Today was my first day back on the road bike since the deadly accident two weeks ago on Bear Cut Bridge. Quite frankly, I was a little spooked by the accident and it has taken me a couple of weeks to build some courage to ride again.
As usual hundreds of bicyclists and pedestrians were on the Rickenbacker Causeway enjoying the gorgeous day. I noticed that there were more police officers present on the Rickenbacker Causeway than usual. This is certainly an encouraging sign. Both Miami Dade County and Miami Police officers were noticeably present. Enforcement certainly is a step in the right direction, but it is not the solution for our speeding problems on the Rickenbacker Causeway. As long as we have a roadway designed to induce speed, the speeding will continue and bicyclists and pedestrians will continue to get hurt. Even with increased enforcement I noticed several cars on the William Powel Bridge traveling in excess of 65 mph.
My ride was going fairly well until I caught up to a small group of riders on Virginia Key. I was ridding in the back of the group (10-15 bicyclists) when all of the sudden a bicyclist in the group clipped the rear tire of the rider in front of him. He took the rider behind him down with him; somehow I avoided crashing too.
The first cyclist to crash landed head first into the asphalt. Although he remained conscious he most likely has a slight concussion, his helmet was cracked in half. The second cyclist to crash walked away from the accident with a little road rash, but was OK. Fire-Rescue was called and within 10 minutes they arrived.
In all fairness, this group was riding slowly and they were not ridding aggressively as some groups do. This really was just an unfortunate accident. Nevertheless, it was the 6th accident in the past 6 months that I have personally witnessed while riding in groups/pelotons. I will no longer ride in large groups and quite frankly I believe something needs to be done regarding aggressive groups/pelotons which ride irresponsibly. I am not sure what can be done. If you have any suggestions please let us know. This problem needs to be addressed asap.
About ten minutes after witnessing this accident and still a little shook up, I was nearly t-boned by a car that was attempting to turn into the Marine Stadium. I was traveling in the bike lane heading north back to the mainland, when a car traveling south bound on the Rickenbacker Causeway attempted to make a left turn into the Marine Stadium entrance. Rather than waiting for me to pass, the driver tried to make the left turn; I yelled and he stopped halfway through his turn. Luckily for me there was a Miami Police officer right behind him. He witnessed the entire incident and pulled the car over. I turned around to thank the officer and then continued back home. I’m not sure if the police officer gave the driver a warning or a ticket. My hope is that he was ticketed. Regardless, I am happy to see that the Miami Police department is being proactive and is pulling over drivers for reckless behavior.
After the second incident I decided to call it a day and cut my ride short; too many close calls for a Saturday morning.
fyi: A little road rash makes you look tough.
6 Responses to Just Another Saturday Morning on the Rickenbacker Causeway…
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Rickenbacker Causeway is way too dangerous, even for experienced cyclists.
I’m so glad you’re out of the Rickenbacker Causeway safe and sound.
Wow, this is scary. They really need to do something about this. So, unfortunate.
[...] why more men support vehicular cycling, but why so few women ride. Riding Miami’s life-risking Rickenbaker Causeway, two weeks after another rider is killed; and who is to blame. Are bikes expensive toys or serious [...]
i think this person that posted this should stop riding bike because of fear. anywhere theres cyclist or cars or people theres always a posibility to have an accident but dont ride on fear even at the most experience competitions thers accidents.Rickenbacker its so beautiful and safe to ride i ride there all the time but i ride confident and without fear.
Do not spread fear! how many times you ride your bike there and enjoy it? i think what you should do is stop trying to watch fishes under the bridge while you ride bike.get some training on how to ride bike proffesionaly in between other cyclist and your expirience will be different. cycling at rickenbacker its just beautiful!!!!
Walt,
I agree that riding on the Rickenbacker is beautiful, but it does not change the fact that it is NOT safe. I consider myself a very experienced cyclist. I have ridden from Guatemala to Panama, biked around the entire island of Puerto Rico and ride to work everyday.
Last week was the first time I rode the Rickenbacker in almost a year. As I get older (I’m 38) I become more risk averse. I prefer to ride on on streets where cars are not moving as fast (<35mph). Riding on a highway, in an unprotected bike lane, where cars are moving at speeds above 60 mph is NOT safe. I can only imagine how inexperienced cyclists must feel. Every two years a cyclists dies on the Rickenbacker and numerous other cyclists are seriously by injured car on bike crashes-many go unreported.
The County still chooses to do nothing to improve safety. As an experienced cyclist, I prefer to ride on roads that are safer, but sadly are not as beautiful as the Rickenbacker.