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Governor Crist considering changes in the way bike lanes are regulated

June 03, 2010: Governor Charlie Crist has until Saturday to decide whether to sign a bill that would change some rules of the road for Florida bicyclists. The measure would require them to stay in marked bike lanes whenever possible - but cyclists say it could make sharing the road even harder.

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Click here to listen to story.

 

Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly labeled Rep. Gary Aubuchon's office as Coral Springs, he is from Cape Coral.

 THE SCENE

     It’s a warm, sunny and humid Florida morning and cycling activist Keri Caffrey is contemplating a ride down busy Orange avenue south of downtown Orlando.  Caffrey runs a blog called Commute Orlando that helps cyclists find safe routes to their destinations using their bikes. She’s turning high revolutions about a law headed to Governor Charlie Crist that would change the way Florida regulates bicycle lanes and says "Bike lanes don’t necessarily put cyclists on the best position on the road".

Caffrey says if cyclists are riding in the middle of a lane faster vehicles will pass slower ones in a natural way.  But she says putting a bike lane stripe down the side of a road changes that natural dynamic, "when you take the slow vehicles or the bicyclist off to the side and they’re going straight and you have traffic that’s turning left and turning right and you put that bicyclist in a position where they’re really not noticed and they’re really not seen and they’re also in conflict with turning movements of other vehicles you set up for conflicts".

I join Caffrey on Orange Ave on my bike to find out what it’s like riding in Central Florida’s heavy traffic. As I ride, we seem to do ok, cars are going around us, big trucks are going around us, no problem so far...Things changed when we got into a bike lane on an unbroken stretch of road….cars started moving faster and weren’t moving over to pass us. 

WHY THE CHANGE?    

Bill sponsor Gary Aubuchon likes to ride his bike too and says "first of all my own biking experience mirrors what you went through.  Current law requires bicyclists to ride as close to the right side of the roadway as possible - it doesn’t even mention bike lanes.  The Cape Coral republican says he inserted the bike lane mandate after a fellow lawmaker brought a south Florida cycling problem to his attention, "along A1A they were having some challenges with cyclists who were choosing not to ride in that lane and causing backups and traffic.  In that case it will give law enforcement the ability to require cyclists to move over and stay in the bike lane rather than to simply choose to ride in the road instead".

Aubuchon wonders if taxpayers should continue paying to build bike lanes if cyclists aren’t going to use them,  "I think at the end by the governor signing this bill he will actually give us the tools, the ammunition if you will to make the case for more cycling lanes  in our state."

BACK ON THE STREET

     But a lot of cyclists worry spelling out the requirement to use existing bike lanes   will make police start pulling out their ticket books for minor infractions ... even though the new language would preserve current exceptions for avoiding potholes, passing other bikes, and making left hand turns.  Back on Orange Ave. cycling activist Keri Caffrey meets up with bike rider Katherine Vaccaro who recently relocated from the Florida Keys where the pace is a little slower.    Vaccaro doesn’t like the heavy traffic near her house. So she asked for some help finding a better route to her local grocery store and learning how to ride in heavy traffic.

      After riding around downtown Orlando Vaccaro says the bike lane law before the Governor’s desk has her concerned.  "I’m already worried about what the rules are and how to find out what the rules are.  I think there’s enough confusion that if they just do this without a lot of great communication it’s going to be much worse".

     Florida’s Bicycling Association and several local groups have asked   Governor  Crist to Veto the measure.  He has until Saturday to make a decision -- so far, he's gotten more than fifteen hundred email requests for a veto and only 205 emails asking him to sign the bill.

Cycling activist Keri Caffrey

Cycling Activist Keri Caffrey

Cyclists Katherine Vaccaro and Keri Caffrey

Cyclists Katherine Vaccaro and Keri Caffrey

mark and the truck

90.7s Mark Simpson on the streets of Orlando.  Note the mic and headphones for recording

Mark in Bike Lane

Bus comes close to 90.7s Mark Simpson in Orlando Bike Lane. Still recording!

 

 

 

 

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