My husband and I ride our bicycles everywhere, including commuting to work – it always feel dangerous. We are from England, and in our home town the bicycle is king. There are wide cycle lanes on lots of the roads, and many are separated from the road, providing additional safety. Car drivers are aware and careful. Of course accidents still happen.

One thing that alarms me in Tallahassee (is it the same all over the US, I dont know?) is that pedestrians or cyclist never have the full protection of red stop lights – because cars can nearly always turn right on red. Also, often (and this is the case at Appalachee Pkwy and Magnolia) when the pedestrian crossing indicates OK for you to walk (or cycle) across the road – there are still several lanes of traffic that have a green light to go too! IT IS SO DANGEROUS. Whoever is responsible for traffic lights should change this ridiculous system. OK cars would have to wait a little longer on the rare occassion that someone on foot or bike is around – but surely, if it saves lives, its worth it?

When you are on foot, you can witness how distracted a lot of the drivers are – they are on their phones, texting, eating and drinking, doing their hair, etc, etc. If drivers paid 100% attention to the road, there would be less accidents all around.

Jarryd was such a great friend at SAIL! I cannot believe that this happened to him…