More protection for people not in vehicles that use the roadways and more punishments for people in vehicles that violate the new rules. This is meant to address Florida's terrible rate of pedestrian and bicycle accidents. Click title for link.
Bills (SB 1312 and HB 1159) by Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, and Rep. Dwight Dudley, D-St. Petersburg, would impose a second-degree misdemeanor charge on any motorist who commits a moving violation that causes serious bodily harm to a “vulnerable road user.” The designation would go to pedestrians, including people engaged in work on highways, and people lawfully on the road riding bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, mopeds or animals, or operating farm equipment, skateboards, in-line skates, horse-drawn carriages, electric personal-assistive mobility devices or wheelchairs.
The penalty would grow to a first-degree misdemeanor, with the potential loss of a motorist’s driver’s license for at least one year, if a “vulnerable road user” dies. The penalties wouldn’t replace other charges motorists could face.
![Dr. W. H. Cotton’s ode: “Oh, My Lake Worth, Florida!” [circa 1920].](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yhHyCn84ZIQ/WezjlEL-0tI/AAAAAAAAPZ4/CzkhriK6zpEJJ3d9Je1495d49gIhnMlxACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/LakeWorthPioneers.JPG)
