Episode Description
In this episode of It’s No Accident, hosts Jaeson Homola and Mark Nonni answer a listener question that comes up more often than you might think:
If you’re hit while riding your bike, should you have been on the sidewalk instead of the road?
The attorneys break down what Florida law actually says about bicyclists and the roadway, including whether cyclists are required to ride with traffic, whether bikes belong on sidewalks, and how comparative negligence can impact an injury claim. They also discuss a recent case involving an electric skateboard accident near Florida State University and how courts handle gray areas when statutes don’t perfectly match modern transportation devices.
If you ride a bike, scooter, or electric skateboard — or if you’ve been injured in a bicycle accident in Florida — this episode explains your rights, your responsibilities, and how liability is determined when drivers claim, “You shouldn’t have been there.”
Episode Transcript
So we got another question from a viewer that sounds like something that happened recently. The question is:
“I was hit while biking in my neighborhood. The driver is saying I should have been on the sidewalk instead of on the road. What does Florida law say about that?”
This is something that comes up a lot. We’ve both handled cases like this before. I know you had one recently. It wasn’t exactly the same situation, but it involved someone on a scooter or electric skateboard. What do you remember about that case and how you handled the legal issues?
Recently, within the last 12 months, I litigated a very similar issue. My client was on Florida State’s campus riding an electric skateboard in the bike lane.
Typically, especially on campus, you have a sidewalk, then a curb, then a bike lane, and then the lanes of travel for vehicles. My client was in the bike lane, but she was riding against the flow of traffic. So if she reached to her right, vehicles were coming toward her. She was traveling in the opposite direction of vehicle traffic.
Under Florida law, that’s not technically how you’re supposed to do it. The statute doesn’t specifically mention electric skateboards, but it does address bicycles. If you’re on a bicycle, you’re supposed to go with the flow of traffic. If you’re walking in the roadway, you’re supposed to go against the flow of traffic. On a sidewalk, direction doesn’t matter. But in a bike lane or roadway, bicycles are required to travel with traffic.
The defense argued that she was violating the statute by riding against traffic. They claimed an electric skateboard is akin to a bicycle, so she should have been traveling with the flow of traffic.
Our client had some responses. First, there was a tree overhanging the bike lane on the opposite side that dropped branches, acorns, and debris. When you’re on an electric skateboard, small debris can cause the wheel to catch and throw you off. She had friends who had fallen that way. So she avoided that side for safety reasons.
Second, there was the practical reality that everyone rode both directions in that bike lane. She actually sat there for four hours one day and recorded people traveling both ways. It was common practice.
Interestingly, the driver who hit her was another FSU student who had lived in the adjacent apartment complex for two years and drove that road daily. In her deposition, she admitted she had seen people riding both directions in the bike lane, even though she hadn’t paid attention to how often it happened.
We knew there would likely be some comparative negligence because the statute existed, but we had strong arguments that it was foreseeable that people rode both directions and that drivers should anticipate that.
To answer the original question directly: under Florida law, if you’re riding a bicycle in the roadway, you are supposed to travel with the flow of traffic. You are not supposed to ride your bike on the sidewalk unless a local ordinance specifically allows it.
Bicycles have the same rights and responsibilities as vehicles. There’s an entire section of Florida law governing bicycles. Riders are expected to use hand signals, obey traffic signals, and follow the rules of the road just like cars. If there’s a designated bike lane available, you’re generally required to use it.
So if someone argues that a cyclist should have been on the sidewalk instead of the road, that’s usually not correct. Sidewalks are intended for pedestrians.
Right, and cyclists have just as much right to be on the road as vehicles. That’s where the “share the road” concept comes from.
Even in your case, where your client was riding against traffic in the bike lane, the basic question becomes: if you’re driving and paying attention, why did you hit her? The defense might say, “I didn’t expect her to be coming from that direction.” But if you’re paying attention, you look both ways before pulling out.
I’ve had cases where someone was riding on a sidewalk and got hit by a car. The defense argued they weren’t supposed to be riding there. Our response was that people ride on sidewalks all the time. Drivers know this. If you’re paying attention, it’s not difficult to avoid hitting a cyclist.
In this campus case, it was during the regular semester. Thousands of pedestrians, bikes, skateboards, and scooters were everywhere. While the statute may not say it explicitly, there’s clearly a heightened duty of awareness in that environment. Driving through a congested college campus is different from driving down the interstate. On campus, you should expect someone to appear unexpectedly. You shouldn’t be looking at your phone or distracted.
Exactly. Context matters. Drivers need to adjust their awareness to their surroundings.
And that’s what makes these cases so fact-specific.
This conversation continues and much more on the next episode of It’s No Accident.
Mark continued his studies at Florida State University College of Law, graduating cum laude in 2008. While in law school, Mark was a member of the Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law and the Journal of Transnational Law & Policy, as well as a certified legal intern with the FSU Public Interest Law Center, where he assisted low-income clients with a wide range of family law issues. He also served as a law clerk intern to The Honorable L. Clayton Roberts of Florida’s First District Court of Appeal.
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