Florida: the Deadliest State for Bicyclists

If there are any divine forces out there maybe all those southern baptists along our route who said they would pray for us are helping. Here is a really comforting study that I found posted onDrunkcyclist.com:

Study: Florida Deadliest for Bikers
Florida had 119 fatalities. That’s worse than California, which had 109. And much worse than other heavily populated states like New York, which had 51. Even Texas, which has more people and also shares a warm climate had 48 fatlaities.

Thankfully Gainesville is quite different from the rest of Florida. It’s a college town, which seems to help in certain ways although sometimes frat boys are worse than anyone I’ve encountered. I am glad that we’ll be spending most of our time there. The ride to the farm is 25 miles and has a decent shoulder. Somehow no matter which way we are going it seems like there is always a headwind, but at least it’s flat and a straight shot. If we had the tandem with us we’d be set.

Last week, however, Jared and I left Gainesville and rode down through central Florida to Melbourne on the Atlantic coast. Up until that point I thought Florida was pretty alright for riding. Not the case in central Florida or along the coast.

Central Florida is chalk full of retirement communities. There’s a huge one we passed called “The Villages,” where you look around and everyone has gray hair and drives golf carts. Apparently they are also having a lot of unprotected sex. We rolled into a shopping center to check the dumpster and on our way we were intercepted by an old guy in a golf cart. The guy told us to pull over. Jared asked me if I thought we should and I said yes. Both of us expected the guy to give us some sort of talking to for riding our bikes. Instead, the guy wanted to know about our trip. Then he said, “Would it be alright if I give you some money?” We said it would be alright, and he handed me $15. He told us to watch out for people on golf carts. He said, “There are a lot of old people around here that aren’t very good at driving.”

A lot of people come to Florida to retire and live out the end of their days. All I ask is that they don’t take us down with them. After reading about what happened in this year’s Tour de Tucson I’ve become morally opposed to people in their 90s driving. Certain older people have a lot of pride and don’t want their freedom taken away, but if their mental faculties are waning, someone needs to step in and say enough is enough. This situation can be tough for a lot of people.

A few years back I remember watching my grandfather fade away from skin cancer that spread to his organs, yet he was still driving himself to his doctor’s appointments at the age of 88. That’s just how my grampa was. He worked up until the end as well. I rode in his car with him not too long before he passed and it was pretty terrifying. He cruised through a red light on the way to the hospital and I just about lost my lunch. At this point I think the family has a responsibility to step in and say enough is enough. It is a painful thing to confront someone about, but it must be done to ensure the safety of the driver as well as other drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians out on the road.

The Florida coast was another tough place to ride. People definitely don’t act accustomed to seeing cyclists out on the road. We get honked at often, and cars come way too close. The honking is really jarring…as much as I try to prepare myself for it, it always catches me off guard. Highway 1 was a mess of road construction and strip malls. I am sure that there are other parts of 1 that are better, but where we rode is was a mess. I hear that A1A is pretty bad as well, but I would like to try that out.

Once we got into Melbourne, which is the area where Jared went to high school, things became even worse. No shoulders whatsoever. You know that if Jared is willing to back down and ride on the sidewalk things must be REALLY bad. He will rarely even ride on a bike path if it is a separated from a road with a shoulder. Jared almost got right hooked by a lady in an Oldsmobile when we were about a mile from his mom’s house. It’s no wonder that Jared grew up riding a motorcycle here. I can see the appeal. Riding a bike around here actually makes me want to get a motorcycle.

-L

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