JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Encouraging people to ride bikes more, including to work.
This week is National Bike to Work Week and several local groups hosted events to encourage people to pedal more often.
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North Florida TPO is promoting riding bikes more while also emphasizing ways to be safe.
Riding bikes is not just a pastime anymore.
There are those who are opting to use that as their main mode of transportation.
Thalia Fuste commutes 30 minutes from Spring Park to downtown Jacksonville for work on her bike.
“I think it is really great for my mental health,” Fuste said. “It is great to wake me up in the morning and get some physical activity. I really like just getting outside and love saving money on gas.”
Fuste is a transportation planner with North Florida TPO and works on bike and pedestrian initiatives.
The same organization held a “Bike to Work” event on Friday along the shared-use path on the Fuller Warren Bridge. It was one of several different ones held in News4JAX’s viewing area.
North Florida TPO offered over 30 free helmets to those who showed up.
I was fitted for one, and so was News4JAX photojournalist Will Sandidge.
While speaking with different people, they say there are plenty of benefits to biking to work, including getting exercise, saving money on transportation costs like gas and parking fees, and avoiding commuter traffic in the morning and at night.
“It is just a great way to get some physical activity in, displace some emissions and it is just fun,” Fuste said.
Just like anything else, they also said there can be some cons. The same people we spoke with Friday mentioned biking to work can be physically demanding depending on the distance people have to travel, weather conditions, including extreme heat, rain and cold temperatures, could be factors, and some of the dangers with sharing the road with motorists.
Chris Ledew is a traffic engineer for the city of Jacksonville. He has not made the transition of commuting to work by bike, but loves riding recreationally.
“I think biking around the city is getting better and better every day,” Ledew said. “We are building more and more bike lanes and bike trails. I do worry sometimes about how bikes and motors share the road together.”
Five bicyclists have been killed in Duval County, according to officials.
That includes a man in his 60s who was hit and killed on Beach Boulevard on Thursday.
A woman was killed while riding an electric bike on May 1 on Blanding Boulevard.
Then there was the case of a St. Johns County middle school student who was critically injured after crashing his E-bike in late April.
“Safety,” Fuste said is a big thing to keep in mind while riding bikes. “It’s always that some people just don’t know that you are there. Some people do not love seeing bikes on the road. I think some of those risks coming in to play.”
There are plenty of things to think about to help keep you safe if you’re riding a bike.
Some encouraged rules bikers should follow that were on a big board at the Bike to Work event included, always wearing a fitting helmet. Ride as far to the right as practicable in the same direction as traffic. Leave enough room to avoid running into parked cars with open doors.
Be visible. Consider wearing reflective clothing, especially when it is dark outside, along with front headlights and rear reflectors on the bike.
Follow the rules of the road the same way as drivers.
That said, North Florida TPO says that should not stop people from pedaling more.
