More Harassment

Question

David asked: Four years ago I moved into a gated community here in S. Florida that has it’s own private security patrols. I started riding my bicycle throughout the community (approx. 9 miles per loop) One by one other riders asked if they could join me and we now have about 12 riders but average 4-6 every day. We all wear helmets, all wear bright orange shirts so we can be seen easily, we have developed a system of verbal communication indicating if there is a “car back”, “car up”, “walker up”, “hand signals for turns” etc. to make our ride safe for all. For some reason the head of security, a resident of our community and not an employee of the security company, has undertaken a personal vendetta against us trying to force us off of the streets of our community. If there is one “transgression” we are guilty of is that we make “Idaho stops” at stop signs which are, with only two exceptions, right turns. It is bordering on harassment with constant verbal abuse, being videoed, and in one case almost run down by resident in his car. Short of hiring an attorney and taking the issue to the media what rights do we have to end this infantile nonsense?

Answer

Get as much information about the people as you can and go to the police station as a group and file a formal complaint. See this post for possible violations.

http://flbikelaw.org/2015/12/harassment/

1 Comment on “More Harassment

  1. There are people who think cyclists have no place on this earth, I don’t understand this! Cyclists are tax payers too and are just as untitled to the road as anyone else. I lived in Texas in the late 70s, just after they passed laws about how motorists and cyclists are to interact and I never had a problem there. Here in Florida it like the wild west. We have lazy legislators and even lazier law enforcement. I have called Pinellas County Sheriffs office on many occasions about stop signs no one ever stops at and motorists who make death threats and they do nothing. According to them if OK to make a death threat even if I record it on my GoPro. Law enforcement doesn’t seem to know the law. I’m and engineer, everything I do has to be perfect and some people don’t even know what their job is.

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