The best and worst states for riding

The League of American Bicyclists has released their rankings of the friendliest states to ride. Check out their cool interactive map here.

Florida currently ranks.... 20th. St. Petersburg holds a bronze star for its engineering accomplishments. Gainesville is the most decorated Florida city. The stated reasons for the ranking: "Florida has an excellent complete streets policy. However, the state has no cell phone use restrictions and high crash and fatality rates."

So, I'm not really sure what to think of this. Sure, Florida has a long way to go to get to the top of the list, but it's amazing how well it fared in relation to other Southern states, notable Georgia, which is ranked 49th. With the Tour de Georgia, plenty of hills and a strong Atlanta cycling community, I would think it would have ranked higher.

Maybe we don't have it so bad after all.

Top 5

1. Washington
2. Wisconsin
3. Arizona
4. Oregon
5. Minnesota

Bottom 5

46. North Dakota
47. Mississippi
48. Alabama
49. Georgia
50. West Virginia

[via RoadCycler.com]

Comments

[John]

Surprising...
Florida came in ahead of Iowa and Colorado.

[Kimberly]

State rankings:

Notice #1 Washington and #4 Oregon are in the Pacific northwest. I lived in Oregon from 1956 to 1984. I don't have much experience with Washington. But from what I've noticed by talking with people is that the two states have a lot in common concerning culture and occupations. A lot of farmers, loggers, environmentalists.

About every ten years, Oregon goes through a bad recession that hits everyone hard. People survive, not by stealing from each other, but by cutting expenses. That means a lot of people jump on bicycles to save money on gas. Then, you have the people who bicycle even in prosperous times because they care about the environment or because there are always people needing to survive on minimum wage even in the best of times. This all makes motorists and non-motorists more educated about, aware of, and understanding of bicycling. That's why it's bicycle friendly.

They put in bicycle lanes and racks because they are bicycle friendly. The facilities aren't put in to make people bicycle friendly.

Bicycle friendly is an attitude. You change attitudes using education.

Interactive map:

Breaking down bicycle friendly into five categories and rating each category is really smart! It encourages communities to aim for fulfilling all categories instead of just aiming at one category.

I wonder if the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) has a way to recognize a community for the number of categories they achieve.

[Mel]

I noticed this morning that it looks like they sweeped out the bike lane on 31st St. wow..awesome! Thanks to whoever go that done!

[Kimberly]

I bicycle to work on Roosevelt Blvd from Martin Luther King Jr. Street N to 28th Street N.

It's impossible to get that cleaned. I've reported things several times. It never works.

So, we bicyclists must wait for the rain to wash broken glass into the grass. Once, I even brought a whisk broom, dust pan, and plastic bag and swept up some glass.

I pick up snakes (thin strips of tire tread) and alligators (wide strips of tire tread) and other debris from the shoulder. Then, I put it in a pile at the edge of the grass so it's easy for grass cutter personnel to pick it up instead of mow over it.

The log dollop of dried cement has been under the I-275 bridge for years. It's really bad for people with road bike tires.

Once, a truck had accidently unloaded a long section of thick gravel on an on-ramp to Roosevelt Blvd., and was from grass line to grass line. From talking to motorcyclists and having ridden a moped, I knew that was very dangerous for motorycyclists. The government didn't even care enough about motorcycle riders to clean that mess up. Cars and trucks drove over it until their tire tracks created a path for motorcycle and bicycle riders to safely ride.

[Chip Haynes]

One of the problems we face with getting streets cleaned is a matter of "whose" road it is: city, county, state or federal. Just because it's within the city limits (of any city) doesn't mean the city maintains it, and sometimes it's not at all obvious who does. I wish I could tell you, oh, just call 1-800-CLEAN-IT-ALREADY, but as far as I know, there's no one easy to reach clearing house for road maintenance.

And as for our ranking in that poll, I do wonder if our 12-month riding season actually works against us somewhat, since we manage to have bicycle accidents year around.

Or is that too paranoid?

