My buddy, Pat, was bicycling with another friend on a trail over in Hillsborough when they approached two women walking just ahead.
Shouting “on your left,” he continued cautiously, only to see at the last minute one of the amblers step to her left. He tried to brake but was smacked from the rear by his biking companion, who like the pedestrian luckily escaped injury from the collision. Not so Pat, who landed in a hospital bed for the next two months.
I’m on the Pinellas Trail daily, and I mention that Hillsborough mishap to point out the dangers of having riders and walkers sharing the same lane, a system the Trail went to last year after decades of giving pedestrians a dedicated lane.
But as bad as that situation may be, something worse is afoot, or should I say motoring into the picture: e-bikes. These motorized bicycles are capable of speeds well over the Trail’s posted speed limit of 20 mph, and their riders often take great advantage of those capabilities.
A public debate over the situation has resulted in zero action of any consequence. State legislators recently passed a rather weak new law regarding certain e-bike regulations, but it’s up to local officials to enforce the provisions and bike trails are a particularly knotty question when it comes to enforcement.
When city officials in Dunedin — one of the busiest stretches of the Trail — did a half-hearted study of the matter a while back, the resulting report suggested there were no riders exceeding the posted limit and perhaps “it’s a matter of perception” causing any complaints.
Anybody using the Trail of late knows this is nonsense. E-bikes — especially Category 2 models, which have pedals but can motor along without their use — regularly speed along the long stretch of trailway, which for many has become a commuter highway.
One problem thwarting accountability among Pinellas’ elected and appointed and officials is the question of jurisdiction. Who would be best to fund effective enforcement of the posted speed limit — the county or the many individual municipalities along its near 50-mile path (not counting 25 miles of additional connected trail)?
Enough already
Recently, I saw something so alarming as to make me sit at my typewriter to compose this pleading rant. It involved a lad maybe 13-years-old who was speeding, clearly speeding, along the Trail on his Cat. 2 e-bike. After passing me on one of my daily jogs, he turned on his seat and started gesticulating wildly.
Is he gesturing at me, I wondered. Turning to look behind me, I saw a man who had been walking in the other direction now looking in our direction. Soon after that, the e-biker changed directions and sped past me again toward that man, aiming to run him over. The pedestrian jumped out of the way at the last minute to escape injury, aiming a light swat at the youth’s head as he sped by.
Had he raised the boy’s ire by shouting for him to slow down? Perhaps with an epithet thrown in for good measure?
I have no idea. What I do know is that this will not be the last such incident, intentional or otherwise. In fact, a subsequent online search shows there already have been other similar encounters cited on Facebook and elsewhere.
So, until our asleep-at-the-wheel public officials wake up, be extra careful out there, folks. It’s getting nasty.
Carl DiOrio is a freelance journalist and frustrated Pinellas Trail enthusiast.