Legal Basis for This Site

Question:

Could you please explain where you are getting your legal opinion for this statute?

Answer:

There is not much in the way of formal legal opinions or Florida case law related to the laws about bicycling.  That type of information is primarily generated from court cases and the Appeals Court, and usually addresses one very narrow aspect of the law.  The detail necessary for officers to do their jobs and for cyclists and motorists to fully comply with the laws requires careful study of the actual statutes.

The laws are sometimes confusing, and there are no comprehensive training courses that will give officers the all they need to be entirely comfortable with the “bike laws”, which for the most part are traffic laws.  That is the reason the Bicycle Laws Training Program is being developed.

The materials for the program and for this site are derived from a few individuals who have researched and studied the laws for many years.  I have done so for ten years.  Some of the others involved have studied the laws much longer than that, and were instrumental in the statutes being introduced into law.  Some of the information comes through consultation with the Bicycle and Pedestrian Office of the Florida Department of Transportation Safety Office.

For the most part though, we are simply stating what the statutes actually say.    Most of the materials are either directly quoted from the statutes or deduced from the language.  All of the statutes are not clear and specific to each case in question.  When there is any question, or when a statute is not specific, we will say so, as in the recent posts on the site.  See the post on No Passing Zones as an example.  We hope everyone will carefully review all available materials to determine appropriate actions for each set of circumstances.

Through this site and the development of the Bicycle Law Training Program we hope those who have other information, or actual case law or formal legal opinions, will come forward and help us insure the accuracy of the materials.

I am confident that, collectively, we know more about all of the Florida laws related to bicycling than anyone else in the state.  We will make that information available to the law enforcement community to help solve problems in assessing and acting on situations related to bicyclists.  We hope cyclists will also participate in the process and become better informed about the laws.