Unfortunately though, SAFE does not believe that all bicyclists will use designated 5-foot bicycle lanes voluntarily. And, if they do not, the small number of bicyclists who flout designated 5-foot bicycle lanes will be responsible for creating a ferocious backlash from motorists. Motorists, who are many times more prominent on the road than bicyclists, will say, "why build bicycle lanes for bicyclists if they don't use them?" How can anyone argue against that logic?

except when there are obstacles in the bike lane, when safely passing another bicyclist and when making a left turn.

Bike lanes: Use them or lose them


SAFE, for Safety As Floridians Expect, has, from the very beginning of its existence, argued for separate travel lanes for all road users -- i.e., designated 5-foot bicycle lanes for bicyclists, sidewalks for pedestrians and vehicle lanes for motorists.

Bicyclists must recognize the difference between riding on a road with a designated 5-foot bicycle lane and riding on a road that has only a 3-foot paved shoulder.

SAFE believes that bicyclists should ride within the designated bicycle lane, except when there are obstacles in the lane, when passing another bicyclist if it is safe to do so, and when making a left turn.

On the other hand, where there is only a 3-foot paved shoulder, bicyclists should have the right to share the road and take the "lane" if it is not dangerous to do so.

Unfortunately, SAFE does not believe that all bicyclists will use designated bike lanes. Those who flout these lanes will be responsible for creating a backlash from motorists. They will ask, "Why build bicycle lanes for bicyclists if they don't use them?" How can anyone argue against that logic?

SAFE has fought hard for these lanes, so they should be used as intended.

Motorists should realize the benefit of bike lanes: not being inconvenienced by being stuck behind slower bicyclists. If bicyclists flout their designated lanes and pedal in vehicle lanes, drivers will have every right to be perturbed.

SAFE does not want to see public sentiment turned against the entire bicycle community. We believe that the only way of preventing that is with a new law discouraging bicyclists from riding on the road when there is a bike lane. This is in the best interest of the bicycle community. Safety is a two-way street.

Jim Smith

Chairman of SAFE

Delray Beach

Elmer "El" Parent

Parent is a member of Sarasota Manatee Bicycle Club, Florida Bicycle Association, Rails to Trails Conservancy and Manatee Friends of the Trails. He resides in Bradenton.

Thursday, February 01, 2007
A misguided effort to regulate group riders


(Updated February 2)
A visible South Florida activist, Jim Smith, is mentioned today as backing a drive to break up the large groups of riders commonly seen on popular routes such as Crandon Boulevard. The report is from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and unless you read it carefully it incorrectly suggests, ever so subtly, that former bike racer Raphael Clemente also supports the idea.

The two men are probably right that clumps of 50 or more riders don't help the image of bicycling, and they certainly discomfit motorists. Sometimes a group ride will include hotshots who barrel through intersections in disregard of signs and signals, risking harm to others as well as themselves. Current traffic laws, of course, address that misbehavior and I believe give law enforcement suitable tools to bring reckless riding into check.

The danger I see in Smith's proposal, launched on behalf of his Palm Beach County organization, SAFE (Safety as Floridians Expect), is that he also wants to require that cyclists use bicycle paths wherever they exist. That would be a step backward -- both in safety and in encouraging bicycle transportation. Not all paths are good ones, which is why skillful riders often prefer a public road. Then there's the issue of crossing side streets and driveways, where riders are more vulnerable to collision on the path than they are on the main street.

Sorry, Mr. Smith, I believe your plan is a bad one. We just have to support enforcement of the present traffic laws -- which do, after all, fully apply to bicyclists -- and at the same time use peer pressure and public scorn to tamp down the cut-ups who give group riding a bad name.

SAFE believes that in their best interest, all bicyclists should ride within a designated 5-foot bicycle lane, except when there are obstacles in the bike lane, when safely passing another bicyclist and when making a left turn.

Title XXIII MOTOR VEHICLES
Chapter 316 STATE UNIFORM TRAFFIC CONTROL
316.2065 Bicycle regulations.--
(5)(a) Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway except under any of the following situations:

1. When overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle proceeding in the same direction.

2. When preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.

3. When reasonably necessary to avoid any condition, including, but not limited to, a fixed or moving object, parked or moving vehicle, bicycle, pedestrian, animal, surface hazard, or substandard-width lane, that makes it unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge. For the purposes of this subsection, a "substandard-width lane" is a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle and another vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.

(b) Any person operating a bicycle upon a one-way highway with two or more marked traffic lanes may ride as near the left-hand curb or edge of such roadway as practicable.