Thanks for the experiment on riding in the lane on North Roosevelt. I agree I would feel uncomfortable riding in the traffic there. I enjoy the bike path and this new one is pretty wonderful. And I am grateful that Florida allows bikes on sidewalks.
However, it is, and has been, the law that bicycles are part of traffic. Riders like your friend Tom know that. Now, thanks to the sharrows and signs, drivers are beginning to know it and THAT’s the important part.
In addition, calling someone a stupid asshole because you differ with them is not a good debate technique.
Just put out and enforce a sign, “Minimum Speed 20 mph” beside N Roosevelt Blvd. That should do the trick. Racing bikes should be able to qualify, and all others stay on the promenade.
Thank you for an intelligent article on the “new” road.
One point that was not raised was the posted 25MPH speed limit signs.
There was one 35MPH sign, near the GFS store, which was taken down a few days after the official opening.
Yet, anyone who drives at the posted 25MPH speed does so at their own risk. Most drivers race along in excess of 40. Where, I wonder are the police? I’ve yet to see anyone cited for exceeding the posted limits (police included). That, and the “sharrow” signs are pretty good indicators that bicyclist fatalities and skyrocketing insurance rates are soon to follow.
One wonders if, perhaps, this new road design is part of a bid for Key West to support the forthcoming Darwin awards, which recognizes individuals who have supposedly contributed to human evolution by self-selecting themselves out of the gene pool via death or sterilization by their own actions.
Thank you, Brooke. In recognition of the 40 mph reality, a bike solution would be to make the official speed limit 40 mph, strictly enforced (NOT 45). Bikes are banned from roadways with 40 mph+ speed limits.
And thank you even more, Judi, for disagreeing. As I said, I applaud Tom and you too if you can whiz along at 25, which is pretty much keeping up with traffic–cars have much more time to see you before running up your tail. But my point is that the signage encourages 8 mph conch cruisers like mine to share the road. If you are riding a bike like that in the pictures at 8 mph, I reiterate that you are unintelligently endangering your own life while not caring how your assertion of your right inconveniences and even endangers others. Describing MYSELF, I used the vernacular concision of “stupid asshole”–Jon Stewart drops the F-bomb more than my Basic Training mates and he is the most respected “debater” on TV. I beg you to ask those who love you who are not daredevil bikers if they agree with me or you.
My own knowledge of the “rights” of two wheelers among the cars is deep and painful. In my youth I could only afford a motorcycle. In a single year I was painfully run off the road twice, and a third time I had no chance and was hit, flying 30 feet through the air. I quit. My brother road into adulthood. His second near fatal-crash left him hideously maimed, with a crushed face and on permanent disability. On a bike, we have the right to die by car if we put ourselves in danger. The charrels encourage pointlessly dangerous behavior next to a safe and beautiful bike promenade.
Let me say that I make it a point to vacation in bicycle friendly communities. I have biked in all of Bicycling magazines top twenty cities and many others from Dubuque Iowa to Columbia Md. Also Canada and Europe, always exploring and taking pictures of bicycle infrastructure.
In the last two years I’ve biked the west coast of the United States, Pittsburg to Washington and across most of France.
I average about seventy miles a week on my bicycle in Key West.
The DOT did the correct thing by installing bike signs and sharrows on the Boulavard simply because we have an enormous amount of cyclists in this town, some of whom are going to end up on the Boulavard and drivers need to be aware of this. They also end up on Eaton, United and Flagler streets, a good city manager would have peppered this town with BICYCLES MAY USE FULL LANE signs years ago.
For the safety of all cyclists. Like they have already done in every good bicycling community I have ever visited. And one more thing, I don’t race around on the Boulavard as you implied, I use both the sidewalk and right lane when practical and safe. I go about my business purposefully, no one wants a driver or cyclists dawdling along in a commercial area, it’s common sense.
I like both my vehicle and my bike. Bikes made sense growing up here as there wasn’t over a million visitors back then. Nor tourons on scooters, golf carts, other stupid and unsafe motor vehicles. Hello, we share the road with 18 wheelers!!?? 20 or 25 is just a stupid speed limit. Hell Flagler is 25 between 1st and White! The only way to solve the issue is to get rid of all the cars in either old town or all of key west and until then I will continue to drive my 8 cyl truck at 40 mph up a bike’s ass if necessary. Whatever the consequences.
When I biked in the Keys, no one liked me because I rode ‘facing the traffic.’ It was the only way I felt safe, especially on Rt. 1 where people chose to ignore the fact that I took up a wee bit of their lane. And I can honestly say that never was I stressed when riding my bike because I could see everyone approaching me.
