In light of last week's release of the 2016 Dangerous by Design national report (pedestrian safety) ranking the Lee County metro area as the most dangerous in the nation for pedestrians and Florida the most dangerous state, our recommendations to the delegation to enact and strengthen transportation safety laws, esp. for vulnerable road users, takes on new urgency. [Link to BWL's 1/10/17 blog on national report.]
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Members of Lee County
Legislative Delegation:
BikeWalkLee is an award-winning volunteer community coalition
with 70 supporter organizations raising public awareness and advocating for
complete streets in Lee County and promoting policies that enhance the safety
of Florida's roadways. The purpose of
this letter is to highlight two important priorities we hope the delegation
will support in the upcoming legislative session:
1)
Provide enforcement tools to restrict the use of electronic devises that takes
one's focus off driving (including texting while driving); and strengthen laws
that make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
2)
Focused strategies that enhance economic development through bike tourism.
1. Strengthen driver safety laws to enhance 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 more than
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.)
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 Florida
make safety for all roadway users its top transportation priority.
Across the country overall traffic fatalities have surged in the
past two years by 7.2% in 2015 and an estimated 10.2% in the first half of
2016--the largest annual percentage increases in 50 years. In Lee County, 2016 has already set a 10-year
record of over 109 fatal traffic crashes--a 15% increase over 2015. Likewise, Lee County's bike/ped injuries and
fatalities continue at high levels, with 10 bicyclist fatalities in 2016--tying
with the County's 16-year record high (in 2014).
Most experts agree that the primary cause of the surge in traffic
fatalities is distracted driving, increasingly caused by the use of smartphones
and internet apps. Vulnerable road users
-- pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists -- are at the greatest risk when
drivers take their eyes off the road. This is a crisis that can no longer be
ignored by the state of Florida.
While the Florida Legislature finally adopted a “texting while
driving” ban in 2012, it was a weak bill and only a first step in addressing
this growing epidemic. Florida is one of
only 11 states that doesn't make texting while driving a primary offense. Since the 2012 bill was enacted, the share of
Americans with smart phones has increased from 55 percent to 70 percent and the
number of apps available for use by drivers today has exploded, further
exacerbating the problem.
According to the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
division, in 2015 12.2 percent of all crashes in Florida involved distracted
driving, which includes texting and using your cell phone. This means that more than 39,000 injuries and
200 fatalities in Florida involved a distracted driver.
It is critically important that the Legislature take action this
year to address the growing dangers
presented by the use of electronic devices while driving. At the very minimum, the Legislature must strengthen the texting law so that texting while
driving is made a primary offense.
In previous legislative sessions, bills have been introduced 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. However, in each of the past four
years, the Legislature has failed to take any action to strengthen its weak
anti-texting law, and took no action to address the broader causes of
distracted driving.
For the 2017 session of the Florida Legislature, State Reps.
Richard Stark and Emily Slosberg have filed a bill that would make texting
while driving a primary offense. We urge
the Lee delegation to not only support this legislation, but to strengthen and champion it. Sun Sentinel's excellent Dec. 15, 2016,
editorial, "Get Tougher on Texting and Driving,"(attached) makes a
compelling case for legislative action.
Another important long-term component in making Florida's
roadways safer for pedestrians and cyclists is the implementation of FDOT's
Complete Streets Implementation Plan.
This Plan, when fully implemented by 2018, will provide additional tools
for state and local agencies to change the way roads are designed so that
they're safer for all users. We urge the Legislature to continue to
support FDOT's Complete Streets initiative.
Finally, in addition to the safety imperative for improving the
mobility of all citizens, providing safe walking and biking facilities is a key
ingredient to improving the nation's health.
For the past several years, Lee County has participated in a national
campaign to make walking a priority, with a focus 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 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 unmet 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.
2.
Focused strategies for economic development through bike tourism
We see bike tourism as a winning economic development strategy
for Florida. This lucrative niche market
is especially attractive for international travelers and a younger
demographic. With Florida's temperate
winters and flat terrain, the opportunity for destination bike tourism has an
enormous potential for high returns on our investment in Florida.
BikeWalkLee has long supported the vision of a connected and
integrated statewide trail system throughout Florida. We applauded the
Delegation's support of the 275 mile Coast-to-Coast Trail from St. Petersburg
to Cape Canaveral National Seashore (funded by the Florida Legislature in
2013-2014), and your support for the creation of a new program, called
SUNTrails (Shared-Use Nonmotorized (SUN) Trail Network, to be managed by the
Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT) with annual funding of $25 million.
Last year we collaborated with the nine contiguous Metropolitan
Planning Organizations (MPO) from Hillsborough to Collier counties in a
regional alliance in support of making the Southwest Coastal Regional Trail the
next priority region of the statewide trail plan. Although the Southwest Coast Regional Trail
was not selected as the next statewide priority, Lee County was successful in
its SUNTrail grant applications to undertake two projects on the Southwest
Coast Connector route -- the Kismet Parkway shared use path in Cape Coral,
which is receiving $5.5 million in state SUN Trail grants to design and
partially construct the project (part of
the Charlotte Lee Hendry Trail); and funds for the PD & E study for the
last segment of the popular John Yarborough Linear Park Trail in Fort
Myers.
Bike tourism is already gaining traction in Lee County with the 2014
completion of Cape Coral's 90-mile bicycle routes system. This route system makes use of existing
biking facilities and ties them together with a comprehensive wayfinding system
of signs and maps. This project has quickly elevated Cape Coral as a tourist
biking destination and has sparked greatly increased usage of the facilities by
residents and tourists alike, which led to Cape Coral winning a coveted
national "Bicycle-Friendly Community" designation, which in turn
brings more bike tourism to the area.
Further enhancing the county's biking facilities, the Lee MPO has
completed construction of 13 more miles of facilities as part of its Complete
Streets Initiative Project (funded with a $10 million federal TIGER grant). A
soon-to-be installed wayfinding system will connect the new facilities to the
existing ones. The newly expanded and connected
shared-use path system in the area will allow a cyclist to ride continuously at
least 60 miles, and sets the stage for
enhanced economic benefits from bike tourism.
We urge the Delegation to
continue its support for the SUNTrail program (especially the Southwest Coast
Regional Trail in our region), provide full funding, and continue to look for
new opportunities for economic development through bike tourism. Bike tourism in the United States has an
annual economic impact of $47 billion.
Florida's already one of the country's top markets for tourism, and with
Florida's climate and flat terrain, we can position both SWFL and the entire
state to get a bigger piece of the national bike tourism pie.
Both of our priorities for this legislative session are
interrelated: For the full benefits of
bike tourism to be realized, it is critical that Florida rid itself of the
label as the most dangerous state in the country for cyclists and pedestrians.
We look forward to continuing to work with you on these issues.
Sincerely,
/s/
Darla Letourneau
on behalf of BikeWalkLee
cc: County Commissioners
Attachment: Dec. 15, 2016, Sun Sentinel editorial: “Get tougher on texting and
driving"
[Link to BWL's Statement, including attachment]
[Link to BWL's Statement, including attachment]
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