Originally Posted by
jdec42
Well a south Florida update, there are three main road clubs in my area, Memorial, Weston Flyers and South Broward Wheelers, I'm a member of the latter and former ride director. In the last week we have had one member put in the hospital by a hit and run driver that left him for dead and nearly succeeded and yesterday an irate driver went into a rage with our group which came close to fists flying but thankfully not. It's getting hotter and tempers are flaring, we've just been voted the worst area for road rage in the country and the cyclist is the easiest target, guess we'll have to live with it.
Sorry to hear about the rider that was hit, I heard about it. It happens quite regularly in fact WSVN in SE FL had a report on this about 6 months ago when a couple, mid 50's were struck and left on the curb.
I think now that this thread actually took off, it needs to be said FL is big, it is not defineable to one type of driver. What we have are old FL, Retirees, relocated ex-pat Canadians, general tourism, immigrants, illegal drivers even American ones, SUV's SUV's and more SUV's and of course hot rods (Vettes, Mustangs, Lambos, Ferraris, BMW's, Jap rockets etc...). The general feel while driving a car differs greatly throughout the state, but SEFL is by far the most aggressive and probably most dangerous for cyclists.
Much like a previous post last year I commuted 25 miles each way and then I decided this was too dangerous (scars to prove it). Now I do early and late rides in quiet rural or dirt roads or even stick to markham, Oleta and Amelia Earhart parks.
Be safe and be careful on Miami's mountain the Key Biscayne bridge!!! Many a riders downfall.