Newspaper Articles
Question
Cyndi asked: Has FBA ever offered local newspapers a series of articles covering common bike laws and rules of the road?
This would make good print and online content…even with video to help drive the messages home.
From what I read in editorial rants both from drivers and bicyclist, we would all be safer with a better understanding of Florida’s Bike Laws. The details sometimes are confusing for me to follow, but understanding the basics would surely be a good start for making our roads safer for all users.
I know there are some local rules on where bikes are allowed to be used on sidewalks, but you could do a great deal of good helping bicyclist, cars and pedestrians understand how they are supposed to “share the road”.
Thank you for your work.
Cyndi Stevenson
Answer
I will forward your question to the Board of Directors for FBA for their information and answer.
I will ask them to answer as a comment to this post.
I do know there are brochures and other publications available for public use at
http://floridabicycle.org/resources/fbapubs.html
Many of these publications have been provided to local law enforcement agencies for the use of their officers.
In answer to your specific comment on sidewalks, bicyclists may use any sidewalk in Florida unless there is a local ordinance prohibiting it. The City of St. Augustine and Daytona Beach, for example, have such ordinances. See the posts under “sidewalks” in the tag cloud.
Cyndi Stevenson made a very good suggestion – one I’ve been thinking about for some time. Historically, staff from the Florida Bicycle Association has tried to respond to every relevant and/or negative letter to the editor regarding bicycling – and pedestrian issues, but we realize that’s not enough. It is a challenge working in a large state with 19 million people, 67 counties, countless newspapers, and very limited FBA staff, but we need to do a better job reaching out to the media – and we will.
Thanks again for a well thought out suggestion, and please feel free to contact us in the future if you have any other ideas about directions you’d like to see the Florida Bicycle Association take. After all, it is our members that put the “Association” in FBA.
Tim Bustos,
Executive Director
Florida Bicycle Association