As you know I rail monthly in the FloridaBicycleLaw.com newsletter about bicycle crashes and the senseless slaughter of the best of our communities by distracted drivers and those who ignore the laws requiring distance from bicycles. However recently there have been several editorials on “watch out for bicycles. On July 2, 2011, Dr. Kurt Lang Frankel, 33 years old, of Atlanta, Ga., a Georgia Tech professor was eastbound on his $4,000 bright WHITE Scott bicycle wearing a helmet on the shoulder of the highway when he was stuck in the rear and thrown forward off his bicycle by Alexandra Elise Alford, 19 years old, and Ole Miss University student from Miramar Beach, driving her Mercedes. In response to that a local resident, John Cork, who is a film maker and avid cyclist wrote a wonderful editorial in the local paper. http://www.thedestinlog.com/news/column-18392-wreckage-reminder.html. He reflects on the tragedy which is a distracted driver killing a bicyclist.
Four days later across the state, literally, in St. Augustine a thoughtful editorial by the editorial board of the St. Augustine Record points out how vulnerable bicyclists are, especially visiting bicyclist unfamiliar with the local roads peculiar to a town which is more than 400 years old.
http://staugustine.com/opinions/2011-07-05/our-view-watch-out-those-two-wheelers#.Ti2qjoLcx8E
I am almost not cynical with these two small community papers realizing the treacherous nature of Florida roads and the deadly consequences distracted drivers pose to us bicyclists. A heart-warming turn.