Here are some more important Florida Bicycle laws(courtesy of the Florida Bicycle Association). We will do spot checks on bicycle laws in other states and put them on our blog on occasion.
–When a lane is too narrow for a bicycle and a car to share safely, the cyclist is entitled to the use of the entire lane. Within this lane, the cyclist usually rides on the right half to facilitate visibility for overtaking motorists, but should ride far enough left to discourage motorists from trying to squeeze past within the lane.
–On-steet parking — A cyclist riding past parallel-parked cars should maintain a clearance of 4 feet to avoid risk of collision with an opening car door.
–Paved shoulders — Where a curb is not present, the right-hand edge of a roadway is the line between the roadway and the shoulder. Since the
definition of “roadway” excludes the shoulder [§316.003], cyclists are not required to ride on paved shoulders, although they may prefer to do so. A cyclist may ride only along a right-side paved shoulder, i.e., must ride in the direction of traffic, since this is the only practical way to comply with the requirement to obey all applicable traffic signals and signs [§316.074]. A cyclist operating in the shoulder is vulnerable to common crossing collisions where many streets and driveways are present.
–A bicyclist may not wear a headset, headphone, or other listening device other than a hearing aid when riding. Wearing a headset blocks out important audio clues needed to detect the presence of other traffic.
The entire code for riding bicycles in Florida
The key to safe bicycling by the bicycle rider and by ongoing auto drivers is obviously mutual respect. The biker may be out for recreation or on their way to work so their life is just as important as that of the auto driver. But a reckless bicycler that weaves in and out of traffic, does not use lights at dusk or dark, or rides against traffic, is courting a perhaps fatal error and should be arrested.
Leave a Reply