When will there be justice for Sarasota Seniors and especially the disabled Seniors? Will somebody finally defend them?

[Stella Dallas000]

HMMM...kinda one of those "arguing and fighting over land use" I think this is really a legal problem, you should research the county and local laws that are over most of the county.You might get a half hour with an attorney casually, because, yes, its a land use argument--those can get VERY HAIRY because both sides can get very agressive and I can see seniors on vehicles start to use the trail to equal the speed of the bikers.--You are in COMPETITION and it'll blow up in bike accidents(and someone suing.)

You need to address this where your county and city govt. meet,out in the open.--Make some compromises as to equal use different days,(I suggest)I say this so it'll get peacefully compromised equally twixt the 2 groups.--and the fierce competition for the trail use can get curtailed. Good luck & friendly peace!......

[craigiri]

First, the legacy trail allows NO motorized stuff. That has been from Day one. Even the county commissioner who got the money for it was not allowed to be transported on the trail in a powered vehicle. So this is not something new and "anti-senior". The trail has always been promoted as a "bike trail" although in more recent years it is recreational trail.

I volunteer sometimes pedaling the Surrey. We take older people (grandma) on rides on the trail. The Surrey can weigh over 1200 lbs full and two of us pedal it - without even a little help from an electric motor! So no one is breaking the rules - even the country and orgs!

There are battery operated skateboards that can do 40mph. Powered bikes can easily do 25.

I'd say a speed limit of 15mph is reasonable. But we shouldn't go basing things on what happens when you crash. If you walked into a brick wall at 4MPH you'd be in the hospital big time.

BTW, I am a senior. Other than pedal the Surrey are also.

If we were going to worry about such thing - then why are seniors with poor night vision allowed to drive two ton vehicles down our streets at 70 MPH? Maybe partially as a result, Florida mows down more pedestrians and bike riders than most any state - and the MV accident rate is very high also.

The real answer is that we should plan for all this stuff. Maybe there would be other trails? Maybe the entire downtown should be a walking mall where seniors (who need to) can ride electric 3 wheelers and the like and others can walk?

There are lots of options for building a functional society and city. Based on some of my other volunteer efforts I can say with confidence that Sarasota is not set up well for older people (who can't drive) to function. This is something I see with my own eyes. Single elders who have to stop driving and yet want to go to the drug store, church, shopping and perhaps a social event...very difficult.

Fodder for another thread...I talk to many of these people and inform them of various options...but more needs to be done.

[craigiri]

Originally Posted by WantPalmerRanch

All we're saying is we want fairness for everybody,
seniors or not.

It seems all trail rules are being adhered to except
the 15 mph speed limit.

Let's have all rules adhered to rather than all but one...

Well - this sounds like a single issue which can be mitigated by technology.

What needs to be done is to press the proper parties (County, Friends of the Trail, etc.) and ask them if they can figure out a way to budget for - or raise money for - a couple of those radar "this is how fast you are going" thingys. The same signs can post the Speed Limit.

MOST users of such a trail will heed the instructions. So that solves a lot of the problem. The, if some speeded continue after a year or so of trying the signs, you could have a couple enforcement action days (either Police of Country Sanctioned riders on bikes to give tickets based on radar).....

That would take care of most of the rest. But, in the end, you can't stop all such people. This would be like saying everyone is going to do the speed limit on the road.

Would we complain that we get a $170 red light picture ticket while - the very same day - 20,000 people were breaking the speed limit within 10 miles? Nope. It just is the way of the world.

[beach43ofus]

When I lived next to the Legacy Trail, I'd use it often. I have a hybrid (road & beach) 7-speed bike that I rode ~13 mph max. It was unsettling when a group of racing cyclists (skinny tire lightweight 10+ speeds) past by me going ~20 mph. Sometimes they'd signal "on your left", but other times not. I should have bought a rear view mirror for my bike so I could see them coming up from behind me.

[2nd trick op]

I see a lot of similarities to this conflict in the southeastern Pennsylvania area (Allentown/Kutztown/Reading in particular) where I lived and worked for several years before full retirement. The area supports a combination of farming and industry, is relatively flat, honeycombed with a nice mixture of backroads (some with bike lanes) and small country crossroads. And to top it all off, there are still pockets of Old Order Amish who, women in the traditional stay-at-home role in particular, sometimes use bicycles; in short, it's a fertile breeding ground for the conflicts described previously.

There isn't any easy answer to this; while the dominance of the personal auto, the family-friendly station wagon or the SUV that replaced it, and the tractor-semitrailer for freight isn't quite as strong as in the Seventies, American society remains auto-centric, for reasons of better adaptability to weather conditions if nothing else. And many cyclists I've met, particularly the young and still-healthy seem to harbor a resentment (It's mild, but increases when more are gathered in one place) against motorists. So the battle lines are drawn, and occasionally this boils over.

Its just one of those things we'll all have to live with and, having personally been forced to stop most of my own driving at age 68 for health/physical reasons and contemplating getting a bike to fill in a few gaps, I'm dealing with it myself.

[beach43ofus]

My Grandfather drove around Fleetwood PA until he was 90 even though he shouldn't have. He had several minor fender benders, so the police took his license away. So, he drove at night so they couldn't see him He got away with that for way too long.

Originally Posted by 2nd trick op

I see a lot of similarities to this conflict in the southeastern Pennsylvania area (Allentown/Kutztown/Reading in particular) where I lived and worked for several years before full retirement. The area supports a combination of farming and industry, is relatively flat, honeycombed with a nice mixture of backroads (some with bike lanes) and small country crossroads. And to top it all off, there are still pockets of Old Order Amish who, women in the traditional stay-at-home role in particular, sometimes use bicycles; in short, it's a fertile breeding ground for the conflicts described previously.

There isn't any easy answer to this; while the dominance of the personal auto, the family-friendly station wagon or the SUV that replaced it, and the tractor-semitrailer for freight isn't quite as strong as in the Seventies, American society remains auto-centric, for reasons of better adaptability to weather conditions if nothing else. And many cyclists I've met, particularly the young and still-healthy seem to harbor a resentment (It's mild, but increases when more are gathered in one place) against motorists. So the battle lines are drawn, and occasionally this boils over.

Its just one of those things we'll all have to live with and, having personally been forced to stop most of my own driving at age 68 for health/physical reasons and contemplating getting a bike to fill in a few gaps, I'm dealing with it myself.