ATTENTION Florida cyclists! FL Legislature passes mandatory bike-lane-use law
05-05-10, 03:00 PM
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ATTENTION Florida cyclists! FL Legislature passes mandatory bike-lane-use law
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...nsult-cyclists
^
Unbeknownst to Florida Bicycle Association, a mandatory bike lane use provision was included in the Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles bill. The bill also allows local governments to permit mopeds, golf-carts and other motorized vehicles on sidewalks and trails.
Email and/or call Governor Crist as soon as you can to ask him to veto this bill. Florida already has a "ride as far right as practicable" law, so a cyclist who is riding in that manner would already be in a bike lane, if one exists, according to the present law. Under the best interpretation, the change in the law is not good for cyclists and confusing for everybody - the new wording is not completely clear and could be interpreted by an officer or judge that a bicycle is forbidden to leave the bike lane under any circumstances.
In short, the amended law does nothing but eliminate all of the already too limited exceptions, and opens YOU up for harassment by motorists and law enforcement whenever a bike lane is present.
So far, there have only been 200 calls/e-mails made/sent to the governor's office. We need at least 2500 to have a realistic chance of having it vetoed.
Email Crist and your representatives now. Remember, it is best if you send an email, even better if you email and call:
Governor Crist:
EMAIL: Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com
PHONE: (850) 488-7146 or (850) 488-4441
Lieutenant Governor Kottkamp:
EMAIL: Jeff.Kottkamp@MyFlorida.com
Senator Bill Nelson:
CONTACT AT: https://billnelson.senate.gov/
Look up your state representative here:
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
Additional discussion can be found here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...nsult-cyclists
https://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/...overnor-crist/
Thank you for your time. Please send in your concerns to the governor.
-Kurt
^
Unbeknownst to Florida Bicycle Association, a mandatory bike lane use provision was included in the Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles bill. The bill also allows local governments to permit mopeds, golf-carts and other motorized vehicles on sidewalks and trails.
Email and/or call Governor Crist as soon as you can to ask him to veto this bill. Florida already has a "ride as far right as practicable" law, so a cyclist who is riding in that manner would already be in a bike lane, if one exists, according to the present law. Under the best interpretation, the change in the law is not good for cyclists and confusing for everybody - the new wording is not completely clear and could be interpreted by an officer or judge that a bicycle is forbidden to leave the bike lane under any circumstances.
In short, the amended law does nothing but eliminate all of the already too limited exceptions, and opens YOU up for harassment by motorists and law enforcement whenever a bike lane is present.
So far, there have only been 200 calls/e-mails made/sent to the governor's office. We need at least 2500 to have a realistic chance of having it vetoed.
Email Crist and your representatives now. Remember, it is best if you send an email, even better if you email and call:
Governor Crist:
EMAIL: Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com
PHONE: (850) 488-7146 or (850) 488-4441
Lieutenant Governor Kottkamp:
EMAIL: Jeff.Kottkamp@MyFlorida.com
Senator Bill Nelson:
CONTACT AT: https://billnelson.senate.gov/
Look up your state representative here:
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
Additional discussion can be found here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...nsult-cyclists
https://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/...overnor-crist/
Thank you for your time. Please send in your concerns to the governor.
-Kurt
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Last edited by cudak888; 05-06-10 at 08:52 PM.
05-06-10, 08:54 PM
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It's not a case of the existence of bike lanes or not, it's a case of being forbidden to leave it - plus the ambiguous wording of the law, which allows law enforcement to ticket you for actions that keep you safe.
-Kurt
-Kurt
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05-08-10, 11:29 AM
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Hello fellows,
If you've been following the other threads on HB 971, you'll know that I started a petition site, https://vetohb971.x10hosting.com/, so that individuals who do not have time to send an email may submit a prepared letter to Governor Crist's email inbox, asking for a veto.
That said, I have devised the following flyer for distribution to local cyclists and local bike shops. Obviously, since I'm in Miami, I can only take care of a limited area. That's where you come in:
https://vetohb971.x10hosting.com/vetohb971.doc
If you live in Florida, and would like to help in the effort to veto HB 971, feel free to download and print copies of this flyer. File is in Microsoft Word .DOC format. Pass it out to your friends and your local bike shops. Make as many copies as you like. <b>Get the word out.</b>
-Kurt
If you've been following the other threads on HB 971, you'll know that I started a petition site, https://vetohb971.x10hosting.com/, so that individuals who do not have time to send an email may submit a prepared letter to Governor Crist's email inbox, asking for a veto.
