away? Is nothing sacred?
I’ve been bicycle commuting on and off for more than a decade now. Here in the capital city of Tallahassee, things are not great, but they’re getting better, and we’re nowhere as bad as south Florida. Florida is actually in many places not a bad place at all to ride a bicycle. No ice or snow, hot but not unbearably hot summers (especially near the coast), and we’re building some cutting-edge bike/ped-friendly new towns and a lot of new bicycle infrastructure in the cities. Our state trail and greenway system is in ways second to none, and we’ve got some really sweet shared use paths on the ground and the drawing board. Yes, we have a lot of catching up to do with such august places as Sacramento and Portland (and especially Roseville, CA!), but we’re not Alabama, Louisiana, or Texas, or even Atlanta, which is a horrible city to ride a bicycle in.
A lot of this is relative. Miami and Tampa are sporting places to ride a bicycle, but I’d like to point out that we’re doing some really progressive things that many other states haven’t even begun to do. And I’m still bicycle commuting when I don’t have to schelp children around or deal with summer thunderstorms!
[...] in separate incidents just hours apart. The most dangerous state for cyclists promotes its new three foot passing law. Anti-bike scaremongering reaches the boiling point in New York, even though collisions between [...]
I’m a South Florida bicycle commuter (West Palm Beach) since December of last year. I ride my bicycle every where 90% of the time. Yes, there are knuckleheads behind the wheel, but I haven’t had any serious problems. I believe most people respect me as a cyclist because I am predictable and obey traffic laws (except stop signs = yield signs to me unless there are cars there).
I was very happy to see Z-Motions commercial on T.V., it prompted me to join FBA in an effort to promote bicycle safety awareness in Florida. As Stephen mentioned, Florida is a great place to ride a bicycle! The weather is great, the scenery is beautiful and it’s flat. We just have to get city, county and state officials on board for safer streets and enforcement.