By Patricia Lee, Owner: www.Destinites.com
This past month in our Facebook group for locals (www.Facebook.com/groups/Destinites), there was continued growing concern about safety for E-Bike riders. However, the situation has now progressed to concern about citizens in cars retaliating against E-Bikers. Below is a story one of our Destinites members posted in the group.
Member post:
Look, I get it. A lot of people have experienced the teens on their E-Bikes acting like fools. I’ve seen it. It’s disappointing. I’ve seen grown adults do it, too.
Today, we were behind two teen boys on E-Bikes from Destin Community Center all the way to Wine World—the entire stretch of Commons Drive. I was so proud that these boys were following every single traffic law, staying in the lane, stopping at the stop signs, all the things. Then they ended up behind a driver who didn’t like the fact that they were on E-Bikes, I guess. This girl, from Morgan Sports Center all the way to Wine world, was slamming on her brakes trying to get them to hit her and/or run them off the road. She was driving 12-18 mph the whole stretch, holding up traffic. I am flabbergasted. (No, these are not my kids.). Y’all be safe. These are our children for gracious sake.
Group member responses:
- I saw that when they went by Maas Coffee. That front car (I couldn’t see who was driving) was definitely trying to harm those boys.
- What I think is just incredible is that these parents who are buying E-Bikes for their 10-14 y/o more than likely never let them ride regular bikes around Destin. After my son who was an avid bike rider from the Destin bridge to Morgan’s burning 100’s of miles in his five years of riding…I NEVER see regular bikes. So, how can you rationalize allowing E-Bikes when you never allowed a regular bike. Not to mention they are never wearing helmets.
- While I agree that woman shouldn’t have been brake checking most of these bikes have unlicensed drivers, no insurance and no registration while driving in the road. That is a major problem.
- Yesterday, I witnessed an adult get hit. He was totally at fault. He was heading north in the south bound side of the sidewalk. He did not yield or stop at his “red hand” signal when the cars had a green light. Luckily, he didn’t get hurt too bad when he ignored his red and proceeded through the intersection where the cars had a green. Something has to be done, because most of these riders automatically think they have the right of way or they just don’t care and assume these vehicles can stop on a dime. This subject comes up from time to time, in our group. The E-Bikers need to be aware that people are starting to video them when they appear to not be following the laws. They are turning over those videos to the authorities. It is all in the name of safety and trying to keep everyone alive.
If you are a Destin resident or in the surrounding area, I invite you to join our private, targeted group for locals and property owners at Facebook.com/groups/Destinites. We now have 12,400+ members (est. Oct. 2018). Check out our local business directory at Destinites.com, where more than 500 local businesses are listed and enjoy advertising, in our targeted community group.
