Are You a Distracted Driver?

This week's Lee County website features this new LeeDOT item:

Use this Pedestrian Injury Simulator to find out how speeding, using your cell phone and drinking alcohol can impair your ability to react while driving. For more information on road safety, visit Lee County Department of Transportation Traffic Section.

Approximately two-thirds of all crashes in which people are killed or injured happen on roads with a speed limit of 30mph or less. At 30mph, vehicles are traveling at 44 feet (about 3 car lengths) each second.

Run the Pedestrian Injury Simulator to see the impact of speed and various driving impairments upon your thinking and braking distances.

Click here to try the simulator!

Local ‘Ride of Silence’ May 18

What began nine years ago in Dallas as a spontaneous outpouring of grief for a friend and fellow rider, struck and killed by the mirror of a passing vehicle, has rolled across the globe to become an international annual event memorializing and honoring cyclists who have been injured and killed while riding.

The many hundreds of events share the same goals: “To honor fallen cyclists, to promote road safety, and to make a difference.”

Bike safety is not a fleeting issue, especially here in Florida which ranks the very worst in the nation for cyclist safety with the highest fatality rate six years in a row. Just within the past two months, here in Lee County four cyclists have been killed in crashes with automobiles.

This year’s local “Ride of Silence” is giving special recognition to two of those riders, Janet Rae LoFranco (2nd photo) and Tracey Kleinpell (1st photo).

LoFranco, 59, was struck and killed in Estero on Feb. 20, 2011, leaving behind Ron, her husband of 30 years; two adult children, Justin and Jacqueline; and a first grandchild expected in early June. Janet, who loved all outdoor activities, was an experienced and avid cyclist, riding for pleasure and exercise. Kleinpell, 46, also a veteran cyclist and triathlete, was killed by a driver while cycling across the Sanibel Causeway. Tracey’s husband, Gordon, was riding with her when the driver crossed the centerline, resulting in Tracey’s tragic death. Both of these fatalities were preventable and unnecessary.

The Ride of Silence, in memorializing riders injured and killed, seeks to draw motorist’s attention to cyclist’s legal rights to full use of the roadways, to inform motorists that we are here, to watch for us – as if our lives depended on it. Locally there will be two Rides of Silence both departing at 7:00 p.m. Please come out to show your support and send the message that we deserve our right to operate on our own roads. We are not just bike riders but friends and neighbors and we must all Share the Road.

Fort Myers: Caloosa Riders is organizing a ride in downtown Fort Myers . It starts at Centennial Park , 2000 W. First St. , Fort Myers (under the bridge at Heitman and Bay Streets). The ride will be 8 miles at 10-12 mph. For information, contact riderinfo@caloosariders.org, or www.caloosariders.org.

Bonita Springs : The Bonita Bay Bicycle Club's ride starts from " Riverwalk Park " within Bonita Bay . It will be a 10 mph ride, about one hour long, within Bonita Bay , escorted by BB security vehicles. Non-residents of Bonita Bay are welcome, and must contact Claude Weir, BBBC President, at least a day in advance to be cleared at the gate: cvwesq@earthlink.net.

Note: that all riders must wear a helmet.

Cyclist, 46, killed in tragic accident along causeway

Island Reporter May 12, 2011
By JEFF LYSIAK, jlysiak@breezenewspapers.com

Officials from the Florida Highway Patrol are still conducting an investigation into a fatal accident that occurred on Saturday morning, which resulted in the death of a 46-year-old cyclist from Fort Myers and caused the closure of the Sanibel Causeway for several hours.

According to the police report, Tracey and Gordon Kleinpell were riding their bicycles along the causeway, heading off the island around 10:55 a.m. A truck driven by Theresa Lynn Shirley, a resident of Bokeelia, drifted into the bike lane along Span C, striking Tracey on her bicycle. Kleinpell hit the guardrail before falling off the bridge and into San Carlos Bay.

The victim was pulled from the water by a nearby boater, but attempts to revive her were unsuccessful.

Gordon Kleinpell was not injured in the accident.

Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Owen T. Keen stated that they are investigating whether Shirley, 46, had fallen asleep at the wheel. It has not been determined whether the driver was under the influence of medication or suffered from any medical condition which may have triggered the accident.

"Something terribly went wrong and caused this crash," said Keen, who added that charges against Shirley have not been filed.

Born in New London, Ct., Tracey graduated from the New England Deaconess School of Nursing in Boston in 1989, and was in the top 10 in her class. In 1996, she earned her bachelor's degree in health care administration from Barry University in Miami, Fla. She worked as a registered nurse and began her career at Lee Memorial Hospital's Diabetes Treatment Center.

An avid athlete and marathon runner, Tracey was personal trainer and certified diabetes educator. She worked for the Cape Coral Wellness Center and had recently worked at Gateway Fitness Center and Fitness on the Move on Metro Parkway in Fort Myers.

The Kleinpell's were avid cyclists and traveled across the causeway together almost every weekend. The couple recently celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary.

As a tribute to fallen riders, both the Caloosa Riders and Bonita Bay Bicycle Club have dedicated their annual "Ride Of Silence," scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 18, to the memories of Kleinpell and Janet Rae LoFranco, a bicyclist from Estero who was killed on Feb. 20.

The "Ride of Silence" memorializes riders injured and killed, seeks to draw motorist’s attention to cyclist’s legal rights to full use of the roadways and inform motorists to keep a watchful eye for cyclists.

Witnesses at the scene of the accident reported that traffic heading towards the causeway was backed up all the way to East Gulf Drive and far up Periwinkle Way on Sanibel while law enforcement officials conducted their investigation.

According to the Sanibel Police Department's incident report, the causeway was reopened to traffic in both directions shortly after 1 p.m.

Earlier stories:
News-Press

Fox News (interview with Mary Miller, Sanibel Bicycle Club President, emphasizing importance of 3 ft. passing law)