Concerning bicycles and vehicles: I spend a lot of time on
A1A north of Vilano Beach,
both as a driver and a jogger. I run
about 8 miles along A1A twice a week. As
a result of my experiences, I would never ride a bike along A1A. While jogging I face the traffic. I watch vehicles and drivers carefully; my
life depends on it. A full 10% of
drivers never see me as they go by.
Their eyes are on their cell phones, or at something else in the front
seat. Probably 10% of those distracted
drivers inadvertently spend part of their time in the bike lane. If I were on a bike, I won’t know who was
driving in my lane because I would be traveling with the traffic.
I think a lot of the bike-auto animosity is due to
selfishness. What else can you call it
when an automobile driver is in a hurry and doesn’t yield to a pedestrian or
cyclist, both of whom have the right of way?
And it sure looks selfish when a cyclist decides the bike lane isn’t
wide enough for him, or he decides to ride abreast another cyclist in the
automobile lane?
It would be nice if the county could connect the Vilano
subdivisions with bike/walk/exercise paths so no one would have to ride, walk,
or jog along A1A, but until the county does, maybe the riders and drivers could
practice safe-ish instead of selfish behavior.
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