How long before we get safer roads?
The Rickenbacker claims more as Miami-Dade government leaders continue to do nothing
To those of us in South Florida this sad, infuriating news isn’t news at all. This past Sunday evening a couple riding their bicycles were killed by a driver on the Rickenbacker Causeway. What happened to Ogniana Reyes and Yaudys Vera has happened to so many others over the years, whether injured or killed. It doesn’t matter that these riders are on the bicycle lane or on the traffic lane. I once represented a bicyclist riding in the bike lane that was hit by, of all people, a Miami-Dade County employee. There comes a time when government leaders need to realize that paint isn’t enough.
Rickenbacker Causeway travels across Biscayne Bay and links the Village of Key Biscayne with the City of Miami.
This entire stretch, which ends at the Bill Baggs State Park, links sites like the Miami Seaquarium, Virginia Key Park, Miami Marine Stadium, and Crandon Park with beaches and beautiful water on either side.
It is one of the most picturesque roads to walk, ride, and drive along.
Unfortunately, the road itself is essentially a 6 and 4 lane highway with a speed limit of 45 miles per hour. Anyone who has spent 5 minutes on the roads in South Florida can tell you that speed limits are treated as a suggestion for a driver’s base speed. And the only thing protecting bicyclists riding in the bicycle lane is a strip of white paint.
While details regarding the crash have been limited, it is clear from photographs and videos taken at the scene that the two riders were hit from behind on the bike lane by the driver of an SUV going at a considerable speed. Those are images and videos I won’t post here. The photo below, though, is of roughly the area where the crash took place.
It isn’t surprising that there would be some kind of conflict with the road design the way it is and South Florida drivers the way they drive.
Of course, there are calls for stiffer penalties for drivers who injure and kill bicyclists and pedestrians and there should be, but that isn’t going to stop driver behavior. The roads of South Florida need to be designed and redesigned to ensure the safety of all of its users, including pedestrians and bicyclists. Throwing some paint on the ground isn’t going to slow drivers down and force them to focus.
The problems on Rickenbacker exist on roads across the region and state. Yet government leaders believe only small, superficial steps will lead to big, life-saving changes when the reality is quite the opposite. Drivers across South Florida continue to hit bicyclists riding in painted bike lanes, whether it be the Ogniana and Yaudys this past weekend or Sunny LaValle in Weston almost a year ago to the day.
Until government leaders start taking these deaths and injuries seriously, and the impact it has on their family and friends, nothing is going to change. It is on us to make them take it seriously.
Walk Bike Tampa taking action to help government leaders make changes
Across the state from South Florida, Walk Bike Tampa is working with county officials in raising awareness on the dangers to pedestrians and bicyclists in Hillsborough County. As reported by 10 Tampa Bay (WTSP), the board of Hillsborough County Commissioners has put a referendum on the November 2022 ballot to add 1 cent to sales tax to pay specifically for road safety improvements like bike lanes, sidewalks, intersection improvements, lighting, and other road improvements.
As the article notes, the Governor Highway Safety Association states that Florida had 182 fatal bicycle crashes in 2021 with a 31% increase in pedestrian deaths, giving the state the second highest rate in the country.
“A lot of Florida was designed around cars a lot of our neighborhoods were built with cars in mind," Walk Bike Tampa board member Emily Hinsdale says. "So we are desperately trying to catch up on infrastructure that provides the opportunities for different kinds of mobility to be safe.”
It’s through people and groups like these that we can get our elected leaders to wake up and create meaningful change.
Welcome to the new sport of e-scooter racing
From across the pond, we have the new sport of electric scooter racing debuting in London, England. This new series, dubbed the eSkootr Championship (eSC), is planned to take place in city centers around the world, according to Reuters, including Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, and the U.S.
The first race in London this past weekend was won by Swiss rider Matis Neyroud on a 12-turn, 470-meter course. The e-scooters top out at speeds just over 60 miles per hour, making them illegal for Florida’s streets.
The stated idea behind the new sport is to promote and develop micromobility (in this form, the e-scooter) in the same way cars were in the early 1900s.
"At the same time we have a mission to help governments, cities, to develop safe riders and to work with cities on the right way of using these scooters,” according to Khalil Beschir, a co-founder of eSC.
"It’s where cars used to be in 1910," he said of the arrival in numbers of electric scooters on city streets four or five years ago.
"People complained about them, hated them when they came to the cities: 'they are not safe, they are everywhere'," he said. "We use the racing to be a lab, of safety, of infrastructure, of technology.”
The new series has attracted the interest of Formula One racers Nico Hulkenberg, Alex Wurz, and Lucas Di Grassi.
"Beside our sporting ambition, from the first minute I said micromobility is such a hot, fast growing topic and sector we have an obligation to create a synergy between racing and road safety,” said Wurz.
E-scooter operators looking to comply with San Francisco’s ban on sidewalk riding
With sidewalk riding banned in San Francisco, electric scooter sharing companies Lime, Scoot, and Spin are looking for ways to ensure their riders comply. As the San Francisco Chronicle reports, the three companies are working to transition their combined fleets of 5,500 e-scooters to using the new technologies.
Lime is using a GPS zone-based tracking system to detect sidewalk vs street riding while Scoot combines GPS and “sensor fusion technology.” Spin will use camera’s facing downward toward the road to detect where it is. The idea is for the scooter to slow down before coming to a stop, letting the rider either walk the e-scooter on the sidewalk or go back onto the road. The different technologies are being tested on areas around San Francisco. No doubt local leaders in Miami and Fort Lauderdale will be keeping an eye on the results and other developments.
The article included this sage observation from a veteran of the micromobility access wars…bicyclists:
“Some cyclists, on the other hand, say scooter riders would be much less likely to ride on sidewalks if the city had better infrastructure and more protected bike lanes to give riders a sense of safety. For example, popular scooter destination North Point Street at Fisherman’s Wharf lacks bike lanes, forcing riders to choose between sharing a roadway with cars or a sidewalk with people.”
While everyone is looking for the next hot tech idea to make our roads and sidewalks safer, the simple answer has always been right in front of our eyes. If only those in power would open them.