That said, I have devised the following flyer for distribution to local cyclists and local bike shops. Obviously, since I'm in Miami, I can only take care of a limited area. That's where you come in:
https://vetohb971.x10hosting.com/vetohb971.doc
If you live in Florida, and would like to help in the effort to veto HB 971, feel free to download and print copies of this flyer. File is in Microsoft Word .DOC format. Pass it out to your friends and your local bike shops. Make as many copies as you like. <b>Get the word out.</b>
-Kurt
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05-08-10, 06:48 PM
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On your web email form there is no asterisk next to telephone number, yet when I try to submit without it I'm told it's a required field. I'm not interested in being added to a robocalling database for the state so I'd rather leave it out.
I don't ride on the roads, I'm scared to death to even think about it as I see how people drive near them. I read one of your emails on this topic a few days ago and the next day while riding to work I paid attn to the condition of the bike lane and I was astonished. I have a fairly short commute and most of the BL was clear of debris (except for 1 shoe). However the stretch closest to my house was a mess.
Broken glass, sheet of sod, misc debris, dead palm branches, dead armadillo...I can't believe what a mess it was! It doesn't bother me personally since I don't use the BL's, but now that I'm getting into cycling I'm seeing things from a cyclists perspective. What if I HAD to ride to work? I have a mountain bike and wouldn't be comfortable riding through that. I appreciate your efforts to get the news out. If the BL's were reasonable this might be a different issue for me but after seeing what I saw I'm ready to sign the petition..sans ph#.
I don't ride on the roads, I'm scared to death to even think about it as I see how people drive near them. I read one of your emails on this topic a few days ago and the next day while riding to work I paid attn to the condition of the bike lane and I was astonished. I have a fairly short commute and most of the BL was clear of debris (except for 1 shoe). However the stretch closest to my house was a mess.
Broken glass, sheet of sod, misc debris, dead palm branches, dead armadillo...I can't believe what a mess it was! It doesn't bother me personally since I don't use the BL's, but now that I'm getting into cycling I'm seeing things from a cyclists perspective. What if I HAD to ride to work? I have a mountain bike and wouldn't be comfortable riding through that. I appreciate your efforts to get the news out. If the BL's were reasonable this might be a different issue for me but after seeing what I saw I'm ready to sign the petition..sans ph#.
05-08-10, 08:26 PM
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I do ride on the road and think you make a great point that the bike lanes need to be cleaner. I'm not going to protest this bill, though. I'm always happy when there is a bike lane. And I think we should stay in it.
05-09-10, 07:40 AM
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-Kurt
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05-09-10, 07:52 AM
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Ok - it should work properly now. Give it a try.
-Kurt
-Kurt
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05-09-10, 08:49 AM
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Another Bikeforums.net member put it quite well:
There is something that I can see happening because of this revision.
That is that a commuter cyclist has no choice but to take a route that includes one or more bike lanes. They are in their opinion unusable, either because of being too narrow, damaged or cluttered with debris. There is a cop who patrols said street(s) s/he thinks that said bike lane(s) is/are usable (never haven ridden a bike after getting his/her license) and tickets said cyclist. Cyclist goes to court and fights and wins.
A short while goes by and the cop again sees the commuter cyclist out going to work or coming home. Sees that they are not in the bike lane and tickets them again. And again they take it to court and fight it and again wins.
How many times of having to take it to court to win do you think it will take before our intrepid cyclist decides that it isn't worth the fight and puts the bike in the garage and starts to use their car again to commute to work?
Or even worse, our cyclist takes it to court gets a judge who isn't bike friendly and rules against them. Forcing them to appeal to a higher court? Again how many times of having to go to court to fight for their rights do you think it would take for the average person to "hang up" their bike?
That is that a commuter cyclist has no choice but to take a route that includes one or more bike lanes. They are in their opinion unusable, either because of being too narrow, damaged or cluttered with debris. There is a cop who patrols said street(s) s/he thinks that said bike lane(s) is/are usable (never haven ridden a bike after getting his/her license) and tickets said cyclist. Cyclist goes to court and fights and wins.
A short while goes by and the cop again sees the commuter cyclist out going to work or coming home. Sees that they are not in the bike lane and tickets them again. And again they take it to court and fight it and again wins.
How many times of having to take it to court to win do you think it will take before our intrepid cyclist decides that it isn't worth the fight and puts the bike in the garage and starts to use their car again to commute to work?
Or even worse, our cyclist takes it to court gets a judge who isn't bike friendly and rules against them. Forcing them to appeal to a higher court? Again how many times of having to go to court to fight for their rights do you think it would take for the average person to "hang up" their bike?
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05-09-10, 11:03 AM
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