How To Be a Safe Cyclist

I'm not particularly religious, but I say a prayer every time I go on a bike ride. Most of the time, my prayers — that I will be safe, and that my bicycle and its parts will stay intact — are answered.

But a few weeks ago, I had a cycling accident.

I was pedaling my typical Saturday morning route by the beach, but this time I hit a pothole in the bike lane. I ended up sprawled in the sand, near some rocks. Unfortunately I was near a construction site, too.

Luckily, I was wearing a helmet (the EMT said the outcome of the accident would have been very different otherwise), but I still had some serious road rash, scrapes and pain in my right hand and wrist. This accident didn't involve pedestrians, drivers or other cyclists, but it could have.

While my recent cycling accident was the worst I've experienced, over the years I've had and have seen accidents, and many near-miss cycling accidents.

In addition to complaining about all of these experiences to my husband (who is not only a good listener, but also a certified ride marshal), I'm sharing these experiences in the hopes that you become a safer cyclist, driver and pedestrian.

On a recent bike ride, I came within inches of swerving and falling off my bike after some pedestrians decided to cross the street (not in a crosswalk) when I was only a few feet away.

Unlike cars, bicycles seem to be invisible to pedestrians. Maybe they assume that a bike can't hurt them (not true) or that we can stop quickly (also not true; it's actually more difficult, especially if we are clipped into our pedals like I was.) We can fall and get crushed by our bikes, or flip over our handlebars, and road bikes don't have anti-lock brakes. If you ride an electric bike, also known as an e-bike, or a bicycle with a motor to help pedal, you may be in luck. Some manufacturers have started adding anti-lock brakes to certain models.

Later on the same ride, a cyclist on a beach cruiser, wearing flip-flops and no helmet, wheeled into the bike lane going the wrong way. This happens every single time I take a bike ride on A1A. Cyclists are supposed to ride with the flow of traffic, meaning cycling on the right side of the road in the United States. Again, I had to veer to go around him.

During the second half of my ride, there was a runner in my bike lane and I had to go around her. During the pandemic, runners and walkers frequently used the bike lane. It still happens fairly frequently. And sometimes mopeds or those standing electric scooters that seem like motorized skateboards with handlebars are in the bike lane, too.

To be fair, it's really hard to understand what's legal or not in the bike lanes. Every state and some cities and counties have different laws, and the information is not always easy to find. To confirm my understanding of Florida laws, I did some research and even I had some misconceptions. I was correct that mopeds can't use bike lanes in Florida, but surprised that electric scooters can. I was also correct that, in Florida, bike lanes aren't for walkers and runners. 

Whenever I've swerved to avoid an accident, I've been lucky there wasn't a car right behind me or to my left. But I have had issues with cars.

When I saw a dead iguana up ahead in my bike lane, I knew I had to go around it. I looked to my left and behind me, and the nearest car was far enough away. I quickly went around it, into the driving lane, and back into the bike lane. But that car behind me honked loudly at me anyway.

I'm pretty sure the driver didn't know or care that I had the right of way and was allowed to go into the driving lane if there was an obstruction in the biking lane.

The last part of my ride is on a street near my house without a bike lane. It's a one-lane road going each way, and I always try to stay close to the sidewalk so that cars can go around me. That wasn't good enough this time.

I heard a car speeding up, then go around me (just a few inches away) on my left. "Don't bike on a road without bike lanes. Ride on the sidewalk," the person roared out the window.

After shuddering, I thought about how I could have responded.

"Every state has different laws, but generally, and in Florida, cyclists are allowed to bike on any street, except some highways, with or without a bike lane. My bicycle is considered a vehicle and since I was ahead of you on the street, I even had the right of way. I could have 'taken the lane' in cycling terms if I wasn't able to stay close to the sidewalk. Oh, and some states allow bicycles on sidewalks, and some don't. Florida does, but I prefer riding on the street because we have so many walkers and runners on the sidewalks."

This is not much different than what happened last weekend. And the weekend before that, and so on and so on.

Sometimes cyclists' behavior adds to the possibility of accidents.

While cyclists are supposed to obey the rules of the road, many will go through red lights and stop signs if they think there's no one coming. I might have even done that a time or two, gulp.

Some group riders cycle side by side on the street, which is legal in Florida if there is a bike lane and they stay in it, but they don't always do that.

Helmets are essential for cyclists in my unhumble opinion, but each state and some cities have different laws regarding this. In Florida, anyone under 16 must wear a helmet. I've seen countless riders under 16 without helmets, sometimes alongside parents not wearing helmets.

With all these hazards, am I crazy to ride my bike? Maybe. While researching this article, I found out something I could have guessed — Florida is the least safe state to bicycle in, with 6.18 bicyclist deaths per 100,000 people.

So why do I do it?

After I turned 50 and decided to try triathlons, I began cycling in earnest. I joined the Boca Raton Bicycle Club, and regularly went on group rides, mostly in less congested areas. During ride breaks, we'd sometimes discuss a cyclist who got hit by a driver and was either injured or killed.

Nowadays I do a 30-mile cycling ride by myself on Saturday or Sunday or both. I never get tired of spending time outdoors and enjoying the South Florida weather. For a couple of hours, I observe the world around me, clear my head, and sometimes even get good ideas. Like this essay. Or a word I've been trying to figure out on the New York Times' Spelling Bee.

If we are lucky enough to live in a place where we can be outside year-round, we should all be allowed to enjoy it in any way we can, right?

My solution to the issues between cyclists, drivers and pedestrians is simple: education and common courtesy.

If you know the rules, follow them and share them with others.

If you don't know the rules, learn them. And in the meantime, be careful on the roads.

And whether you know the rules or not, be courteous to those on the road.

And if you're traveling on A1A near Boca Raton on a weekend day, wave to me. I'll be wearing my pink clip-ins.

Margie Zable Fisher is a freelance writer and the founder of The 50-Year-Old Mermaid, where she and other 50+ women share their learnings and experiences on living their best lives after 50. Her website is margiezfisher.com. Read More