I found out that FDOT is in charge of maintaining the Bayway and since alot of our rides go out to either Ft DeSoto or to Pass-a-Grille, we frequently use the Bayway shoulder lane so the phone number for FDOT's roadway maintenence is: 570-5101. If anyone notices large areas of glass, which you will almost always see on the Bayway, just give that number a call and leave a message. Make sure to tell them the approximate area you saw the debris so they can concentrate on that area.

It should be illegal to fish from the bridges, unless you bring your own trash bag and USE IT! The bridge over to Tierra Verde is the worst. It's lined with fishermen/women. Next to them are always PILES of dead fish, cans and bottles. Then the next day you see the same cans and bottles shrewn all over the bridgeway for us to ride over. What the H E double hockey sticks is up with that??

[Chip Haynes]

It's a tough situation all around, bridge or no bridge. We all see the glass and trash on the roadway, it gets swept up and then there's more there the very next day. You and I, on bicycles, see the real world as we ride through it. Too many people only see it as a blurr in their windshield, and it's not even real to them. They never see the trash, and never think about where it goes when they throw it from their vehicle.

Sad, sad, sad.

[Mel]

Chip - This was validated recently by one of the officials in the Lakewood Estates Homeowners Association. a/k/a: L.H.ASSociation. (I have left her title in the L.H. ASSociation unmentioned intentionally) stated recently that she DRIVES down 3rd St South "all the time" and never sees any glass or trash in the bike lanes so why can't "us" cyclists use the bike lane there? I had to laugh at her as it immediately became painfully obvious that she had probably never ridden a bicycle her entire adult life let alone ridden on the southside of St. Petersburg.

Speaking of 3rd Street South - I rode there this morning and the bike lane was SQUEAKY clean! Thank you VERY MUCH to the whoever got that done and to the hard working maintenence workers!!

I have to say that the poster has a point about the people who fish off of the Tierra Verde bridge. No offense to people who enjoy fishing, but yea, can you please put your bottles, especially, in a trash bag and take them with you to the nearest trash can?
It's funny how people are always squawking about cyclists who break the laws, but heck, what ever happened to the no littering law? Seems as if that law would be easy to enforce since alot of the fishermen just stand there in one place for hours upon end garbaging up the place! It's not like the cops would have to chase them down or anything.

[Kimberly]

Almost all motorists I meet are nice and accommodating to bicyclists.

Every once in a while, a passing driver tells me to get on the sidewalk. But, there is no sidewalk.

If there are motorists who can't see that there is no sidewalk, they definitely won't be able to see that there is glass.

[Chip Haynes]

Drivers are simply oblivious. We all know that- we all see that every day as we ride our bikes. What really amazes me is that there aren't a whole lot more accidents out there with all of the clueless drivers. It's no wonder they don't see all the trash- they hardly see the road.

[Kimberly]

Here are more ways to get things fixed.

If I can get the junk off the road, I stop and do it. That can prevent some crashes because the city can take a few hours or days to get the junk cleaned up.

I've dragged big, lane-blocking limbs out of the road after wind storms. I stopped and picked a heavy motor out of the road. Unfortunately, I was just a little late that time. A motorist lady had accidently hit the motor and destroyed two of her expensive car tires.

I've herded baby birds and their mothers and carried turtles across Martin Luther King Jr Street N.

If it's a traffic light out, I call the city's police on their non-emergency phone. The officers have a vested interest because a lot of them become officers because they care a lot about wanting other people safe. Also, they don't want to see people suffering from a crash.

Once, I needed to call them to get a left turn lane deep cleaned. The whole lane was completely coated with oil from dripping off people's cars. I was on a moped, applied the brakes, and hit the pavement instantly. We don't want any motorcyclists civilian or police going down either.

Only one time did I try to call the maintenance employees. It went something like this: The city maintenance told me it wasn't their job and gave me the county's #. The county said it wasn't their job and gave me the state #. The state said it wasn't their job and gave me the city's #.

Maybe we should make all government employees, not just the police, responsible for going out to crash scenes and taking care of the people involved.