florida, deadliest state for cyclists!

[Mr. Bloom]

The nephew of the Dalai Lama was just run over and killed while on a peace walk near Flagler Beach this week. The reports were that he was "in the area of the white line," implying that he was just too close to the road and shouldn't have been there (which, one purpose of the walk was to display signs to passing traffic).

The driver is not being charged.

What happened to Jigme is unfortunate (he's from Bloomington), but, it's also reported that he was wearing a black hoody with the hood up walking with his back to oncoming traffic in the dark. Knowing him as I do, he was simply doing the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong place in the wrong way...IMHO

However, having just spent the last week riding in Florida in a community making sincere (but inadequate) efforts to accommodate cyclists, these statistics don't surprise me...the geography is totally flat and the roads are very straight...a formula for very fast moving cars and lots of risk to everyone. While drivers were generally couteous and there were many accommodations, the traffic was way too fast in close proximity to the bike lanes.

ETA: I could not find a source for the statistic presented in the blog...but if it's this study, I personally would find the fatalities per million as more meaningful... And that tells a different story...look at DC with all the accommodations it provides.

In addition, in Florida, I saw some absolutely terrible cycling habits displayed by riders wearing no helmets (riding the wrong way, crossing five lanes of traffic in unpredictable paths, etc). Even the Brit I rode with yesterday was helmetless...he simply forgot it. Yes, I chastised him as we rode.