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A Florida law requires all bicyclists to keep at least one hand on a handlebar while riding their bike at all times, which, of course, prevents show offs from looking totally awesome. Republican Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff may have been unsuccessful in her attempt to bring Las Vegas-style casinos to Florida this year, but her bill to remove these handlebar regulations just passed the Senate with only a single nay vote.
Bogdanoff’s bill makes a few other teeny tiny changes to the wording of Florida’s existing bike laws, but the main effect is that it deletes a statue that declares “Any person operating a bicycle shall keep at least one hand upon the handlebars.” Besides that the bill also allows police to issue a citation for anyone riding their bike without proper lights and reflectors at night time (don’t worry, your first citation will be thrown out if you provide proof that you’ve since purchased the proper lights and reflectors).
And that my friends is basically all this bill does. It passed today with 37 yays, and 1 nay. The lone dissenter was Sen. Larcenia Bullard, a Miami-area Dem who was sponsoring separate legislation that would make bicycle helmet laws more strict (that legislation is pretty much dead, FYI).
A related bill has been filed in the House, but so far has not been heard by a committee.
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[via Orlando Sentinel]
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