WGCU recorded the entire meeting and posted the testimony of all the speakers on their website (BWL testimony on afternoon video at 55:27-1:01). Also see the Cape Coral Mayor's statement that asked for funding for sidewalks near schools (see Exhibit G).
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| BWL's Darla Letourneau with Rep. Fitzenhagen at 10/14 mtg |
Members of Lee County Legislative Delegation:
BikeWalkLee, a coalition working
to complete Lee County's streets, promotes policies that enhance the safety and
usability of our roadways. BikeWalkLee
wishes to thank the Lee Legislative Delegation for its support of several of
our priority requests last year, which were enacted and/or advanced during the
last Legislative Session. The purpose of this letter is to highlight important
priorities we hope the delegation will support in the upcoming legislative
session:
1) Efforts to strengthen
laws that make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists;
2) Focused strategies that enhance economic development through
bike tourism;
3) State support for a robust public transit system; and
4) Equitable distribution
of transportation dollars to SWFL.
1. Stronger laws for bike/ped safety
Our top priority continues to be the need for stronger laws and
enforcement tools to make Florida roadways safer for pedestrians and cyclists. For over a
decade, Florida has held the dubious distinction of being the most dangerous state
in the country for pedestrians and cyclists.
(Locally , Lee County ranks in the top quarter of the most dangerous
areas in the state.) In August, there was yet another report
confirming Florida's "worst in country" ranking--this one by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This national report found that Florida had the highest rate of
bicycling deaths of any state in the nation--0.57 per 100,000 people, more than
double the nationwide rate of 0.23 per 100,000.
As the recent Tampa Tribune
article stated, "Perhaps most disturbing, while other states have found
ways to dramatically cut bicycle deaths during two periods measured over the
last three decades, Florida has barely made a dent--reducing the number less
than 10 percent. Only Wyoming made a
poorer showing."
One of the reasons Florida has
made so little progress is its lax driver safety laws. Florida ranks as the seventh worst state for
driver safety laws, as ranked by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. There is clearly a relationship between high
bike/ped fatality rates and lax driver safety laws. It is critical that Gov. Scott and the
Florida Legislature continue to make roadway safety the top transportation
priority, with a goal of greatly reducing bike/ped fatalities.
Our top legislative priority
last year and again this year is enactment of HB 231, the bike safety bill
introduced and championed by Rep. Passidomo and co-sponsored by Rep.
Fitzenhagen. It was extremely
disappointing to see this bill, which passed both the House and Senate almost
unanimously, become a casualty of the abrupt ending of the Legislative Session
last year. We are pleased to see that
Rep. Passidomo has already introduced a strengthened version of her bill for
the 2016 legislative session. It is gratifying
to see the Southwest Florida legislative delegation play a statewide leadership role in improving
the safety of our roads for people biking and walking. This effort is strongly supported by our
community--the Lee MPO, the Collier County Commission, municipalities in
Southwest Florida, the local media, as well as Naples Pathways Coalition and
BikeWalkLee. We urge you to again
lead this fight for improved safety for cyclists and make enactment of this
bill a top priority for the upcoming session.
We also appreciate the
Delegation's support of Gabby's Law for Student Safety, which was enacted last
year. This bill changes the "hazardous walking conditions" criteria
and requires both local governments and school districts to work on fixing the
hazards within a reasonable timeframe.
It is another tool aimed at making it safer for school children to walk
or bike to school, and local communities will be working on its implementation
this year.
The Florida Dept. of
Transportation (FDOT) continues its statewide bike/ped safety campaign, led by FDOT District 1 Secretary Billy Hattaway, aimed
at reversing Florida's dubious distinction of being the most dangerous state in
the nation for cyclists and pedestrians.
This Fall, FDOT will be announcing policy and guidance changes to
implement its 2014 complete streets policy, which will provide additional tools
for state and local agencies to change the way roads are designed so that
they're safer for all users. Support
by the Governor and the Legislature for these positive FDOT initiatives are important to sustain the momentum and
focus on improving Florida's dismal bike/ped safety record.
While FDOT has made bike/ped
safety a top priority and Secretary Hattaway is providing strong leadership, it
will take time before we see the benefits in terms of fewer bike/ped fatalities
and injuries. The issues that have made our state so dangerous are deeply
imbedded in road design and land use. Change requires support from state laws,
enforcement, public awareness, and driver behavior. Similar to successful drunk driving and
seatbelt campaigns, it takes years of work using many different tools to change
people's behavior and get results. Over
the past three years, the Legislature has begun to strengthen its driver safety
laws, but much remains to be done.
In addition to passing
legislation to strengthen the laws, it is important that the new laws be
aggressively implemented by both law enforcement agencies and the judicial
system. For example, while the Legislature's
2014 enactment of the Aaron Cohen Life Protection Act (strengthens penalties for leaving the scene of a
crash and was named for the Miami cyclist who was killed by a hit-and-run
driver in 2012) was a major step forward,
aggressive enforcement and prosecution of this law is critical to
stopping the growing number of hit-and-run crashes. The Florida Highway Patrol
(FHP)is to be commended for making this a priority, however, hit-and-run
crashes in Florida are a growing problem and much more needs to be done by the
entire law enforcement community and judicial system. While we are not proposing further
legislation at this time, anything that our state legislative leaders
can do to encourage law enforcement to aggressively enforce and prosecute the
law you passed in 2014 would be appreciated.
While the Florida Legislature
finally adopted a “texting while driving” ban in 2012, it was only a first step
and a weak bill. Distracted driving
(including texting while driving) is contributing to the rise in the share of
traffic fatalities involving pedestrians and cyclists, including the increase
in hit-and-run crashes. It is critically
important that the Legislature take action this year to strengthen the texting
law so that texting while driving is made a primary offense. Last year we
supported HB 1, which made texting while driving a primary offense, doubled the
fines, and provided enhanced penalties for violations when committed in a
school zone or school crossing. We
urge the Lee delegation to not only support this legislation, but to champion
it.
It is also important that
the Legislature not adopt legislation that will worsen our existing road
safety problems, such as bills to raise speed
limits on Florida roads any other bill
that would make matters worse.
A new urgency to focus on this
issue was reflected in the Surgeon General recent national "Call to
Action" to make walking a national priority. This campaign focuses on the need to build communities where walking
is a safe and convenient option. Not only
is this critical to fighting the obesity epidemic, it is important to the economic health of our communities. Over and over,
people have shown that they want to live
and work in walkable communities. As the
most dangerous state in the country for people to walk and bike, Florida is
starting off with a serious handicap in providing its citizens with the tools--
safe and accessible walking and biking infrastructure--that provides the ability to stay physically active and
healthy. There is pent-up demand for
walkable communities. Those areas around the country that have created vibrant
walkable neighborhoods are reaping the economic benefits from their investment,
while Florida lags behind. Much is at
stake for Florida's future in making our roadways and streets safer for
pedestrians and cyclists. We urge
the Legislature to make walkability and bike/ped safety a higher priority and
an integral part of the State's economic development strategy.
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