How Many Bicyclists Have To Die And Be Injured In Florida?

It's happened again in Florida.

A motorist has killed a bicyclist.

This time, the victim was a former state legislator, Kissimmee city mayor and Osceola County Commission chairman. His name was Frank Attkisson and he was 61 years old.

It happened yesterday around 7 p.m. in the St. Cloud area in central Florida. A motorist slammed her car into him from behind as he rode his bicycle.

And predictably enough, the anti-bicyclist crowd will trot out their same point of view without even knowing the exact circumstances.

That bicyclists break traffic laws.

That bicyclists hog the roads.

That bicyclists do whatever they want out there.

It happened with me -- those comments -- after an admitted distracted, inattentive and careless driver rammed his 2016 Chevy Cruze into me as I bicycled on Old Dixie Highway in St. Lucie County on March 7. The motorist did not receive a ticket. I received two fractured vertebrae, a concussion and a knee that bloats with blood from so many leg muscle bruises.

Florida has by far and away more bicyclist deaths than any other state in the country. Not just per-capita deaths -- but the highest raw number of bicyclist deaths.

And I ask a simple question: how many bicyclists have to die and be injured in Florida before our state Legislature enacts harsh penalties for killer motorists?

The Tampa Bay Times wrote an editorial about this very topic.

ADD:
Celebration of Life
April 10th at 11:00am
Kissimmee Christian Church 
415 N. Main Street