Bike Laws and Infrastructure

In Florida, as in most states, the most important bike law for cyclists and car drivers to remember is that both vehicles have the same rights, and must follow the same rules. This includes signaling, respecting lights, and yielding to pedestrians. However, because of their relative size, cyclists are considered a vulnerable road user and current state law requires drivers passing to give cyclists at least three feet of space (Florida Bicycling Association).

Image from Florida Bicycling Association 

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A notable bike law is called the Idaho stop. Legal in Idaho, and soon Delaware, the Idaho stop is when a cyclist is allowed to treat stop signs as a yield. This law is in response to a significant barrier to people choosing cycling: it’s really hard to get going once you’ve stopped, particularly in a hilly area (Boomhower, 2009). Bikes are the most efficient form of transportation per energy input, but they have to be able to maintain momentum to be efficient. Critics of this law include disability advocate organizations who are worried cyclists will only look for cars and not pedestrians at crosswalks. This law works well in Idaho, but Idaho is  a state with a strong bike culture. Car drivers in other states might not view this is acceptable, and many legislators are not interested.

Image from video "Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop"

Florida has the highest rate of cyclist injury/fatalities in the US. Drivers here don’t respect the rights of cyclists. In my personal experience, if I take the lane (move to the far left) to be safer, and it’s not right near campus, I get yelled at and honked at almost every time.

An important component for legitimizing cycling as a form of transportation, not just recreation, is building bike infrastructure. Cities can be encouraged or limited in building bike infrastructure by factors such as money, existing street design, and political will. The most simple form of bike infrastructure is a shared street. Technically, all streets in a city with low speed limits should be shared, but shared streets usually include sharrows to indicate to cars that bikes will be using this road too. Shared streets are a step in the right direction!

screenshot from Google Earth 

The next step “up” are protected bike lanes. Protected bike lanes are usually painted green, and have a variety of markers, like posts or cement blocks, that are between the bike lane and the car lane (Beuhler and Pucher, 2012). These physical separations offer some protections from cars, but (in my personal opinion/experience)  the protection has more to do with the lanes “seeming more official”, which makes cars pay more attention and cyclists feel more secure.

Image from bikecommuters.com

Some major cities have cycle tracks. These are paths separated from the car lanes by on-street parking, or medians. These lanes are much safer, and serve as a buffer for protecting pedestrians (Buehler and Pucher, 2012). If cycle tracks, and other kinds of bike lanes too, are near on-street parking then opening car doors can be a danger for cyclists.

Image from The Park Catalog

Bike infrastructure also includes bike parking. Many places, if they offer, offer basic racks. The most important part is that the rack is securely bolted to the ground, and doesn’t contain any wood components. Some facilities cover bike racks, which is nice. Some companies and state agencies, like FDOT, offer bike lockers (which use a key) to employees.

Image: Reuter Associates, 2009

Works Cited
Buehler, Ralph and Pucher, John. (2012). City Cycling. Massachusetts: The MIT Press

Florida Bicycling Association. "Overview of Florida Laws for Cyclists". n.d. http://floridabicycle.org/bicycle-traffic-law/

Boomhower, Spencer. (2009) "Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop"https://vimeo.com/4140910