6 Comments on “Bicycles Prohibited

  1. Geo is incorrect.

    Yes, they can.

    A quote from the link geo provided…..

    Roadways are for the use of all vehicles, UNLESS RESTRICTIONS are imposed by statute OR LOCAL ORDINANCE…

    A local municipality may impose ANY restrictions they feel are needed to insure public safety…

    Although state statutes (law) are to be uniform through the state, then CAN be superseded by a local ordinance.

    It works this way…

    Federal law is uniform through all states…
    If there is no law on a state level for a particular issue, then the federal law applies..
    If there is a state law that is in opposition to federal law, then the state law applies..

    State statutes (law) is uniform throughout the entire state, as well, but if there is no local ordinance, then the state law applies…
    If there is a local ordinance, then the local law applies…

  2. The best thing to do is to look up the local ordinances for the municipality(s) in which you live in and plan to ride through…

    I do that every 6 months or when I plan on going through different areas then I normally go.

    http://www.municode.com

    That website has just about every (recent) local ordinance for every municipality in the state.

  3. Local ordinances cannot conflict with state statutes. State statutes say that a bicyclist has all the rights of other drivers, one of which is to use the roads. There have been many tests of that principle and attempts to preclude bicyclists from certain communities’ roads. None have been successful. The only local regulation about riding on the roadways that was successful that I am aware of is a requirement to use helmets in one southwestern municipality. That does not conflict with state statutes. If anyone has others, please let us know.

  4. Then explain how a local ordinance can prohibit riding a bicycle on a sidewalk in certain parts of certain towns…
    (like most downtown industrial areas or beach areas, etc)
    There have been many instances of local ordinances superseding state statutes…

    The only way to be sure is to look up the ordinances on municode.com.

    If you have any doubts, contact a lawyer or call your local town hall and ask about the legalities of local ordinances..

  5. There is an explicit statement in Florida statutes that “Every person propelling a vehicle by human power has all of the rights and all of the duties applicable to the driver of any other vehicle under this chapter…,” which would include use of the roadway. (If you don’t have the right to use a roadway with a vehicle, then you really don’t have a right to use that vehicle.)

    There is no comparable statement giving cyclists the right to use a sidewalk. 316.2065 refers to “A person propelling a vehicle by human power upon and along a sidewalk…,” but makes no explicit statement giving cyclists the right to do so.

    So local governments can prohibit sidewalk cycling, because such a prohibition is not in conflict with Florida law.

  6. There have been attempts to prohibit bicyclists’ use of the roadways in some communities. None have been successful for the reasons Mighk stated. Other qualifications to bicyclists’ use of the roadways have been met with very limited success. The only one I am aware of that is in effect is the requirement to use helmets in one southwestern community. If anyone knows of others, please let us know.

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