SERIES: Share the Road Florida
Remember the woman who reportedly spat on a Naples bicyclist after driving into him?Or the man who plowed into bicyclists on Fort Myers Beach? In the bloody aftermath, reports said he told a doctor, “I should have hit them harder.”
Then, there was the guy who shot at a cyclist in Cape Coral who asked him to slow down.
That all happened in 2014, a year of horror stories for bicyclists in Southwest Florida.
It was the same year Lee County hit a 14-year high for bike injuries and ranked third in the state for bicyclist fatalities. Florida is the most lethal state in the nation for bicyclists.
The sorry state of safety galvanized advocates, some local cities and politicians, law enforcement and the media toward solutions. The News-Press began its Share the Road campaign in 2014.
Then came 2015, and while it’s too soon to declare a road culture shift, the climate is looking less grim for bicyclists.
“We’ve broken through in terms of the community conversation about it,” said Darla Letourneau of the coalition BikeWalkLee.
It’s the first time in recent years that there hasn’t been a sharp increase in bike crashes in Lee County even as the number of overall traffic crashes spiked to total more than 10,000. (Though bike crashes represent only about 2 percent of overall traffic crashes, bicyclists, like walkers or motorcyclists, are prone to life-altering injuries when struck.)
Bike crashes dropped in Collier County from 137 to 100, hitting the lowest total since 2011.
There's also been fewer high-profile criminal reports of drivers intentionally targeting bicyclists.
 |
| SWFL Critical Mass bike riders (Photo: News-Press) |
He rides about four times a week.
“You get honked at less and fewer cars are buzzing you.”
Beth Brainard, executive director of the Naples Pathways Coalition, notices that more, even most, drivers now give bicyclists the three feet of space mandated by Florida law. That courtesy was not the norm two years ago, she said.
Zelman and Brainard pointed to a 2014 bike crash that seriously injured well-known Naples lawyer Chuck Kelly as one rallying point for change. The driver received a $170 fine for what was perceived as reckless driving.
Brainard also credited awareness-builders such as, NPC’s Share the Road rides, bike-friendly signage and infrastructure, media coverage and the legislative push from Rep. Kathleen Passidomo to better protect vulnerable road users. Passidomo’s law partner is Chuck Kelly. His wife, Tish, has been instrumental in lobbying for steeper penalties for drivers who injure riders, motorcyclists and walkers.
There’s also been a push for improvements in Lee County, which has ranked in the top 10 in the state for bike and pedestrian crashes. Cape Coral leaders and advocates pulled together to map out safer and scenic bike routes. A Cape Coral Bike-Ped volunteer says it's led to more people riding.
Florida Highway Patrol has been visiting high schools, doing quarterly outreach in hot-spots and installing bike lights to increase visibility. Fort Myers Police and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office received grants for bicyclist and pedestrian outreach. The progress has been notable in cities like Naples and Cape Coral, which recently received coveted bike-friendly awards from the League of American Bicyclists.
 |
| (Photo: Kinfay Moroti/news-press.com) |
“If you keep it out in the forefront and you make people aware, hopefully when you’re driving down that road and you do see that bicyclist, instead of people saying, ‘Those idiots don’t belong on the road’ you give them more room.”
As of late December, state data showed 226 Lee bike crashes in 2015, about the same number as 2014. Deaths dropped from 9 in 2014 to 4 in 2015.
Letourneau was cautiously optimistic about the figures given assumptions that the population is growing, as are the number of people walking and biking.
(Pedestrian crashes in Lee and Collier did increase somewhat over the past year.)
Letourneau praised the Florida Department of Transportation for its recently released complete streets implementation plan, which will change the way state roads are planned and designed and make those roads safer for all users. Lee County and its cities have adopted complete streets policies but have lagged in on-the-ground changes.
Research has shown it’s safer to walk and bike in places where more people bike and walk so a not-so-horrible year could bring more positive ones. Yet, one year does not signal a trend.
“That’s our hope,” said Lt. Bueno, “but we also know from years past how quickly it can fluctuate the other way.”
 |
| Share the Road |
No comments:
Post a Comment
BikeWalkLee is not responsible for the validity of any comment posted at this site and has the right to remove any comment at any time.