Thanks for the experiment on riding in the lane on North Roosevelt. I agree I would feel uncomfortable riding in the traffic there. I enjoy the bike path and this new one is pretty wonderful. And I am grateful that Florida allows bikes on sidewalks.
However, it is, and has been, the law that bicycles are part of traffic. Riders like your friend Tom know that. Now, thanks to the sharrows and signs, drivers are beginning to know it and THAT’s the important part.
In addition, calling someone a stupid asshole because you differ with them is not a good debate technique.
Just put out and enforce a sign, “Minimum Speed 20 mph” beside N Roosevelt Blvd. That should do the trick. Racing bikes should be able to qualify, and all others stay on the promenade.
Thank you for an intelligent article on the “new” road.
One point that was not raised was the posted 25MPH speed limit signs.
There was one 35MPH sign, near the GFS store, which was taken down a few days after the official opening.
Yet, anyone who drives at the posted 25MPH speed does so at their own risk. Most drivers race along in excess of 40. Where, I wonder are the police? I’ve yet to see anyone cited for exceeding the posted limits (police included). That, and the “sharrow” signs are pretty good indicators that bicyclist fatalities and skyrocketing insurance rates are soon to follow.
One wonders if, perhaps, this new road design is part of a bid for Key West to support the forthcoming Darwin awards, which recognizes individuals who have supposedly contributed to human evolution by self-selecting themselves out of the gene pool via death or sterilization by their own actions.
Thank you, Brooke. In recognition of the 40 mph reality, a bike solution would be to make the official speed limit 40 mph, strictly enforced (NOT 45). Bikes are banned from roadways with 40 mph+ speed limits.
And thank you even more, Judi, for disagreeing. As I said, I applaud Tom and you too if you can whiz along at 25, which is pretty much keeping up with traffic–cars have much more time to see you before running up your tail. But my point is that the signage encourages 8 mph conch cruisers like mine to share the road. If you are riding a bike like that in the pictures at 8 mph, I reiterate that you are unintelligently endangering your own life while not caring how your assertion of your right inconveniences and even endangers others. Describing MYSELF, I used the vernacular concision of “stupid asshole”–Jon Stewart drops the F-bomb more than my Basic Training mates and he is the most respected “debater” on TV. I beg you to ask those who love you who are not daredevil bikers if they agree with me or you.
My own knowledge of the “rights” of two wheelers among the cars is deep and painful. In my youth I could only afford a motorcycle. In a single year I was painfully run off the road twice, and a third time I had no chance and was hit, flying 30 feet through the air. I quit. My brother road into adulthood. His second near fatal-crash left him hideously maimed, with a crushed face and on permanent disability. On a bike, we have the right to die by car if we put ourselves in danger. The charrels encourage pointlessly dangerous behavior next to a safe and beautiful bike promenade.
ps–in all five accidents, my brother and I perfectly had the right of way and were driving safely. The cars simply didn’t see us.
Let me say that I make it a point to vacation in bicycle friendly communities. I have biked in all of Bicycling magazines top twenty cities and many others from Dubuque Iowa to Columbia Md. Also Canada and Europe, always exploring and taking pictures of bicycle infrastructure.
In the last two years I’ve biked the west coast of the United States, Pittsburg to Washington and across most of France.
I average about seventy miles a week on my bicycle in Key West.
The DOT did the correct thing by installing bike signs and sharrows on the Boulavard simply because we have an enormous amount of cyclists in this town, some of whom are going to end up on the Boulavard and drivers need to be aware of this. They also end up on Eaton, United and Flagler streets, a good city manager would have peppered this town with BICYCLES MAY USE FULL LANE signs years ago.
For the safety of all cyclists. Like they have already done in every good bicycling community I have ever visited. And one more thing, I don’t race around on the Boulavard as you implied, I use both the sidewalk and right lane when practical and safe. I go about my business purposefully, no one wants a driver or cyclists dawdling along in a commercial area, it’s common sense.
I like both my vehicle and my bike. Bikes made sense growing up here as there wasn’t over a million visitors back then. Nor tourons on scooters, golf carts, other stupid and unsafe motor vehicles. Hello, we share the road with 18 wheelers!!?? 20 or 25 is just a stupid speed limit. Hell Flagler is 25 between 1st and White! The only way to solve the issue is to get rid of all the cars in either old town or all of key west and until then I will continue to drive my 8 cyl truck at 40 mph up a bike’s ass if necessary. Whatever the consequences.
When I biked in the Keys, no one liked me because I rode ‘facing the traffic.’ It was the only way I felt safe, especially on Rt. 1 where people chose to ignore the fact that I took up a wee bit of their lane. And I can honestly say that never was I stressed when riding my bike because I could see everyone approaching me.