Coral Gables is not known for being the safest place to ride your bicycle. As a matter of fact, Florida is rated as one of the worst places to ride your bike in the entire country, but many people want to change that and make our community a bike-friendly zone. There are cities all over our nation that have gotten the hang of making it safe for pedestrians and bicyclists, is there anything we can learn from them?
How Can Cities Be Bike Friendly?
Chattanooga, Tennessee has integrated bike safety into their driver’s ed course. Teens are taught to observe the 3-feet buffer zone between vehicles and bikes, and they are even taken out on a bike ride using the city’s bike share program.
In Salt Lake City, officials have looked across the pond for solutions to bike safety. They have taken European designs for protected intersections to improve safety and slow down vehicles. Meanwhile, Scottsdale, Arizona is installing traffic lights with special cameras that can see cyclists who are approaching an intersection, and then change the light to stop or slow traffic. In Arlington, Virginia, the city officials have set up bike counters that raise public awareness of the bicycles around them.
Here in Coral Gables, we have a long way to go before we catch up to these cities, but we can all do our part to make the community safer for bicyclists. The lawyers of Colson Hicks Eidson have gathered years of experience while representing the victims of bicycle accidents, and we want to help you stay safe on the roads of Florida. Keep following our blog, Facebook, and Twitter for more safety tips and news about biking in our great state.
Colson Hicks Eidson — Personal Injury Attorneys
