PRIOR RELATED POST: Bicycling rules of the road - for cyclists and motorists
Palmetto Bay Police 4 units and MDFR Truck 62 responded to a cyclist struck along Old Cutler Road, just north of SW 168th Street. The Cyclist was using the multi-path - known as the Old Cutler Trail.
The Old Cutler Trail is not a protected bike lane. Too few are willing to acknowledge that the bicycle is
legally defined as a vehicle and the bicyclist is a driver under the Laws of
the State of Florida (see Florida Statutes, Chapter 316.2065 Bicycle regulations.—). Bicyclists have the same rights to the roadways, and must obey
the same traffic laws as the drivers of other vehicles. These laws include
stopping for stop signs and red lights, riding with the flow of traffic, using
lights at night, yielding the right-of-way when entering a roadway and yielding
to pedestrians in crosswalks.
Predictability is a huge factor in preventing accidents.
Drivers look for the oncoming motor vehicles before they make turns. Cyclists
on a multi-path are often far from the focused field of vision for motor vehicle
drivers, especially if the cyclist is riding on a multi-path in a direction
that is counter to the direction of the lane it is adjacent to (e.g. riding
southbound on the Old Cutler Path, which is adjacent to the north bound lane of
traffic on Old Cutler Road). Cyclists are often obscured by these vehicles and
have moved into the path of the vehicle by the time the oncoming traffic has
cleared.
The bottom line is that a multi-path is not a protected bike
lane and anyone who thinks these paths are “safer” than bike lanes are fooling
themselves (and putting people at risk). The accident today is not an uncommon occurrence.
In fact, many are slight conflicts (thankfully) and therefore are not even
reported.
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