ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 According to information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Florida ranked No. 1 in the country for fatal crashes involving cyclists from 2020 through 2024.<\/p>\n
Central Florida cyclists and advocates are calling for more education and safer road designs to reverse that trend.<\/p>\n
The Florida Department of Transportation reported more than 37,000 bicycle crashes in the state between 2020 and 2024. FDOT data also shows that one in seven bicyclists hit by a motorist during that period was killed or seriously injured.<\/p>\n
For Kyle Markel, owner of Kyle\u2019s Bike Shop in Orlando, the data is difficult to process, because cycling is both his work and his passion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough to hear, you know, especially being my business is riding bikes,\u201d Markel said. \u201cYou know, if people are learning about this and they might be scared to go ride a bike.\u201d<\/p>\n
Markel said cyclists need to remain aware of drivers, especially because distractions can make roads more dangerous.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust be super aware that cars aren\u2019t always looking out for you,\u201d Markel said. \u201cIt\u2019s like you have to look out for them. I feel like cellphones has been the biggest distraction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Markel said he sometimes rides his bike to work, but he chooses his route carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll take the long way, even if it\u2019s a few more miles,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it\u2019s safer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily Bush, executive director of Bike\/Walk Central Florida, said the way many Florida communities were built has contributed to safety challenges for cyclists and pedestrians.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the major cities in the Sun Belt region were built post-World War II,\u201d Bush said. \u201cSo, a lot of the development is really centered around the automobile and not around people walking and biking and rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bike\/Walk Central Florida works to promote safer streets and better conditions for people walking and biking. Bush said protected bike lanes and safer intersections can help prevent serious and deadly crashes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really do have to invest in those local connections that keep people safe so that we don\u2019t have each fatality or serious injury on our roadway continue to be a reminder that, you know, we\u2019ve got to do better,\u201d Bush said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 According to information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Florida ranked No. 1 in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2967,274,6507,115,1335,139,141,140,277,278,835],"class_list":["post-406057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-public-safety","tag-app-top-stories","tag-ashley-engle","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-public-safety","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}