As we enter the “Fair Warning” phase of the project, we are looking for community leaders to help us get the word out. Community groups, social service organizations, churches, anywhere we can find large groups of people interested helping us make our streets safer, we’ll be there, spreading the word, until it will be hard to find anyone who isn’t aware of the law. Hopefully they’ll join the cause and proudly post their promise with one of our: “I Yield 4 Peds” stickers.

We’ll be posting more of our materials as we get them. Let’s start with a pop quiz. Which side of this intersection is considered a legal crosswalk where drivers must yield to pedestrians under Florida law?

Trick question: ALL sides are legal, enforceable crosswalks. Unless a driver has been granted specific permission to proceed — such as with a green traffic signal, drivers are required to yield to pedestrians at all intersections, whether or not a crosswalk is marked.

It’s here! The much anticipated Cady Way extension connecting Cady Way and Audubon Park to Coytown and Lake Druid Park mountain bike park and community garden. See details at Commute Orlando.

Celebrate the season, help a good cause. Come ride with us at the New Hope For Kids 9th Annual Christmas Light Ride. Decorate your bike, decorate a trailer, decorate yourself, but come on out and join us for a fun night of Christmas lights. This is a family ride with police escort and ride marshals provided by Bike/Walk Central Florida. $10 advance, $12 at the event. All for a good cause Helmets, headlights and tail lights required. If you would like to serve as a ride marshal we could use your help. email brad@floridabicycle.org. For more details, visit New Hope For Kids Holiday Ride page

Ride your bike to Veg Fest! Bike/Walk Central Florida is providing a free bike valet this weekend. Below are some quiet-street routes from various directions to get you to the park.

Veg Fest is Saturday, Oct. 22 from 10 AM to 6 PM at Loch Haven Park.

After being rained out repeatedly all summer, we finally had a perfect evening for a perfect First Friday ride! Fall came a little early, too with temps in the mid 80s and humidity below 60%. The turnout was the best ever. We formed 2 groups and rode the same loop, with one clockwise and the other counter-clockwise so we passed each-other midway. As usual, the rides were flawless — motorists were cooperative and civil.

For those who have never seen it first hand, it might be hard to believe that a group of 16 cyclists could control a lane at 10mph on an arterial road at rush hour and cause no disruption in traffic and no incivility. In Orlando, no less. The city that keeps getting a black eye for its atrocious pedestrian statistics. Bicycle drivers aren’t peds. And Orlando is a fine place to drive a bicycle. In a group or alone. Believe.

After the ride, about half of us went to Ethos for dinner. We filled the bike corral and had to take over a few sign posts. It was reported to me that a couple walked by and said, “Oh! That’s what those things are for!.”

In 2010, there were 59 pedestrians killed in Orange, Seminole, and Osceola counties. A 2011study titled Dangerous by Design identified the greater Orlando area as the leader in pedestrian fatalities, nationwide, over the past decade. In response to findings in the report, the Bike/Walk Central Florida “Triple E” initiative will combine aggressive law Enforcement with Education and low-cost Engineering to get more drivers to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, increase civility and create a more livable, walkable community.

“We all need to work together, as a community, to make our streets safe for children and families,” said former Orange County Mayor Linda Chapin, co-chair of Bike/Walk Central Florida. “Our goal, quite simply, is to get Metro Orlando off that Top 10 list.”

Bike/Walk Central Florida will conduct the study under the direction of the Center for Education and Research in Safety, a private consulting firm with more than 20 years experience and documented successesaround the world, including Gainesville and St. Petersburg. The Winter ParkHealth Foundation has agreed to provide $108,250 of the project’s $150,000 budget, with the balance of $41,750 coming from MetroPlan Orlando, as part of the transportation planning organization’s commitment to improving pedestrian safety.

Principal researchers Dr. Ron Van Houten and Dr. Louis Malenfant will work with MetroPlan Orlando, law enforcement agencies and traffic planners to identify locations ideal for engineering improvements and enhanced enforcement. The partnership will also include  developing education and outreach materials.

“An effective safety program involves much more than just educating pedestrians,” says Mighk Wilson, smart growth planner for MetroPlan Orlando. “This three-prong approach reflects what is necessary to make our transportation system accessible and safe for those who drive, ride, and walk throughout our region.”

Previous Triple E projects around the country have shown dramatic results, with the percentage of cars yielding to pedestrians in targeted crosswalks increasing from single digits to 80 percent and even 90percent. Follow-up studies have shown the results to be sustainable over time, with enforcement and education being key.

“In all it does, the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF) is dedicated to helping develop the healthiest community in the country, so itmade perfect sense to lend our support to this collaborative project,” said Lisa Portelli, WPHF Program Director.  “It is our hope that improved pedestrian safety will result in a community environment that helps people –young and old–become more active and stay that way.”

Work on the project is expected to begin immediately. Data collection and enforcement are scheduled to start in January. A final report is expected in the second quarter of 2013.  Outreach and education will begin in Orange County and expand to cover surrounding areas in future years, as resources permit.

There’s a fun, free community event that happens every Wednesday in downtown Orlando and it’s a perfect destination to ride your bike!

