Bike Lane Law Update: What it Means | Commute Orlando

[Ebeling, Jr., Herman F.]

Even though it looks like we'll have to wait until the beginning of next year for it to take effect.  We here in Florida ARE going be seeing some changes to the MBL law that effectively repeals Florida's MBL law.

http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/2012/04/30/bike-lane-law-update-what-it-means/

--
Herman F. Ebeling, Jr.

---

Bicycles:
2005 Specialized Hardrock MTB	2009 Giant Seek 2
Pets:
01.00.00 Normal Grey Cockatiel (Hikaru)	00.01.00 Orange Tabby (Little One)
01.00.00 Betta, Red	00.00.02 Cory Cats, Albino
00.00.?? Ghost Shrimp	00.00.03 Neon Tetras
01.02.00 Swordtail	02.10.00 Swordtail (fry)
00.00.03 Zebra’s	00.00.01 G. rosea (Kirk)
The fish are spread out over several tanks, that are setup as Walsted tanks, i.e. “natural planted” tanks.
Facebook:
Cyclists Against Carlos Bertonatti	My Facebook Page
Links:
Bike Forums	Bicycle Driving
Yahoo Groups:
Cockatiel Lovers	Cockatiels Plus

---

Live Long and Prosper

___________________           _-_
\==============_=_/  ____.---'---`---.____
             \_ \    \----._________.----/
               \ \   /  /    `-_-'
           __,--`.`-'..'-_
          /____          ||-
               `--.____,-'

[Michael Graff]

On Fri, May 4, 2012 at 10:41 AM, Ebeling, Jr., Herman F. <HFEbe...@lycos.com> wrote:

Even though it looks like we'll have to wait until the beginning of next year for it to take effect.  We here in Florida ARE going be seeing some changes to the MBL law that effectively repeals Florida's MBL law.

http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/2012/04/30/bike-lane-law-update-what-it-means/

It still comes down to "he said, she said" when an officer or judge decides how to interpret the exceptions.

[Andy Goodell]

Oh, so there was content to that email? I keep deleting Ebeling's emails because it seems to be a list of pets and advertisements so I assumed they were all spam.

[Ebeling, Jr., Herman F.]

Michael,

    True, but it does give cyclists more power to fight such tickets.

    Not too long ago I was talking with a St. Pete police officer, and he agreed that for a cyclist to ride within the "door zone" would be a danger.  It might have helped that he also rides motorcycles.  So from that conversation I can only presume that there are some officers who understand the dangers on the roads and the effect that they can have on cyclists.

[Michael Graff]

On Fri, May 4, 2012 at 11:50 AM, Ebeling, Jr., Herman F. <HFEbe...@lycos.com> wrote:

On 04-May-12 13:48, Michael Graff wrote:

On Fri, May 4, 2012 at 10:41 AM, Ebeling, Jr., Herman F. <HFEbe...@lycos.com> wrote:

Even though it looks like we'll have to wait until the beginning of next year for it to take effect.  We here in Florida ARE going be seeing some changes to the MBL law that effectively repeals Florida's MBL law.

http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/2012/04/30/bike-lane-law-update-what-it-means/

It still comes down to "he said, she said" when an officer or judge decides how to interpret the exceptions.

Michael,

    True, but it does give cyclists more power to fight such tickets.

    Not too long ago I was talking with a St. Pete police officer, and he agreed that for a cyclist to ride within the "door zone" would be a danger.  It might have helped that he also rides motorcycles.  So from that conversation I can only presume that there are some officers who understand the dangers on the roads and the effect that they can have on cyclists.

Yes, attitudes among law enforcement are probably getting better on average, and adding more/better exceptions probably helps somewhat, but it's still a fundamentally flawed law that leaves cyclists at the mercy of individual officers.

[Ebeling, Jr., Herman F.]

On 04-May-12 17:56, Michael Graff wrote:

Yes, attitudes among law enforcement are probably getting better on average, and adding more/better exceptions probably helps somewhat, but it's still a fundamentally flawed law that leaves cyclists at the mercy of individual officers.

Michael,

    And sadly cyclists are about the only group of road users who have to justify why they were riding where they were.  I mean when was the last time that a person driving a car had to justify why they were driving where they were driving?  Why is it only us cyclists that have to do that???

[John Forester]

In America (the USA), being the first and most motorized and richest nation, bicycling came to be almost entirely a childhood activity and society ignored the few adult cyclists. Therefore, when the motorists, having the political power in traffic affairs, wanted to protect themselves from childish bicycling activity, they enacted laws that shoved cyclists to the side of the roadway, or off it entirely if a usable path was nearby. And the motorists preserved their do-good political status by arguing that this was all done for the safety of those child cyclists. Well, nobody was going to fight against the safety of children, and the adult cyclists probably never knew what had happened in the legislatures, for in those days they did not feel a need to protect their rights by keeping tabs on the legislatures.

So that is why, today, even cyclists who obey the rules of the road for drivers of vehicles have to be able to justify that they have the right to obey those rules by proving that one of the exceptions to the discriminatory child-safety, motorist-convenience laws applies to their specific circumstances.

The anti-cyclist discriminatory laws must go!

On 5/4/2012 4:23 PM, Ebeling, Jr., Herman F. wrote:

On 04-May-12 17:56, Michael Graff wrote:

Yes, attitudes among law enforcement are probably getting better on average, and adding more/better exceptions probably helps somewhat, but it's still a fundamentally flawed law that leaves cyclists at the mercy of individual officers.

Michael,

    And sadly cyclists are about the only group of road users who have to justify why they were riding where they were.  I mean when was the last time that a person driving a car had to justify why they were driving where they were driving?  Why is it only us cyclists that have to do that???

-- 
John Forester, MS, PE
Bicycle Transportation Engineer
7585 Church St. Lemon Grove CA 91945-2306
619-644-5481    fore...@johnforester.com
www.johnforester.com