Starting at 6pm, 7-10 gourmet food trucks gather outside of Firestone Live accompanied by a drink bar and some background music. We feature trucks including Treehouse Truck, Big Wheel Provisions, The Yum Yum Cupcake Truck, The Crooked Spoon, Tastebuds, Red Eye BBQ, Korean BBQ Taco Box, The Crepe Company, and special guests. People are welcome to bring their kids, their dogs, and their appetite!

At 8pm, live music begins performing on our outside stage. We host local Orlando acts with a new theme each week. Past themes have been Orlando’s Women of Music, Local Blues Tunes, The Reggae Rapture, The Summer Solstice Festival of Art, and Orlando’s Indie Rock Invasion among others.

For people 21+, we also have local Orlando brewers exhibit their craft beers!

Learn more on their Facebook page and event listing.

Below, is a bike route map from various parts of town. The map is open to public input, so if you have a gmail account, please add your own routes and notes. These things only get better with your input!

A veteran officer, Sgt. Williamson was absolutely certain that bicycles were to ride as far to the right as possible – to stay out of the path of cars. And riding two abreast? Well that was just looking for trouble. He bided his time, waiting for the group to cross into his jurisdiction, then hit the lights.

The leaders of the group – Kitzzy Aviles and Jason Buckner tried to explain that the group was part of a regularly scheduled “Bike Bus” that ran a route from Downtown Orlando to UCF twice a week. They tried to explain that they were operating safely and lawfully, but Sgt. Williamson held firm in his conviction that riding two-abreast during rush hour on University Boulevard was a dangerous activity that impeded the flow of traffic. He issued two citations, one each, to Jason and Kitzzy, for impeding traffic.

Florida Statutes are clear. Section 316.2065(5), the law governing cyclist position on the roadway, states: A cyclist on a roadway who is not traveling as fast as the “normal speed of traffic” must ride in the lane marked for bicycle use or, if no lane is marked for bicycle use, as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway, except in the following situations:

• When passing another vehicle;
• When preparing for a left turn;
• When reasonably necessary to avoid conditions including, but not limited to, a fixed or moving object, parked or moving vehicle, pedestrian, animal, or surface hazard;
• When a lane is too narrow for a bicycle and another vehicle to travel safely side by side.
• A cyclist operating on a one-way street with two or more marked traffic lanes may ride as close to the left-hand edge of the roadway as practicable.

The Florida Department of Transportation’s Manual of Uniform Minimum Standards recommends an outside lane width of 14 feet as the “minimum width that will allow passenger cars to safely pass bicyclists within a single lane,” i.e., without the need for passing motorists to change lanes.

The lane in which the Bike Bus was traveling measures 12 feet, excluding gutter, and is by law “unshareable.”

Section of 316.2065(6) of the Florida Statutes goes on to say that:

• Cyclists may ride two abreast only within a single lane and when not impeding traffic.
• Cyclists may not ride more than two abreast except on paths or parts of roadways set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles.

In a lane “too narrow for a bicycle and another vehicle to travel safely side by side,” the law requires drivers to cross over into the next lane. In this case, cyclists riding two abreast cause no additional impediment to traffic.

Jason and Kitzzy shared this information with the officer, but Sgt. Williamson was firm. The cyclists were polite, and didn’t argue. Instead, they got the officers information and called Bike/Walk Central Florida.

When we first contacted Sgt. Williamson he refused to rescind the tickets, even when we escalated the matter to the chief and deputy chief.  Officer Williamson was not an unreasonable man.  Law enforcement is a tough job and everybody has a ready excuse to justify their behavior. He was just doing his job.

Fortunately, Jason and Kitzzy not only knew the rules of the road, but also had rear-facing high-definition video to back their assertion that they were not impeding traffic.  Jason customarily runs front and back video on his bicycle. The Bike Bus had been pulled over before, by officers from other jurisdictions, and Jason and Kitzzy knew it was important to document their ride. The video clearly showed that, other than Sgt. Williamson, who chose to follow the group, other traffic routinely changed lanes and passed without even slowing down.

After reviewing the video, and the Florida Statutes, Sgt. Williamson contact the Florida Department of Transportation to verify our claims. After several weeks of back and forth, he contacted Jason and Kitzzy to let them know he would be rescinding the tickets.

With all the laws officers need to enforce it’s only natural that they might miss or misinterpret some of the finer details, especially when it comes to rarely enforced laws, such as those governing bicycles operating in traffic.

Let’s be honest, most bicyclists don’t know the laws either.

Jason and Kitzzy did everything right: they knew the law, they documented their ride, and they were polite and respectful to the officer in the field. All of these factors ultimately contributed to the ultimate reversal of the tickets.

Bike/Walk Central Florida is happy to have helped keep the Bike Bus rolling and we wish Jason, Kitzzy and their “passengers” safe travels.

Bike/Walk Central Florida would like to thank Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer for being such an advocate for bicycling and walking in “The City Beautiful.” We put together this short video to document the record turnout and growing enthusiasm for the Mayor’s annual Bike to Work day. Thanks, as well, to Mike Speltz, of Appleton Creative, who spent hours at the console to turn this around and post it within eight hours of the event. Orlando is a wonderful place to bicycle and we hope that residents and visitors alike will dust off their old bikes and take to the roads, to remember how much fun it is to ride a bike.